Prolog, Delphi, Paradox

Appeared in Volume 10/2, May 1997

pol@cs.unimaas.nl
Ruud van der Pol
6th November 1996

I want to call a Prolog program from a Delphi-application, vv. Additionally, I want to consult a Paradox database from both Delphi and Prolog. From the Amzi Web pages, I infer that this is possible with Amzi Prolog and its Logic Server.

I am curious if anyone has done this sort of things with Amzi already, or with any other Prolog? And whether it was easy or not?

lpa@cix.compulink.co.uk
Clive Spenser
8th November 1996

LPA have an "Intelligence Server' for bolting LPA Prolog based applications on to VB, Delphi, C++ in a simple and portable manner.

An ODBC-based version of the ProData Database Interface toolkit is also available.

mbonnaud@francenet.fr
Marc Bonnaud
11th November 1996

I'd like to add my requirements: I'd like Prolog rules to access Delphi objects. From what I've read about Amzi, the Prolog databases and rules can be accessed IN a Delphi object, but not the other way around. From what I've read on their Web site, LPA Prolog requires that the objects be managed from within Prolog, which seems less practical. Any answers to this?

mary@amzi.com
Mary Kroening
11th November 1996

I can clarify things a bit (this is the Amzi vendor speaking). Any language that can call a DLL, can easily manipulate the Amzi! Prolog engine (Logic Server), and thus Amzi! Prolog programs. So it is easy to embed Prolog modules in Delphi code.

Languages that support function pointers can be used to implement extended predicates in Amzi!, so both C/C++ and Delphi can be used to build custom extensions to Amzi! Prolog. So Prolog code can call Delphi code.

You can build libraries of extended predicates in C/C++ or Delphi. Amzi! provides ODBC support as a collection of extended predicates that provide access to ODBC databases. Full source code is included (written in C/C++), and it can be easily modified to provide a range of database functions.

There are a number of Delphi/Amzi! demos on our Web site, http://www.amzi.com. Each comes with fully annotated source code in the help file, so you can see exactly what it takes to implement them. There is also an ODBC/Amzi! demo, illustrating that technique.