Borland Delphi 7 Decompiler -

Borland Delphi 7, released in 2002, remains a popular legacy rapid application development (RAD) tool. It compiles Object Pascal source code into native x86 executables (EXEs) or dynamic link libraries (DLLs). Unlike .NET or Java bytecode, Delphi produces raw machine code, making decompilation significantly more complex. However, due to Delphi’s predictable metadata structures (forms, RTTI, string tables, and method prologues), targeted decompilation tools can recover a high-level approximation of the original source code.

This write-up explores the principles, tools, and limitations of decompiling Delphi 7 binaries. borland delphi 7 decompiler

Delphi 7 forms are stored in binary resources (RCDATA). A decompiler can extract these, converting them back into text-based .dfm files. This means you can literally see the form layout, component hierarchy, and property assignments as they were designed visually. Borland Delphi 7, released in 2002, remains a

| Tool | Price | Source Code Recovery | Form Recovery | Ease of Use | |------|-------|----------------------|---------------|--------------| | IDR | Free | Good (flat Pascal) | Excellent | Medium | | DeDe (old) | Free | Fair (only signatures) | Good | Low | | IDA Pro + Plugins | ~$1,600+ | Poor (C pseudo-code) | Medium | Low (expert) | | ReFox (for Delphi Prism) | N/A | Not for Delphi 7 | N/A | N/A | | Tool | Price | Source Code Recovery

For serious reverse engineering, IDA Pro with a Delphi signature file (FLIRT) or the Hex-Rays Decompiler is essential.

| Artifact | Recoverable? | Quality | |----------|--------------|---------| | Form layout (DFM) | ✅ Yes | Perfect (text .dfm) | | Component properties | ✅ Yes | Perfect | | Event handler names (e.g., Button1Click) | ✅ Yes | Exact | | Global variables & constants | ✅ Yes (from RTTI) | Good | | Method implementation (body) | ⚠️ Partial | Assembly→Pseudo-Pascal with goto | | Local variable names | ❌ No | Replaced with local_1, local_2 | | Inline assembly | ✅ Yes (as asm...end) | Exact | | Optimized loops | ❌ Poor | Broken into jumps | | try/except/finally | ⚠️ Partial | Often malformed | | case statement | ⚠️ Partial | Recovered as if-else chain | | String/AnsiString operations | ✅ Yes | Recognizable (LStrXXX calls mapped) |