July 2021
I have finally migrated the project to the latest Delphi compiler. This is a leap of technology of 16 years so there’s a metric tonne of changes to make it work. The upside is we now have 64-bit and 32-bit builds with access to the latest tools and language technology. The downside is because there’s a metric tonne of changes, I’m expecting broken stuff so please report your findings to the forum including the build number, 32-bit/64-bit and particularly the Windows version. But before you report, make sure it’s not because of some config change outlined below.
The migration made it impossible to support Windows 2000. Desktop Info now supports Windows XP and up. If you need support for W2K then you should use version 2. I haven’t found any other issues specific to a version of Windows.
The zip contains two new executables: DesktopInfo32.exe and DesktopInfo64.exe. These are the new 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Desktop Info. The old DesktopInfo64.exe external collector tool is gone.
Your old ini file should work for the most part, though it will require some modification as outlined in the changes below. I haven’t tested every single configuration possibility.
Change 1: All the charts except for the horizontal bar chart have been thrown out and replaced with brand new charts. For the most part they work the same as the previous charts. Two new chart options have been added: points and border.
Change 2: Added the new function rnd() to the mathematical functions (great for testing charts!).
Change 3: Replaced the navigation button component.
Change 4: Replaced the png image component.
Change 5: Completely rewritten the CPUUSAGE and CPUCOUNT code. Can anyone confirm the maximum number of cores this can handle?
Change 6: Added filter option to the CPUUSAGE item.
Change 7: Completely rewritten TOPPROCESSMEM. The external tool is no longer used. The counter option now simply controls which counter is used to determine the top processes.
Change 8: Completely rewritten PROCESSMEM. The external tool is no longer used.
Change 9: Completely rewritten PROCESSCOUNT. The external tool is no longer used.
Change 10: Removed the desktopinfo64 option in the [options] section. This external tool is no longer required.
Change 11: EVENTLOG somewhat rewritten to handle new strings and pointers and things. Added additional event data return values.
Change 12: RDS and RDSSESSIONS somewhat rewritten to handle new strings and pointers and things.
Change 13: The remote monitor data server and it’s associated item DTI have been rewritten for new XML code handling and the new internet tools.
Change 14: The REG and REGEXIST items now no longer try to override the wow redirection by default. The behaviour is as you would expect from a 32-bit or 64-bit application. The wow option remains if you wish to override the standard behaviour.
Change 15: Added the IMAGE item. This makes the banner logo redundant and so will eventually be removed.
Change 16: The active item option has now been removed. You should use the PAGE keyword instead to set item pages.
Change 17: The [pages] section in the ini file has now been removed. You should use the PAGE and PAGE-TITLE keywords instead to define pages.
Change 18: Fixed build number in FILE item.
Change 19: Removed bar-colors option. The bar colors are set within the chart option.
Change 20: Fixed OSBUILD to show Windows 10 correctly. Added more return values.
Change 21: Modified FILE2TEXT to return %1 and %2 return values. This way you can use the display template in the normal way to display the results.
Change 22: Modified FILECONTENTS to return %1 return value. This way you can use the display template in the normal way to display the results.
Change 23: Added additional return values to TIMEZONE.
Change 24: Updated DesktopInfo-Technician.bat to detect the architecture and run the correct executable.
Change 25: Completely rewritten NETWORKINTERFACES.
Change 26: Added locale decimal separator to the expression parser. If you want to add your own floating point values to an expression and you’re in a locale that uses a comma as a decimal separator, then remember to escape the comma with a backslash. Eg: {{%1 * 1\,25}}
Change 27: Changed the logging so that debugonerror will write a stack to the log when an error is raised. This shows events leading up to the error. This is exactly the opposite of how it used to work where it would write 10 entries after the error. Generally improved the logging across the board.
Change 28: Added the top and tail options to the FILECONTENTS item.
Change 29: There are hundreds of small changes to make the new strings work.