Core Utilities

TIP

Tina4Core.pas provides standalone utility functions for strings, dates, encoding, JSON, database operations, HTTP requests, and shell commands.

String Helpers

CamelCase

Converts snake_case to camelCase. Used when converting database field names to JSON keys.

CamelCase('first_name');    // 'firstName'
CamelCase('id');            // 'id'
CamelCase('user_email');    // 'userEmail'

SnakeCase

Converts camelCase to snake_case. Used when mapping JSON keys back to database columns.

SnakeCase('firstName');   // 'first_name'
SnakeCase('userEmail');   // 'user_email'

GUID

GetGUID

Returns a new GUID string without surrounding braces.

var ID := GetGUID;  // e.g. 'A1B2C3D4-E5F6-7890-ABCD-EF1234567890'

Date Utilities

IsDate

Checks whether a Variant value represents a date. Supports ISO 8601, YYYY-MM-DD HH:NN:SS, YYYY-MM-DD, and MM/DD/YYYY formats.

IsDate('2024-01-15');                  // True
IsDate('2024-01-15T10:30:00');         // True
IsDate('2024-01-15T10:30:00.000Z');    // True
IsDate('01/15/2024');                  // True
IsDate(42);                            // False

GetJSONDate

Converts a TDateTime to an ISO 8601 string.

GetJSONDate(Now);  // '2024-06-15T14:30:00.000Z'

JSONDateToDateTime

Converts an ISO 8601 date string back to a TDateTime.

var DT := JSONDateToDateTime('2024-06-15T14:30:00.000Z');

Encoding

DecodeBase64

Decodes a Base64-encoded string to plain UTF-8.

DecodeBase64('SGVsbG8gV29ybGQ=');  // 'Hello World'

FileToBase64

Reads a file and returns its content as Base64.

var B64 := FileToBase64('C:\photos\avatar.jpg');

BitmapToBase64EncodedString

Encodes an FMX TBitmap to a Base64 string with optional resizing.

var Encoded := BitmapToBase64EncodedString(MyBitmap);           // resize to 256x256
var Encoded := BitmapToBase64EncodedString(MyBitmap, False);    // no resize
var Encoded := BitmapToBase64EncodedString(MyBitmap, True, 128, 128);

BitmapToSkiaWepPEncodedString

Encodes an FMX TBitmap to a WebP Base64 string using Skia. Requires the SKIA define.

var WebPData := BitmapToSkiaWepPEncodedString(MyBitmap, 90);  // quality 90

JSON Parsing

StrToJSONObject

Parses a JSON string into a TJSONObject. Returns nil on failure.

var Obj := StrToJSONObject('{"name": "Andre", "age": 30}');
try
  if Assigned(Obj) then
    ShowMessage(Obj.GetValue<String>('name'));
finally
  Obj.Free;
end;

StrToJSONArray

Parses a JSON string into a TJSONArray.

var Arr := StrToJSONArray('[1, 2, 3]');

StrToJSONValue

Parses a JSON string into a TJSONValue. Useful when the input could be an object, array, or primitive.

BytesToJSONObject

Parses a TBytes buffer (e.g. an HTTP response body) into a TJSONObject.

var Obj := BytesToJSONObject(ResponseBytes);

GetJSONFieldName

Strips surrounding quotes from a JSON field name string.

GetJSONFieldName('"firstName"');  // 'firstName'

Database to JSON

GetJSONFromDB

Executes a SQL query and returns results as a TJSONObject. Field names are automatically converted to camelCase. Blob fields are Base64-encoded. DateTime fields are formatted as ISO 8601.

// Simple query
var Result := GetJSONFromDB(Connection, 'SELECT * FROM users');
// {"records": [{"id": "1", "firstName": "Andre", ...}, ...]}

// With custom dataset name
var Result := GetJSONFromDB(Connection, 'SELECT * FROM cats', nil, 'cats');
// {"cats": [{"id": "1", "name": "Whiskers"}, ...]}

// With parameters
var Params := TFDParams.Create;
try
  Params.Add('status', 'active');
  Result := GetJSONFromDB(Connection,
    'SELECT * FROM users WHERE status = :status', Params);
finally
  Params.Free;
end;

GetJSONFromTable

Converts all rows in a TFDMemTable or TFDTable to a JSON object. Supports ignoring specific fields and blank values.

// Basic conversion
var JSON := GetJSONFromTable(MemTable);
// {"records": [{"id": "1", "name": "Item1"}, ...]}

// Ignore specific fields
var JSON := GetJSONFromTable(MemTable, 'records', 'password,secret_key');

// Ignore blank values
var JSON := GetJSONFromTable(MemTable, 'records', '', True);

JSON to MemTable

GetFieldDefsFromJSONObject

Creates field definitions on a TFDMemTable from a TJSONObject structure. Nested objects/arrays become ftMemo fields. Optionally transforms field names to snake_case.

var JSONObj := StrToJSONObject('{"firstName": "Andre", "address": {"city": "Cape Town"}}');
GetFieldDefsFromJSONObject(JSONObj, MemTable, True);
// Creates fields: first_name (ftString), address (ftMemo)

PopulateMemTableFromJSON

Populates a TFDMemTable from JSON with two sync modes:

Sync Mode	Behavior
Clear (default)	Empties table first, then appends all records
Sync	Matches by IndexFieldNames, updates existing or inserts new

// Clear mode — replaces all data
PopulateMemTableFromJSON(MemTable, 'records',
  '{"records": [{"id": "1", "name": "Alice"}]}');

// Sync mode — update existing, insert new
PopulateMemTableFromJSON(MemTable, 'records',
  '{"records": [{"id": "1", "name": "Alice Updated"}]}',
  'id', TTina4RestSyncMode.Sync);

PopulateTableFromJSON

Inserts or updates rows directly into a database table from JSON. Uses a primary key for upsert logic.

var Result := PopulateTableFromJSON(
  FDConnection1, 'users',
  '{"response": [{"name": "Alice"}, {"name": "Bob"}]}',
  'response', 'id');

HTTP Requests

SendHttpRequest

Low-level HTTP request function returning raw TBytes. Supports GET, POST, PATCH, PUT, and DELETE with Basic Auth, custom headers, and timeouts.

var
  StatusCode: Integer;
  Response: TBytes;
begin
  // Simple GET
  Response := SendHttpRequest(StatusCode, 'https://api.example.com', '/users');

  // POST with JSON body
  Response := SendHttpRequest(StatusCode,
    'https://api.example.com', '/users', '',
    '{"name": "Andre"}',
    'application/json', 'utf-8', '', '', nil, 'Tina4Delphi',
    TTina4RequestType.Post);

  // With Basic Auth
  Response := SendHttpRequest(StatusCode,
    'https://api.example.com', '/secure', '', '',
    'application/json', 'utf-8', 'myuser', 'mypassword');

  var JSON := BytesToJSONObject(Response);
end;

SendMultipartFormData

Sends a multipart/form-data POST request for file uploads with optional form fields.

var
  StatusCode: Integer;
  Response: TBytes;
begin
  Response := SendMultipartFormData(
    StatusCode,
    'https://api.example.com',
    'upload/avatar',
    ['userId', '1001', 'caption', 'Profile photo'],
    ['avatar', 'C:\photos\me.jpg'],
    '', 'myuser', 'mypassword');
end;

Shell Commands

ExecuteShellCommand

Runs a shell command and captures its stdout output. Works on Windows, Linux, and macOS.

var
  Output: String;
  ExitCode: Integer;
begin
  ExitCode := ExecuteShellCommand('dir C:\temp', Output);
  ShowMessage(Output);
end;