I was using TMS's Flexcel with Delphi 12. Yesterday, I updated Delphi to 12.1 and found that I could no longer use Flexcel, so I tried to install Flexcel 12.1. However, I received a warning from the installer saying "Rad Studio 12: Android SDK tools are not installed, and Android will fail", and I was unable to install it.
I can create Android apk files without any problems with the newly installed Delphi 12.1, but could you tell me how I can install Flexcel?
Hi,
12.1 changed the way Android is installed, and our current setup can't detect it. But it should work anyway if you ignore the warning, I am not sure on what error you are getting.
In any case, we are moving all of our setups to smartsetup, so it is probably better to install FlexCel via smartsetup, which should not give you the warning. I am working right now in the new version of FlexCel which will use smartsetup even if you use setup.exe.
The steps to install FlexCel with smartsetup are:
Uninstall your current setup from Start Menu->Install and Uninstall programs"
You can run tmsgui.exe to install it, or if you prefer the command line:
3.1. Create a folder for tms components
3.2. in the command line, cd to that folder and do tms credentials. Enter your email and reg code.
3.3. If you want to customize further, type tms config. If you are ok with the defaults, just skip this step
3.4. Type tms install tms.flexcel.vcl
That should be it. After this initial install, anytime you want to update, go to the folder and type tms update. It will update all your tms products to the latest.
Dear Support
Thank you for your prompt response. I immediately proceeded with the smart
setup and tried to install Flexcel. After entering my email address and code,
I attempted to install Flexcel via Smart setup, but at the end, I received an
error message stating "[ERROR] Error running TTmsInstallRunner: Running
failed: install tms.flexcel.vcl -display-options:product-progress
(ETmsRunner)".
So, I would like to ask about the following two points:
Could you please advise on how to bypass this error? (Even with this error, is
Flexcel available for use in Delphi 12.1?)
(Addendum made on July 16, 2024)
I also tried the method from the command line, but I received a message
stating that I cannot install because an old version of Flexcel is installed.
I am attaching the log from that time and the log from the last installation.
Please instruct me on how to uninstall the old version of Flexcel. I am using
Flexcel in two development environments, Delphi 11.3 and Delphi 12.1. Flexcel
is working fine on 11.3. This is the only development environment currently
available to me and I do not want to lose it. Please advise on how to handle
this issue in a way that does not affect the 11.3 version and allows for a
successful installation on Delphi 12.1.
Hi,
Sadly you can't have both FlexCel installed both with smartsetup and setup.exe, as this would confuse Delphi. That's why I mentioned in point 1 to go to start menu, "Install and uninstall programs" and remove the FlexCel you have installed. That's the cause of the error both when trying with the gui or the command line.
I understand that you would prefer not to lose the install in 11.3, but you can believe me that it is worth. Smartsetup is so much faster to install/uninstall and handles much better border cases that the old setup didn't. If you installed the old FlexCel in 11.3, smart setup will install it too without issues. Also as mentioned in my first post, we are in the last steps of releasing 7.22 which will require to uninstall the old setup.exe anyway, since the new setup.exe will use smartsetup under the hood. And you will be able to update to 7.22 just by doing "tms update" from the command line, or with the gui.
Smartsetup has been in active development for more than 2 years, it is very stable right now and if all goes well will be replacing most of our traditional setups be the end of this year.
Just uninstall the old setup, and rerun smartsetup. You will get FlexCel in both 11.3 and 12.1 automatically.
I have the same problem with FlexCel and Delphi 12.1.
Same error message occur
[ERROR] Error running TTmsBuildRunner: Running failed: build tms.flexcel.vcl -full -display-options:product-progress "(ETmsRunner).
And the log says:
[ERROR] [2024-08-29 23:33:05.033] Error: There is another version of "TMS FlexCel Studio for VCL and FMX" installed with setup.exe. Please uninstall it from Start Menu->Add or remove programs.
So I uninstalled it as you say and tried Smart setup again. But got same error and same log message despite FlexCel is gone. And there are no hidden versions of FlexCel in the Lenovo. All is gone.
The background is this, I installed Delphi 12.1 on a brand new Lenovo a week ago and followed up on that by installing the TMS components that I use with TMS Subscription manager:
No problems occured although although TMS Subscription manager marked FlexCel as if it was not installed (usually you get a button to uinstall after successful installation, but this time and only for Flexcel, that button didn't show. Strange because in the Delphi IDE, the FlexCel component was there.
I then proceeeded to install TMS Excel Bridge but got an immediate warning that it couldn't install because FlexCell wasn't installed. Weird because FlexCel was absolutely there in Delphi but TMS Bridge didn't see it.
Since I need TMS Excel Bridge, I removed FlexCel from within the Delphi IDE and tried to reinstall it following your guideline with the Smart setup. But something prevents it from working.
Hi,
Sorry about that. The new installer has issues with sub manager: sub manager adds some registry keys (which I wasn't aware of when I did the new installer) and the installer doesn't remove those on uninstall, leading to the error message.
Luckily the fix is simple: open regedit and remove the key: Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\tmssoftware\TMS FlexCel Studio for VCL
That's it. After that, just use smartsetup as usual.
Hi Adrian
I did that but got the same error. Then I searched for all "FlexCel" entries in the registry and there were 3-4 others. I removed all of them and tried again. This time, Smart Setup took about a minute to install but ended with the same error message as above and the "Status"-field in Smart Setup says 64%.
I the started Delphi 12.1. This time, it recognized that FlexCel was registered (by the TMS component list shown quickly when you start Delphi), but it doesn't appear in the IDE component palette. That's weird.
Hi again, I correct myself: The error message was there but the log (enclosed) says installation was successful. However, Delphi 12.1 recognizes FlexCel being installed but FlexCel doesn't show up in the IDE tool palette.
More: I tried to install the TMS FNC Grid Excel bridge with Smart Setup. Got similar error, see enclosed log. The bridge is dependent on FlexCel and FlexCel seems to be semi-installed but doesn't show up in the tools palette, the Bridge doesn't see that FlexCel is installed . If I try to uinstall FlexCel I get this message: "Cannot remove tms.flexcel.vcl because other products depend on it: tms.fnc.excel.bridge".
Catch 22?
Small thing: I have noticed that TMS stores components in C:\users\appdata\MagnusBolmsjö\local....
I have 'ö' in the name which sometimes creates a problem. When I installed the Excel Bridge on my previous computer, I had to install FNC UI and Bridge directly on C:\tms, not on C:\users\appdata..... , else Bridge couldn't install. So, I thought something was weird with the 'ö'.
Might be it doesn't matter, just wanted you to know.
Hi,
The log seems ok, there are errors in iOS64Device (you don't seem to have it installed, but smartsetup isn't detecting that: This is a known issue and it will be solved soon), and also in win64x (similar issues). But smartsetup works by platform: If it installed in win32/win64, then it is ok to use in those platforms.
Just to confirm: What are the components that you can't find? FlexCel only installs 2 components in the palette (FlexCelPreviewer and DocExport, and DocExport might not even be installed since it is for ios/android).
FlexCel 3 used to install a lot of components, but not FlexCel 7. Some customers have both 3 and 7 installed and forget that the components came from FlexCel 3.
If you are seeing the logo when you start delphi, that means components are registered. They all register with the same package. But FlexCel 7 doesn't really work with components as it is mostly non visual stuff
I don't see that in the log: the log is complaining about "another version of FlexCel installed by start menu". Could this be an old log? That message of "another version" can only happen if you have the registry entry I mentioned before, and if you removed it, it should work. In fact, as this is giving a lot of issues for our customers (mostly because sub manager creates those entries and then FlexCel refuses to run), I plan to release a 7.23.1 in the weekend that won't check for the registry at all, so you never will get that error. Maybe it is worth waiting for it.
Smart setup really installs wherever you launch tmsgui. (or wherever you launch tms.exe if using the command line). By default, this is where you installed smartsetup, but it can be any folder.
If you want, you can try the following:
Make sure the registry entry is deleted. It might have been readded if you used the sub manager.
Open a cmd.exe command prompt.
cd C:\users\appdata\MagnusBolmsjö\local.... (the root where all products are installed, you should have a "Products" folder in this folder and a ".tmsbuild" too)
tms uninstall *
create a folder where you want to install (c:\tms?)
cd c:\tms
tms credentials <-enter your credentials
tms config <- change the config file as you want
tms install tms.fnc.excel.bridge <- this should install the bridges, fnc pack and flexcel
I enclose a screenshot so you can see what happens:
First, Delphi shows at startup that FlexCel is installed.
Second: in the component package list, many FlexCels are shown.
Third: in the IDE tools palette FlexCel does not show up. I know there are only two that shall be displayed, but there are none.
Hi again,
Previous state of affairs: I followed your suggestion and deleted the FlexCel key in the registry. Then used Smart Setup to install FlexCel.
Current state: Delphi says FlexCel is installed but it does not show up in IDE palette.
I rechecked the registry and expected to find FlexCel there since it was reinstalled after I deleted it. But NO, there are no entries of FlexCel in the registry.
That's really weird. In your image, you have the "FlexCel visual components for VCL (Design)" package installed, and if that package is installed, the components should be registered (in fact, it is the same package that shows the splash screen, so the package is indeed installed).
If you click the "components" button at the bottom right with that package selected, do you see the TFlexCelPreviewer component?
I honestly don't know what else to say, but this is in Delphi's side. We registered the package, the package is correctly registered because if not you wouldn't see TFlexCelPreviewer in the components button, so Delphi should show it. It seems like some kind of bug in the palette.
Another question: If you open <install folder>\Products\tms.flexcel.vcl\Demo\Delphi\Modules\25.Printing and Exporting\20.CustomPreview and then UCustomPreview does it give you an error of TFlexCelPreviewer not being installed, or does it show the previewer?
I decided to reinstall Delphi 12.1 and used tmsgui.exe to install the tms packages. This time, all tms packages were stored in C:\tms to avoid potential hassle with directory names having 'åäö'.
Tms webcore is not listed in Smart setup so I had to use the old TMS Subscription manager for it.
Summaryt: I got the same warnings and error messages discussed previously with tmsgui.exe, but this time I ignored them. Lucklily, it seems that everything was installed correctly in Delphi despite these error messages.
Final thoughts: Smart setup is easy and fast to use. If you can get rid of the unnecessary warnings and error messages, it will be even better.
I tried to install Flexcel 7.22.1 for Delphi 12 but Installation failed. I tried to do it with TMSgui but no success.
While reading all the lines in this chat I wondered why installation has to be so difficult!? I use TurboDB as a compile-to-exe-database, the installation is possible as a download trial, after purchase I got a 256 byte file with the license information which is stored by a licence software to a unit called TdbLicense.dcu. The best and easiest way I´ve ever seen!!!
Disadvantage: no source code available, advantage: no source code available I do not have to compile any bpl-files, it is soooo easy as I like it!
Edit1: After installation of the trial everything is ok agian, the storage of the license information seems to be the problem...?