[lazarus] Conversion Tool (Delphi - Lazarus): standalone or inside the IDE?

[Alexsander Rosa]

I was looking at the sources of "main.pp", specifically in the DoConvertDelphi* bit. In my opinion, it would be better if the conversion tool was *separated* from the IDE, as a standalone application. In the current design, it's very embedded in the IDE, and with several menu items to be used. I was thinking about a different design, where the typical use would be:

1) Select a directory where the Delphi project is
2) Click "Convert to Lazarus"
3) Watch the progress bar run ;-)

Optionally, the user could specify two places: LCL_DIR and VCL_DIR, where the tool would read the classes to get the available properties, removing them from the DFM files (and commenting out in the PAS files). A "translation table" could be used to replace the property instead of removing the entire line from the DFM. In the PAS files, the Uses section would be corrected, and so on.

I would like to start coding as soon as possible, but I'm putting this here in order to discuss this design and get ideas.

--
Atenciosamente,

Alexsander da Rosa