Make already developed application 64 bit enable [duplicate]

Question

Possible Duplicate:
How to also prepare for 64-bits when migrating to Delphi 2010 and Unicode

I have already developed an application in Delphi 7. Now I need to enable it to support 64 bit.

Answer 1

Delphi 7, and indeed all released Delphi Win32 versions, only produce 32 bit executables. However, 32 bit executables run perfectly well on 64 bit operating systems through the WOW64 emulator. Although this is an emulator, a word that usually implies degraded performance, WOW64 performance is not readily distinguishable from native 64 bit performance.

If you wish to port your Delphi app to 64 bit you need to wait for the next version of Delphi to be released which will produce 64 bit executables.

Then you will have to port your app from Delphi 7 to the latest version of Delphi. This will be a big job because you will also have to port from ANSI string code to Unicode string code. In my view this part of the port will be more time consuming than the 32 to 64 bit part and if you wanted to get a head start you would be wise to start the Unicode port now by upgrading to Delphi XE.

Answer 2

You can check this official Embarcadero video which covers the subject.