How do I add Perl scripting support to a Delphi application?

Question

PLDelphi is a Perl project hosted on CPAN. I am currently working on a Delphi application and I am investigating the possibility of adding Perl scripting support and read about PLDelphi.

Ideally, I'd like my application to not require Perl to be installed. PLDelphi claims to support this:

To use PLDelphi from your Delphi application without need to install Perl you will need this files in the main diretory of your application:

PLDelphi.dll - The PLDelphi library that loads the Perl interpreter. PLDelphi.pm - Perl side of PLDelphi. Perl56.dll - The Perl library in case that you have Perl built dynamic. PLDelphi_dll.pas - PLDelphi classes and DLL wrapper. lib/* - A Perl lib directory with basic .pm files (strict, warnings, etc...)

I am aware of RemObjects PascalScript and embedding Python in Delphi, but in this instance, I am interested primarily in Perl support.

Has anyone used PLDelphi with success? Or have you found other ways to execute Perl scripts from Delphi without the full Perl installation available locally?

EDIT: To be more clear, I found 1 potential solution and that is using PLDelphi. However, I'd like to know if anyone has used it (last updated in 2004) before, and how well it worked.

I'm also interested in hearing about any other options for embedding a Perl interpreter with Delphi.

Answer 1

You could use Windows Script Host (which comes with VBScript and JScript by default) and install PerlScript from ActiveState.

Answer 2

I was really looking for a solution that didn't require installing anything on the client. It appears that PLDelphi is not working with ActivePerl 5.10...so I don't believe there is a ready solution to embedding Perl within a Delphi application.