Using Assert

In a project that I herited there is massive use of Assert. Personally I did not use Assert that much, but it has some nice advantages during developing an application. (More info on Assertion in general)

What does it do?
Assert can be used as a debug tool. Assert tests boolean expression, and will halt execution if that expression is not true. If that happens, it will raise an EAssertionFailed exception.

How to use it?
This is an example, how you can use Assert in your code.

procedure TForm3.DoIt(AStringList : TStrings);
begin
  Assert(Assigned(AStringList), 'Test ');
  ShowMessage(AStringList.Text);
end;

procedure TForm3.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
begin
  DoIt(nil);
end;

Clicking the button will raise the EAssertionFailed exception:



Generally you don't want that the end users see this message. Therefor you can disable/enable assertion throug the $C directive or your project options dialog. If you disable Assertion, the example code will lead to an Acces violation, so normal exception tracking is needed anyhow.

The Delphi help about Assert:

The $C directive enables or disables the generation of code for assertions in a Delphi source file. {$C+} is the default.

Since assertions are not usually used at runtime in shipping versions of a product, compiler directives that disable the generation of code for assertions are provided. {$C-} will disable assertions.