Mark,
> Currently I'm using dynamically loaded .dll's to provide a plugin system
> for my application, only, delphi bloats .dll's quite a bit making each
> one around 100-150k, which is compleatly overkill when the function
> being called is only 5-10 lines long (the functions often create a
> TQuery and connect into a database to perform lookups).
Have you considered using packages? If you build your app and dlls with
packages, you will find a big reduction in size. You can also use packages
instead of dll. (Well, a package is really just a dll with info about
units, etc). Packages can be dynamically loaded using the LoadPackage
procedure.
> Has anyone experimented with using other forms of plugin methods?? I've
> thought about looking at using a scripting language, such as MS
> Scripting Host (where can I download that from anyway?) but wasn't sure
> about how I could use that to link back into my database to perform
> calculation lookups.
>
> Does anyone know how it works?? Can I make certain
> variables/events/objects in my application available to the MS Scripting
> engine or what???
Forget the MS scripting engines - they are too much trouble for what they
are worth! Firstly, there is no proper debugger, and the languages
(vbscript / javascript) are rather limited. Furthermore, you will need to
make everything COM before you can export to the scripting languages. Ouch!
-----------------------------------------------------
Dennis Chuah, BE (Hons) [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Manager, Product Development
Contec Data Systems Ltd. [http://www.contecds.com]
tel: +64-3-3580060 ext-775 fax: +64-3-3588045
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