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Alexander Liberov edited this page Oct 21, 2026 · 2 revisions

Field Round-Trip Report (the Blueprint "Operation Name" benchmark)

How to produce the text trace and the pictures for one edited grid field -- the report we have used as a benchmark on the Blueprint4 form's Operation Name column (OPERAT.NAME) -- from RAD Studio, and from a terminal.

Checked on 5 October 2026 against engine 1.20.6-alpha and the live ORM3 indexes. Companion to Charts and the IDE, which explains every output file and how to read a trace.

What you get

Part Question Output Time (measured)
Text: how OPERAT.NAME reaches the grid column and how an edit goes back (client -> pipe -> server -> SQL and back) round-trip index.html (the trace, every @File.pas:line a link) + trace.dlgraph ~55 s; 76 steps, 31 conditions, 4 process crossings, 2 unresolved
Pictures: who calls the save routine and what it calls butterfly (and any other chart question) graph.svg, graph.png, graph.pdf + index.html ~5 s; 9 callers / 9 callees

The names to use:

  • the grid column: frmBlueprint4.dxDBGrid1OperationVName (Blueprint4.TfrmBlueprint4.dxDBGrid1OperationVName : TcxGridDBColumn);
  • the routine that sends the edit to the server: Blueprint4.ViewModel.TBlueprint_ViewModel.SendDeltaOperation.

OPERAT.NAME itself is not a usable target: five datasets load table OPERAT, so the trace stops and lists them. Pass the grid column (above) instead.

Inside RAD Studio -- what exists today

The drag-lint menu runs every chart question: drag-lint > Reports (see IDE Menu Reference). For this report: put the caret on the grid column's declaration or any use of it (dxDBGrid1OperationVName in Blueprint4.pas), then drag-lint > Reports > Field round-trip (grid -> server -> SQL).... The plugin resolves the caret, rewrites Blueprint4.TfrmBlueprint4.dxDBGrid1OperationVName to frmBlueprint4.dxDBGrid1OperationVName from the DFM, shows it in a prompt, and runs drag-lint ask in the background. The trace opens in your browser, and the text comes back as a DocInsight block on the clipboard and in a small window. The picture is Reports > Callers and callees (butterfly chart)... with the caret on SendDeltaOperation. (The engine ask verb is still planned; the menu runs the same scripts as the terminal form below.)

The IDE takes part in two more ways:

  1. The Tools-entry fallback: RAD Studio's own Tools > Configure Tools entry, set up once below, runs the same command with a typed target. Use it where the plugin is not installed, or to keep the console open with -NoExit.
  2. The report jumps back into the IDE: every @File.pas:line in the page is a draglint:// link; a click opens that file at that line in the running IDE (needs the drag-lint plugin loaded and the link handler registered).

The pictures open in your browser, not in an IDE window. The docked drag-lint > drag-lint Graph window is a different tool (the call graph).

One-time setup: a Tools menu entry

Tools > Configure Tools... > Add, then fill in:

Field Value
Title drag-lint: field round-trip
Program C:\Projects\Delphi-RAG-lint\third_party\dll-win64\drag-lint.exe
Working dir C:\Projects\Delphi-RAG-lint (users: your clone, see below)
Parameters ask round-trip --in "$EDNAME" --open --target $PROMPT

Add a second entry for the pictures, identical except:

Field Value
Title drag-lint: callers/callees chart
Parameters ask butterfly --in "$EDNAME" --open --target $PROMPT
  • $EDNAME is the file in the active editor tab: the script uses it only to find the project's index (any .pas/.dfm of the project works).
  • $PROMPT makes RAD Studio show the parameter line before running it; type the target at the end (frmBlueprint4.dxDBGrid1OperationVName for the text, Blueprint4.ViewModel.TBlueprint_ViewModel.SendDeltaOperation for the picture).
  • -NoExit keeps the console open so you can read the text answer and any error; -Open opens index.html in your browser.

The command line behind these entries is verified from a terminal (below); the two entries themselves have not yet been clicked in a live IDE. If a macro expands differently on your RAD Studio version, run the terminal form.

Producing the benchmark report from the IDE

  1. Open any unit of the Micronite client, e.g. Blueprint4.pas, so it is the active editor tab.
  2. Save all (File > Save All). Then make sure the index is fresh: the script refuses a stale index (exit 3) and prints the exact index command to run -- run it, then repeat this step.
  3. Tools > drag-lint: field round-trip, append frmBlueprint4.dxDBGrid1OperationVName in the prompt, OK.
  4. The console prints BUNDLE <folder>, the three INDEX lines, then the trace; the browser opens the same trace as a page.
  5. Tools > drag-lint: callers/callees chart with Blueprint4.ViewModel.TBlueprint_ViewModel.SendDeltaOperation for the picture.
  6. Click any @Blueprint4.ViewModel.pas:NNNN in the page to land on that line in the IDE.

From a terminal (the same thing, verified)

From the repository folder:

drag-lint ask round-trip `
    --target frmBlueprint4.dxDBGrid1OperationVName `
    --project C:\Projects\DB\ORM3\CLIENT\Micronite2027.dproj --open

drag-lint ask butterfly `
    --target Blueprint4.ViewModel.TBlueprint_ViewModel.SendDeltaOperation `
    --project C:\Projects\DB\ORM3\CLIENT\Micronite2027.dproj --open
  • Answers land in %TEMP%\drag-lint-reports\<question>-<target>\.
  • -ResolveOnly prints the three indexes it would read and stops -- a quick check that setup is right.
  • Exit codes: 0 answered, 1 refused (reason on stderr), 2 setup, 3 stale index.
  • For a folder kept under the repository instead (charts\artifacts\...), use New-DiagramArtifact.ps1; see Charts and the IDE.

Setup: owner's machine

Everything is in place except the link handler, which is stale: it still points at the old archify-ir worktree and at a versioned PowerShell folder that the next PowerShell update deletes. Re-register once from the main checkout:

drag-lint protocol register --dry-run
drag-lint protocol register

Then add the two Tools entries above.

Setup: other users

The release zip (drag-lint-v*-win64.zip) carries the engine, the rules, the rule-book editor and the docs. It does not carry the chart scripts or the IDE plugin. To produce this report you need:

  1. A clone of the repository (git clone https://github.com/Alexl-git/Delphi-RAG-Lint.git) -- the scripts live in its charts\ folder.
  2. The engine (drag-lint.exe with its .dll files and rules\); no PowerShell is needed.
  3. Graphviz 16.1 for the pictures. The engine uses the dot.exe named by the DRAGLINT_DOT environment variable, else the one in its settings, else C:\Projects\GraphWiz\Graphviz-16.1.0-win64\bin\dot.exe -- set the variable or install Graphviz to that folder. The text trace (round-trip) needs no Graphviz.
  4. The three indexes, built with the engine: the client project, the server project and the SQL scripts. Find each with drag-lint resolve-dbs --project <your .dproj> and build it with drag-lint index --project <your .dproj> --db <that path>.
  5. Tell the scripts which server and SQL index belong to your client project: edit charts\report-pairs.json (one object per project; check each path with resolve-dbs first).
  6. For the jump into the IDE: the drag-lint IDE plugin installed in RAD Studio, and drag-lint protocol register run once.

Then add the two Tools entries, with your clone's path in place of C:\Projects\Delphi-RAG-lint, and follow the steps above with your own form and column.

Not yet

  • The drag-lint > Reports menu runs drag-lint ask (no PowerShell); the Tools entries above remain the fallback without the plugin.
  • round-trip as a picture; today it is text.
  • A Graphviz location setting for the chart scripts.

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