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Getting started with the Atlas components

Learning center · FAQ · Sample projects

This page takes you from the source folders to a running program. You need Delphi 13 (RAD Studio 13, compiler 37.0) on Windows. Every family builds for Win32 and Win64.

Two ways to use the components

Compile the units into your program. Add each family's src folder to your project's search path and list the units in uses. Nothing needs to be installed, and the executable needs no extra files. Every sample project on this site is built this way.

Install the packages into the IDE. Each family has a runtime package (for example AtlasLogRuntime) and a design package that registers the components on the tool palette. Use this when you want to drop components on a form. IDE installation has not been part of the validation for any family yet, so treat it as unverified.

Step 1: put the source on the search path

Open Project > Options > Building > Delphi Compiler > Search path and add the src folder of the family you use, plus the folders of the families it depends on:

Family Add these src folders
Atlas VCL Atlas VCL
Atlas Analytics, Atlas UI, Atlas Info the family and Atlas VCL
Atlas Plot Atlas Plot
Atlas Plot Pro, Atlas Fin, Atlas Virtual Grid the family and Atlas Plot
Atlas Log, Atlas Crypto, Atlas MQTT the family only

Atlas Log, Atlas Crypto and Atlas MQTT need only the Delphi runtime library, so they also work in console programs and Windows services. The Atlas Log viewer is the one exception: it is a VCL control.

Step 2: build your first program

This console program uses Atlas Log, which has no dependencies. Create a new console application, add the Atlas Log src folder to the search path, and replace the program text with:

pascal
program FirstAtlas;
{$APPTYPE CONSOLE}
uses
  System.SysUtils, Atlas.Log, Atlas.LogSinks;
var
  Log: TAtlasLogger;
  Memory: TAtlasMemorySink;
begin
  Log := TAtlasLogger.Create(nil);
  try
    Memory := TAtlasMemorySink.Create(Log);
    Memory.Logger := Log;
    Log.Info('Order {id} placed', [42]);
    Writeln('Events recorded: ', Memory.Count);
  finally
    Log.Free;
  end;
end.

Run it. The console shows:

text
Events recorded: 1

The sink is owned by the logger, so freeing the logger frees the sink. The Atlas Log tutorial continues from here.

Step 3: open a sample project

Download a project from the sample projects page, or the ZIP of all of them. Each folder has a .dpr, its units and a README with the expected output. Open the .dpr in Delphi; the IDE creates the project file for you. Add the src folders from Step 1 to the search path, then build.

Forms in the samples are created in code, so there are no .dfm files to keep in step. Console samples check their own results and stop with an error if anything differs from what the README describes.

Step 4 (optional): install the design packages

Build the runtime package first, then the design package, for the platform your IDE runs on. Keep the Win32 and Win64 outputs in separate folders and do not mix them. Make the runtime .bpl files findable on the Windows PATH, add the src folder and the build output folder to the library path, and install the design package through Component > Install Packages. The components then appear on palette pages named after their family, such as Atlas Log and Atlas Plot.

Families that depend on another family need that family's runtime package installed first: Atlas VCL before Atlas Analytics, Atlas UI and Atlas Info, and Atlas Plot before Atlas Plot Pro, Atlas Fin and Atlas Virtual Grid.

Scope