TRichView 21.3 – FireMonkey for Linux

We’ve released TRichView 21.3.

Trial versions are available here: https://www.trichview.com/download/

Changes:

• New supported FireMonkey platform: Linux
• The trial setup supports RAD Studio Community Edition version 11 instead of version 10.4

This update is free for TRichView customers who ordered or renewed their licenses in 2021 or later.

FireMonkey for Linux Requirements

Supported Delphi Versions

TRichView supports Linux in the following Delphi versions:

• Delphi 10.3
• Delphi 10.4
• Delphi 11.x

FMXLinux

Unlike other FireMonkey platforms, Linux platform requires additional library, FMXLinux.
TRichView requires FMXLinux version 1.72 or newer.
The current version (1.73) is highly recommended.

FMXLinux is available:

• via the RAD Studio GetIt Package Manager in the IDE, for Delphi and RAD Studio Enterprise and Architect customers who have Update Subscription.
• from https://www.fmxlinux.com/ , where you can download a trial version or order a life-time license.

There are some minor problems with FMXLinux distribution. They are discussed below.

FMXLinux: version from fmxlinux.com

TRichView packages for Linux were created for FMXLinux version from fmxlinux.com web site.
This version does not include “FMX” package, all units that should be in this package are distributed as separate files. Because of this, the first your or third-party package that uses these units will include them implicitly.
As a result:

• we added a reference to “FMX” package to RVPkgFMXD*.dpk as {$IFnDEF LINUX}fmx,{$ENDIF}
• we did not include support of Linux platform for Delphi Community Edition (because otherwise we had to include a compiled package that contains all standard Delphi units from “FMX” package)

FMXLinux: GetIt version

In GetIt package manager, FMXLinux v1.73 is available only for Delphi 11.
GetIt in Delphi 10.3 and 10.4 has older version of FMXLinux that cannot be used with TRichView.

This version includes a compiled “FMX” package for Linux.
So, if you use GetIt version, open RVPkgFMXD11.dpk and change {$IFnDEF LINUX}fmx,{$ENDIF} to fmx,. The same for RVPkgFMXD11_Dsgn.dpk.
But, at least when I tested it, a path to this package was not added to Delphi library paths for Linux platform.
If you see a compilation error that the package cannot be found, add the path to it manually in Delphi library paths (menu “Tools | Options”, page “Language | Delphi | Library”, platform “Linux 64-bit”). Usually it is “$(BDSCatalogRepositoryAllUsers)\FmxLinux-1.73\Redist\”

TRichView for Linux Features

Linux version of TRichView supports all the features that were already supported on other platforms. You can create, edit, preview and print rich text documents, save and load RVF, RTF, DocX, HTML, Markdown files.
You can copy and paste text, images, RTF from the Clipboard. You can paste HTML from the Clipboard.
However, unlike Windows and macOS version, TRichView for Linux uses the standard FireMonkey Clipboard service. This service supports copying only a single format to the Clipboard. This means that you may need special commands like “Copy as text or image”, “Copy as RTF”, “Copy as RVF”.

All TRichView demo projects have been ported to Linux.

The changes in demo projects are minimal. Deployment of additional files, and functions that return paths to them are configured for Linux. Changes related to TPrintDialog are added (the current version of FMXLinux counts FromPage and ToPage from 0, unlike Windows and macOS versions that count them from 1).