Getting started with Kitto^x

Kitto^x is compatible from Delphi 10.4 up to the latest version. The fastest way to see what it can do is to try the four sample applications — HelloKitto, TasKitto, KEmployee and Sport Club Manager — either live in your browser or compiled and running on your own machine.

There are two ways to get started, and you can mix them freely:

• Learn from the demos — compile and run a sample application, then read its YAML and Delphi code to see how the pieces fit together. Start here if you want to understand the framework.
• Build your own — scaffold a new application with the KIDE^x wizard and point it at your database. Start here if you already know what you want to build.

Most newcomers begin with the demos.

See it working right now — the live demos

The examples are published online, so you can explore a real Kitto^x UI in your browser with no setup at all:

• Open the live demos — see the live demos page for the full credential list).

Run the demos on your own machine

When you want to see the demos build and run in your environment, all you need is:

• Delphi 10.4 or later — any edition, Professional included. The bundled FireDAC/dbExpress client-server drivers (SQL Server, PostgreSQL, Oracle, remote Firebird) require Delphi Enterprise/Architect; on Professional you reach a client/server DBMS through a third-party provider such as ODAC (already supported via EF.DB.ODAC). See supported Delphi versions and editions.
• A development database server to host the example's data. Each example ships ready-made scripts to create and populate its database on SQL Server, PostgreSQL, Firebird or Oracle.

You do not need to install any Kitto^x package into the IDE: the framework has no design-time components, so there is nothing to register — you just open an example project, compile and run it, then navigate to it in a browser.

• Compiling and running the demos — the full walkthrough: preparing the database, the UseKitto unit that enables the database engines, and pointing an example at your own database.

After looking at the examples, dive into Kitto^x's basic concepts.

Creating your own application

When you are ready to build your own application, first set up your development environment:

• Configuring Delphi
• Configuring the Web Server

Then the recommended path is the visual tooling in KIDE^x:

1. New Project Wizard — scaffolds the complete project (.dpr/.dproj, Home/Metadata, Config.yaml, UseKitto.pas) for the deployment modes you pick.
2. Model Wizard — reverse-engineers Models from your existing database tables.
3. DataView Wizard — generates List/Form views from those Models.

You can then refine everything visually in the Config Editor, Model Editor and View & Layout Editor. Prefer to work by hand? See the manual alternative in Configuring Delphi.

Start in Desktop mode, deploy later

When the wizard asks which deployment modes to generate, pick Standalone (Desktop GUI) for development: it runs as an ordinary Delphi .exe under the debugger, so you can breakpoint your rules and controllers. You can add the production modes (Windows Service, ISAPI, Apache…) at any time — they share the very same YAML and code and differ only in the host unit. See Deployment.

Happy Kittoing!