Depending on the edition of RAD Studio that you are using, you can create traditional Windows applications, Web applications, database applications, Web Services applications, and many others. RAD Studio also supports assemblies, custom components, multi-threading, and COM. For a list of the features and tools included in your edition, refer to the feature matrix on either the CodeGear Delphi web page or the CodeGear C++Builder web page.

You can create Windows applications using the VCL to provide processing and high-performance content display. In addition to traditional uses for Windows applications, a Windows application can be used with constructs from the .NET framework. For instance, a Windows application can function as a Web Server application.

You can create Web Services applications that deliver content, such as HTML pages or XML documents, over the Web. Web Services is an Internet-based integration methodology that allows applications to connect through the Web and exchange information using standard messaging protocols.  

RAD Studio simplifies the creation of Web Services by providing methods for creating a SOAP Server application. The .asmx and .dll files are created automatically, and you can test the Web Service within the IDE, without writing a client application for it. 

When writing a client application that uses, or consumes, a published Web Service, you can use the UDDI Browser to locate and import WSDL that describes the Web Service into your client application.

Whether your application uses Web Forms or VCL Forms, RAD Studio has several tools that make it easy to connect to a database, browse and edit a database, execute SQL queries, and display live data at design time. 

dbExpress allows you to connect to Interbase, Oracle, MS SQL, Informix, DB2, Sybase, and MySQL databases. You can also write database drivers by extending the classes in the dbExpress framework. You can use both native and managed code. 

The ADO.NET framework data providers let you access MS SQL, Oracle, and ODBC and OLE DB-accessible databases. Similarly, the AdoDbx Client (the replacement for the Borland Data Providers, or BDP.NET) lets you access MS SQL, Oracle, DB2, and InterBase databases. You can connect to any of these data sources, expose their data in datasets, and use SQL commands to manipulate the data. Using either ADO.NET or AdoDbx Client provides the following advantages:

• Portable code that's written once and connects to any supported database.
• Open architecture that allows you to provide support for additional database systems.
• Logical data types that map easily to native types.
• Consistent data types that map across databases, where applicable.
• Unlike OLE DB, there is no need for a COM/Interop layer.

Modeling is a term used to describe the process of software design. Developing a model of a software system is roughly equivalent to an architect creating a set of blueprints for a large development project. Like a set of blueprints, a model not only depicts the system as a whole, but also allows you to focus in on specifics such as structural and behavioral details. Abstracted away from any particular programming language (and at some levels, even from specific technology), the model allows all participants in the development cycle to communicate in the same language.  

CodeGear's Model Driven Architecture (MDA) describes an approach to software engineering where the modeling tools are completely integrated within the development environment itself. The MDA is designed around a set of interface, classes, and custom attributes that provide the communication conduit between your application and the modeling-related features of the IDE. 

The RAD Studio IDE leverages the MDA framework to provide an integrated surface on which to develop your application model. The IDE and its modeling surface features include:

• Creating model-driven applications as a new kind of project.
• Creating class diagrams, and manipulating model elements (packages, and classes) directly on the surface.
• Adding, removing, and changing class attributes and methods on the class diagram.
• Two-way updating between source code and the modeling surface. Changes in source code are reflected in the graphical depiction, and vice versa.
• Two-way navigating between model elements and source code. You can navigate from the graphical depiction of a model element directly to its corresponding source code. Similarly, you can navigate from a modeled class in source code directly to its graphical diagram on the modeling surface.
• Exporting and importing models using XMI 1.1.

An assembly is a logical package, much like a DLL file, that consists of manifests, modules, portable executable (PE) files, and resources (.html, .jpeg, .gif) and is used for deployment and versioning. An application can have one or more assemblies that are referenced by one or more applications, depending on whether the assemblies reside in an application directory or in a global assembly cache (GAC).

In addition to the project types described above, RAD Studio provides templates to create class libraries, control libraries, console applications, reports, text and HTML files, and more. These templates are stored in the Object Repository and you can access them by choosing FileNewOther.

Creating a Project 

Getting Started with Modeling