developer-delphi-programming-conditional-defines

What problem does it solve?

Managing build-time toggles across Delphi and Free Pascal projects can be error-prone without a canonical approach to engines and modules. This skill provides guidance on enabling/disabling engines (USE_UNIDAC, USE_FIREDAC, USE_ZEOS, USE_SQLDB) and modules (USE_PARAMENTERS, USE_LOGGERS, USE_POOLCONNECTIONS, USE_ATTRIBUTES, USE_ENTITY_MANAGER, USE_QUERY_BUILDER) via compile-time directives and ORM.Defines.inc, ensuring cross-compiler compatibility.

Core Features & Use Cases

• Canonical guidance for organizing conditional blocks and engine activation in both Delphi and FPC projects.
• Clear rules for the order of engine checks (UNIDAC → FIREDAC → ZEOS → SQLDB) and safe fallbacks in {$IF DEFINED(...)} blocks.
• Use cases include multi-target builds, feature toggling for optional modules, and ensuring consistent builds across compilers.

Quick Start

Read the canonical Diretivas de Compilação document and apply the dictated order and nesting of {$IF DEFINED(...)} blocks for your current engine/module configuration.