The most important benefits of the VCL over other competing technologies such as Tkinter and PyQT are as follows:
- A standard set of components that includes all controls provided by the Windows UI framework. This set consists of components such as buttons, edits, menus, and so on. The VCL also extends some of these controls, offering you even more functionality than is normally provided by the Windows controls.
- An extended set of components that are not normally present in the Windows UI framework. These components are built on top of the standard set.
- Actions, a key concept extensively used in VCL applications, allows you to centralize all the interaction logic of your user interface.
- A number of data-aware controls can be linked to a data source at design time. These components are widely used in database applications.
- Ribbon controls that allow you to build the next generation of user interfaces that integrate nicely with the Windows Vista and Microsoft Office 2007 look-and-feel.
- FireDAC is a unique set of Universal Data Access Components for developing multi-device database applications for Delphi and C++Builder. With its powerful common architecture, FireDAC enables native high-speed direct access from Delphi to Interbase, SQLite, MySQL, SQL Server, Oracle, PostgreSQL, IBM DB2, SQL Anywhere, Access, Firebird, Informix, and more.
Watch this comprehensive introduction to Python GUI Development with DelphiVCL library video by Jim McKeeth:
Check out DelphiVCL which easily allows you to build GUIs for Windows using Python.
Check out Python4Delphi which easily allows you to build Python GUIs for Windows using Delphi.
References & further readings
[1] Embarcadero DocWiki. (2015).
Introducing the Visual Component Library (VCL). Embarcadero DocWiki. docwiki.embarcadero.com/RADStudio/Athens/en/ Introducing_the_Visual_Component_Library_(VCL)
[2] Embarcadero DocWiki. (2012).
Unit List. Embarcadero DocWiki. docwiki.embarcadero.com/Libraries/Sydney/en/ Unit_List