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Can Delphi XE2 be used to develop Windows CE applications?

I need to develop an application to run on Windows CE to access a remote Firebird database. I would like to use Delphi for this. Is it possible?

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Native Delphi only works with x86-compatible processors and the Win32 / Win64 or MacOS 10 API.

Ken White has already pointed you to Delphi Prism, however, if you buy it, instead of a relabeled tool, you might get the original product, I heard that it comes with support for multiple platforms instead of one. RemObjects Oxygene is an original product, part of which is resold as Prism.

Another option would be to use Lazarus (vanilla or CodeTyphon distribution). His LCL library mimics VCL in many ways, and the FPC compiler mimics Delphi (and some other Pascal dialects).

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No, it is not. Delphi XE2 makes applications for Win32 / 64, OS X (and using FreePascal, iOS), but not for CE.

You can use Delphi Prism for this. There is a separate delphi-prism tag for this here in SO.

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In fact, you can use the Delphi IDE to create Windows CE applications using the KOL-CE library after some adaptations.

KOL-CE - The CE Key Object Library is a collection of objects for developing powerful (but compact) Windows CE / Pocket PC / Windows Mobile / Win32 graphical applications using the Free Pascal Compiler. The library is based on the KOL library of Vladimir Kladov ( http://kolmck.net ).

It targets the Lazarus IDE, but since it is a fork of the Delphi project, you can use it in your Delphi development environment, perhaps after some changes. And if you cannot (or do not have time) to make the necessary changes, I am quite sure that you will be pleased to use the Lazarus IDE and the modern pascal object instead of switching to another language.

You need to install the FPC arm-wince cross-compiler for Win32 to compile WinCE executables, but you are developing your application on Windows using the IDE.

Please note that KOL is a new set of components, very diverse for VCL. Very powerful, but only low-level object code can be reused, as they are not compatible with VCL (or Lazarus LVCL).

Using Lazarus and its own LVCL components is also available for Windows CE, very close to the VCL class layout, but will produce much larger executables than KOL-CE.

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For a historical perspective: no, you cannot in Delphi like Delphi 2007.

In Delphi 2005 and Delphi 2006, this can be done by targeting the .NET Compact Framework in Windows CE, because Delphi contains the Delphi.NET compiler, which was more compatible with the Delphi language than the current (but much more developed) Oxygene.NET./ Java platforms in Delphi.

As in Delphi 2007, the Delphi.NET compiler has retired.

Oxygene is now much better, as it supports a wider range of language and platform features than Delphi.NET has ever done. It is less compatible with the Delphi language because the supported platforms guarantee some language deviations, which are very useful in practice.

Oxygene is dispatched both separately (with a full set of functions), and as Delphi Prism (only with a part of .NET).

For Delphi 2005/2006, you needed a CF Build Helper from Jeremy Sever and the class helpers that I wrote (they are included in the CF Build Helper assembly). A good article on how to use both options is in EDN .

Given hoopla, you should have gone there, it’s much wiser to use Oxygene if you want the language to be very close to Delphi.

For a historical overview of the Pascal and Delphi languages, read this article by Jim Macket .

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