In what order should Delphi and MS dev tools be installed?

Question

I just got a new laptop with Windows 7 (32-bit) and I have to install the following things:

• SQL Server 2005 (Dev edition)
• SQL Server 2008 (Dev edition)
• Visual Studio 2008 Prof.
• Delphi 2007
• Delphi 2010

In addition I need the usual suspects such as Office 2007 etc.

I was thinking of doing it in the order listed above but would like to know if this is the best way. On my old system I must have done something wrong as I have had lots of problems with broken help files etc. especially in Delphi.

Thanks.

Answer 1

I installed Delphi 2010 after Delphi 2007 without any problems.

Just uninstalling gave me some problems (BDE had to be installed again).

Answer 2

My main suggestion would be to download the latest ISO for Delphi 2007 and Delphi 2010.

Don't rely on your installation DVD's if they aren't current. I used to have problems installing Delphi 2007...I bought my copy around the first month it was available...then I downloaded the latest ISO with all the updates and never had problems on Windows 7 Enterprise (32-bit).

Answer 3

IMHO: You shouldn't!

Instead, install each development enviroment on different virtual machines. (Eg VMware Workstation)

The disadvantages are minimal. Perhaps some more costs (VMware + additional OS license).

But the advantages are invaluable!

• Portability. If you get a new (physical) machine, it is very simple to copy the virtual machines from the old one to the new one. (You can even save the vm's on a USB-stick and run them on different computers).
• Snapshots. Before you do any changes in your dev.env. (updating, adding and removing sw) you can take a snapshot of the vm, and roll back to this state at any time! Make sure you've got your documents and source code on the host machine or a server, though. Because everything is rolled back. Every file is restored to the state it had at the time the snapshot were taken.
• Forks/branching. If you are working on a new feature, you can create a branch of the dev.env. (via snapshots), and easily switch between the experimantal dev.env and the production dev.env. at any time.
• Using snapshots you can maintain multiple (virtual) operating systems without having to buy several OS-licenses. (You can't run these branches of the OS simultaneously, of course).
• More testing environments on the same (physical) machine. Different combinations of OS-versions and MS Office-versions etc)
• Protection when testing risky code. (Eg deleting files, updating databases, registry changes etc)
• Start playing with new sw-versions without messing up the existing dev.env.
• Separate customers/projects according to their various needs for different third party tools, database solutions, report solutions etc