[fpc-pascal] The new Delphi compatible unicode string

[Juha Manninen]

There are now 2 projects working on the same HTML component, one is HtmlPort
by Phil Hess, one is HtmlViewer maintained in Google Code.
I am trying to figure out the right way to modernize the code.
There is an idea to support all string types in old Delphis and new Delphis
and 3rd party Delphi Unicode libs and then FPC/Lazarus.
The code is already full of IFDEFs and it would be even more so. Not good!

This component would really benefit from the Delphi2009 default string type.
All string encoding problems would be solved automatically.
The next logical idea is to wait until FPC has the Delphi compatible unicode
string, which is being developed in a branch (was it cpstrnew?).
No IFDEFs would be needed because of string types.

Now a question: is there any idea when the new string is ready for testing
and experimenting by application programmers?
I understood there are some fundamental design problems that need to be
solved.
Once they are solved and the code moves to a bug-hunting mode, the time is
right for application testing.

Note: I am not asking when the feature is ready and published, I am asking
when it can be tested with "real" programs.
The HTML rendering component would be a good test case when cleaning bugs of
the unicode feature.

Juha
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