Delphi 5 developer's guide

1113 Pages·2000·14.4 MB·English

by  Xavier Pacheco

Developer’s Guide
Borland®
Delphi™ 7
for Windows™
Borland Software Corporation
100 Enterprise Way, Scotts Valley, CA 95066-3249
www.borland.com
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Printed in the U.S.A.
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D3
Contents
Chapter 1 Using object variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-7
Introduction 1-1 Creating, instantiating, and destroying
objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-8
What’s in this manual? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-1
Components and ownership. . . . . . . . . 4-9
Manual conventions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-2
Defining new classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-9
Developer support services. . . . . . . . . . . . 1-3
Using interfaces. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-12
Part I Using interfaces across the hierarchy . . . . 4-13
Programming with Delphi Using interfaces with procedures . . . . . . 4-14
Implementing IInterface . . . . . . . . . . . 4-14
TInterfacedObject . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-15
Chapter 2
Using the as operator with interfaces . . . . 4-16
Developing applications with Delphi 2-1
Reusing code and delegation. . . . . . . . . 4-16
Integrated development environment. . . . . . 2-1 Using implements for delegation . . . . 4-17
Designing applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-2 Aggregation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-18
Creating projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-3 Memory management of interface
Editing code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-4 objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-18
Compiling applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-4 Using reference counting . . . . . . . . 4-19
Debugging applications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-5 Not using reference counting . . . . . . 4-20
Deploying applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-5 Using interfaces in distributed
applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-21
Chapter 3
Using the component library 3-1 Chapter 5
Using BaseCLX 5-1
Understanding the component library . . . . . 3-1
Properties, methods, and events . . . . . . . 3-3 Using streams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-2
Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-3 Using streams to read or write data. . . . . 5-2
Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-4 Stream methods for reading
Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-4 and writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-2
User events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-4 Reading and writing components . . . 5-3
System events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-4 Reading and writing strings . . . . . . . 5-3
Internal events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-4 Copying data from one stream
Objects, components, and controls. . . . . . . . 3-5 to another. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-4
TObject branch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-6 Specifying the stream position and size. . . 5-4
TPersistent branch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-7 Seeking to a specific position . . . . . . 5-4
TComponent branch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-7 Using Position and Size properties . . . 5-5
TControl branch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-9 Working with files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-5
TWinControl/TWidgetControl branch . . .3-10 Approaches to file I/O . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-6
Using file streams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-6
Chapter 4 Creating and opening files using
Using the object model 4-1 file streams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-7
What is an object? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-1 Using the file handle . . . . . . . . . . . 5-8
Examining a Delphi object . . . . . . . . . . 4-2 Manipulating files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-8
Changing the name of a component . . . . . 4-4 Deleting a file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-8
Inheriting data and code from an object. . . . . 4-5 Finding a file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-8
Scope and qualifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-5 Renaming a file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-10
Private, protected, public, and published File date-time routines . . . . . . . . . . 5-10
declarations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-6 Copying a file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-11
iii
Working with ini files and the system Creating a simple conversion family
Registry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-11 andaddingunits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-34
Using TIniFile and TMemIniFile . . . . 5-12 Declare variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-35
Using TRegistryIniFile . . . . . . . . . 5-13 Register the conversion family . . . . . 5-35
Using TRegistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-13 Register measurement units . . . . . . . 5-35
Working with lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-14 Use the new units . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-35
Common list operations. . . . . . . . . . . 5-15 Using a conversion function . . . . . . . . . 5-36
Adding list items . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-15 Declare variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-36
Deleting list items . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-15 Register the conversion family . . . . . 5-36
Accessing list items . . . . . . . . . . . 5-16 Register the base unit . . . . . . . . . . 5-36
Rearranging list items . . . . . . . . . . 5-16 Write methods to convert to and
Persistent lists. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-16 fromthebaseunit . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-36
Working with string lists . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-17 Register the other units . . . . . . . . . 5-37
Loading and saving string lists . . . . . . . 5-17 Use the new units . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-37
Creating a new string list . . . . . . . . . . 5-18 Using a class to manage conversions . . . . 5-37
Short-term string lists . . . . . . . . . . 5-18 Creating the conversion class . . . . . . 5-38
Long-term string lists . . . . . . . . . . 5-18 Declare variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-39
Manipulating strings in a list . . . . . . . . 5-20 Register the conversion family and
Counting the strings in a list . . . . . . 5-20 theotherunits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-39
Accessing a particular string . . . . . . 5-20 Use the new units . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-40
Locating items in a string list . . . . . . 5-20 Defining custom variants . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-40
Iterating through strings in a list . . . . 5-20 Storing a custom variant type’s data . . . . 5-41
Adding a string to a list . . . . . . . . . 5-21 Creating a class to enable the
Moving a string within a list . . . . . . 5-21 customvarianttype . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-42
Deleting a string from a list . . . . . . . 5-21 Enabling casting . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-42
Associating objects with a Implementing binary operations . . . . 5-44
string list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-22 Implementing comparison
Working with strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-22 operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-46
Wide character routines . . . . . . . . . . . 5-22 Implementing unary operations . . . . 5-47
Commonly used long string routines . . . 5-23 Copying and clearing custom variants . . . 5-48
Commonly used routines for Loading and saving custom
null-terminatedstrings. . . . . . . . . . . 5-26 variant values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-49
Declaring and initializing strings. . . . . . 5-27 Using the TCustomVariantType
Mixing and converting string types . . . . 5-28 descendant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-50
String to PChar conversions. . . . . . . . . 5-28 Writing utilities to work with a
String dependencies . . . . . . . . . . . 5-29 customvarianttype . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-50
Returning a PChar local variable . . . 5-29 Supporting properties and methods
Passing a local variable as incustomvariants. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-51
a PChar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-29 Using TInvokeableVariantType . . . . . 5-51
Compiler directives for strings . . . . . . . 5-30 Using TPublishableVariantType . . . . 5-53
Creating drawing spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-31
Chapter 6
Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-32
Converting measurements . . . . . . . . . . . 5-33 Working with components 6-1
Performing conversions . . . . . . . . . . . 5-33 Setting component properties . . . . . . . . . . 6-2
Performing simple conversions . . . . 5-33 Setting properties at design time . . . . . . 6-2
Performing complex conversions . . . 5-33 Using property editors . . . . . . . . . . 6-3
Adding new measurement types. . . . . . 5-34 Setting properties at runtime. . . . . . . . . 6-3
Calling methods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-3
iv
Working with events and event handlers . . . . 6-3 Adding graphics to controls. . . . . . . . . . . 7-13
Generating a new event handler . . . . . . . 6-4 Indicating that a control is
Generating a handler for a owner-drawn. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-13
component’sdefaultevent . . . . . . . . . 6-4 Adding graphical objects to
Locating event handlers . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-4 a string list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-14
Associating an event with an existing Adding images to an application . . . . 7-14
eventhandler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-5 Adding images to a string list . . . . . . 7-14
Using the Sender parameter . . . . . . . 6-5 Drawing owner-drawn items . . . . . . 7-15
Displaying and coding shared Sizing owner-draw items. . . . . . . . . . . 7-16
events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-5 Drawing owner-draw items . . . . . . . . . 7-17
Associating menu events with
Chapter 8
event handlers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-6
Deleting event handlers . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-6 Building applications, components,
Cross-platform and non-cross-platform and libraries 8-1
components. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-7
Creating applications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-1
Adding custom components to the
GUI applications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-2
Componentpalette. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-9
User interface models . . . . . . . . . . 8-2
Chapter 7 SDI applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-2
MDI applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-2
Working with controls 7-1
Setting IDE, project, and compiler
Implementing drag and drop in controls . . . . 7-1
options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-3
Starting a drag operation . . . . . . . . . . . 7-1
Programming templates . . . . . . . . . . . 8-3
Accepting dragged items . . . . . . . . . . . 7-2
Console applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-4
Dropping items. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-3
Service applications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-5
Ending a drag operation. . . . . . . . . . . . 7-3
Service threads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-8
Customizing drag and drop with
Service name properties . . . . . . . . . 8-9
a drag object. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-3
Debugging service applications . . . . . 8-10
Changing the drag mouse pointer . . . . . . 7-4
Creating packages and DLLs . . . . . . . . . . 8-11
Implementing drag and dock in controls . . . . 7-4
When to use packages and DLLs . . . . . . 8-11
Making a windowed control a
Writing database applications. . . . . . . . . . 8-12
docking site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-4
Distributing database applications . . . . . 8-13
Making a control a dockable child . . . . . . 7-5
Creating Web server applications. . . . . . . . 8-13
Controlling how child controls
Creating Web Broker applications. . . . . . 8-14
are docked. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-5
Creating WebSnap applications . . . . . . . 8-15
Controlling how child controls
Creating Web Services applications . . . . . 8-15
are undocked . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-6
Writing applications using COM . . . . . . . . 8-16
Controlling how child controls respond
Using COM and DCOM . . . . . . . . . . . 8-16
to drag-and-dockoperations . . . . . . . . 7-6
Using MTS and COM+ . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-16
Working with text in controls. . . . . . . . . . . 7-6
Using data modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-17
Setting text alignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-7
Creating and editing standard data
Adding scroll bars at runtime. . . . . . . . . 7-7
modules. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-17
Adding the clipboard object. . . . . . . . . . 7-8
Naming a data module and
Selecting text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-9
its unit file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-18
Selecting all text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-9
Placing and naming components . . . . 8-19
Cutting, copying, and pasting text . . . . . 7-10
Using component properties and
Deleting selected text . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-10
eventsinadatamodule . . . . . . . . 8-19
Disabling menu items . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-11
Creating business rules in a
Providing a pop-up menu. . . . . . . . . . 7-11
data module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-20
Handling the OnPopup event. . . . . . . . 7-12
v
Accessing a data module from a form . . . 8-20 Chapter 9
Adding a remote data module to an Developing the application
applicationserver project . . . . . . . . . 8-21
userinterface 9-1
Using the Object Repository . . . . . . . . . . 8-21
Sharing items within a project . . . . . . . 8-21 Controlling application behavior . . . . . . . . 9-1
Adding items to the Object Working at the application level. . . . . . . 9-2
Repository. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-22 Handling the screen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-2
Sharing objects in a team Setting up forms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-3
environment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-22 Using the main form . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-3
Using an Object Repository item in Hiding the main form. . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-3
a project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-22 Adding forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-4
Copying an item . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-22 Linking forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-4
Inheriting an item . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-23 Avoiding circular unit references . . . . 9-4
Using an item . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-23 Managing layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-5
Using project templates . . . . . . . . . . . 8-23 Using forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-6
Modifying shared items . . . . . . . . . . . 8-23 Controlling when forms reside
Specifying a default project, new form, in memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-6
andmainform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-24 Displaying an auto-created form . . . . 9-6
Enabling Help in applications . . . . . . . . . 8-24 Creating forms dynamically . . . . . . . 9-7
Help system interfaces. . . . . . . . . . . . 8-25 Creating modeless forms such
Implementing ICustomHelpViewer . . . . 8-25 as windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-8
Communicating with the Help Creating a form instance using
Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-26 a local variable . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-8
Asking the Help Manager for Passing additional arguments to forms. . . 9-8
information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-26 Retrieving data from forms. . . . . . . . . . 9-9
Displaying keyword-based Help. . . . . . 8-27 Retrieving data from modeless
Displaying tables of contents . . . . . . . . 8-28 forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-9
Implementing IExtendedHelpViewer . . . 8-28 Retrieving data from modal forms . . . 9-11
Implementing IHelpSelector . . . . . . . . 8-29 Reusing components and groups of
Registering Help system objects . . . . . . 8-30 components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-13
Registering Help viewers . . . . . . . . 8-30 Creating and using component
Registering Help selectors . . . . . . . 8-30 templates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-13
Using Help in a VCL application. . . . . . . . 8-31 Working with frames. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-14
How TApplication processes Creating frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-14
VCL Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-31 Adding frames to the Component
How VCL controls process Help . . . . . . 8-31 palette. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-15
Using Help in a CLX application. . . . . . . . 8-32 Using and modifying frames. . . . . . . . . 9-15
How TApplication processes Sharing frames. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-16
CLX Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-32 Developing dialog boxes. . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-17
How CLX controls process Help . . . . . . 8-32 Using open dialog boxes . . . . . . . . . . . 9-17
Calling a Help system directly . . . . . . . . . 8-33 Organizing actions for toolbars
Using IHelpSystem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-33 and menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-18
Customizing the IDE Help system. . . . . . . 8-34 What is an action?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-19
Setting up action bands. . . . . . . . . . . . 9-20
vi
Creating toolbars and menus . . . . . . . . 9-20 Manipulating menu items at runtime. . . . 9-44
Adding color, patterns, or pictures Merging menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-44
tomenus,buttons,and toolbars . . . 9-22 Specifying the active menu: Menu
Adding icons to menus and property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-45
toolbars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-22 Determining the order of merged menu
Selecting menu and toolbar styles . . . 9-23 items: GroupIndex property . . . . . . 9-45
Creating dynamic menus . . . . . . . . 9-24 Importing resource files . . . . . . . . . . . 9-45
Creating toolbars and menus that Designing toolbars and cool bars . . . . . . . . 9-46
userscancustomize . . . . . . . . . . 9-24 Adding a toolbar using a panel
Hiding unused items and categories component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-47
inactionbands . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-24 Adding a speed button to a panel . . . 9-47
Creating most recently used Assigning a speed button’s glyph . . . 9-48
(MRU) lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-25 Setting the initial condition of a
Using action lists. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-26 speed button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-48
Setting up action lists . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-26 Creating a group of speed buttons . . . 9-48
What happens when an action fires . . . . 9-27 Allowing toggle buttons . . . . . . . . . 9-49
Responding with events . . . . . . . . 9-27 Adding a toolbar using the toolbar
How actions find their targets . . . . . 9-29 component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-49
Updating actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-29 Adding a tool button . . . . . . . . . . . 9-49
Predefined action classes . . . . . . . . . . 9-30 Assigning images to tool buttons . . . . 9-50
Writing action components . . . . . . . . . 9-31 Setting tool button appearance and
Registering actions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-31 initialconditions . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-50
Creating and managing menus. . . . . . . . . 9-32 Creating groups of tool buttons . . . . . 9-51
Opening the Menu Designer . . . . . . . . 9-33 Allowing toggled tool buttons . . . . . 9-51
Building menus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-34 Adding a cool bar component . . . . . . . . 9-51
Naming menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-34 Setting the appearance of the
Naming the menu items . . . . . . . . 9-34 cool bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-52
Adding, inserting, and deleting Responding to clicks . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-52
menu items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-35 Assigning a menu to a tool button . . . 9-52
Adding separator bars . . . . . . . . . 9-36 Adding hidden toolbars . . . . . . . . . . . 9-53
Specifying accelerator keys and Hiding and showing toolbars . . . . . . . . 9-53
keyboardshortcuts . . . . . . . . . . 9-36 Demo programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-53
Creating submenus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-37 Common controls and XP themes. . . . . . . . 9-54
Creating submenus by demoting
Chapter 10
existingmenus . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-37
Moving menu items . . . . . . . . . . . 9-38 Types of controls 10-1
Adding images to menu items . . . . . 9-38 Text controls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-1
Viewing the menu . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-39 Edit controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-1
Editing menu items in the Object Memo and rich edit controls . . . . . . 10-2
Inspector. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-39 Text viewing controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-3
Using the Menu Designer context Labels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-3
menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-40 Specialized input controls . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-4
Commands on the context menu . . . 9-40 Scroll bars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-4
Switching between menus at Track bars. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-5
design time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-41 Up-down controls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-5
Using menu templates. . . . . . . . . . . . 9-41 Spin edit controls (CLX only) . . . . . . . . 10-5
Saving a menu as a template . . . . . . . . 9-43 Hot key controls (VCL only) . . . . . . . . . 10-6
Naming conventions for template Splitter controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-6
menu itemsandevent handlers . . . 9-44
vii
Buttons and similar controls . . . . . . . . . . 10-6 Using ModelMaker views . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-4
Button controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-7 Collections pane. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-5
Bitmap buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-7 Classes view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-5
Speed buttons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-8 Units view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-5
Check boxes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-8 Diagrams view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-6
Radio buttons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-8 Members pane. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-7
Toolbars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-9 Editors pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-7
Cool bars (VCL only). . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-9 Implementation Editor . . . . . . . . . . 11-7
List controls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-9 Unit Code Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-8
List boxes and check-list boxes . . . . . . . 10-10 Diagram Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-9
Combo boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-11 Other Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-9
Tree views. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-11 For more information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-10
List views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-12
Chapter 12
Icon views (CLX only) . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-12
Date-time pickers and month Working with graphics and
calendars. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-12 multimedia 12-1
Grouping controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-12
Overview of graphics programming . . . . . . 12-1
Group boxes and radio groups . . . . . . . 10-13
Refreshing the screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-2
Panels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-13
Types of graphic objects . . . . . . . . . . . 12-3
Scroll boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-13
Common properties and methods
Tab controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-14
of Canvas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-4
Page controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-14
Using the properties of the Canvas
Header controls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-14
object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-5
Display controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-15
Using pens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-5
Status bars. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-15
Using brushes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-8
Progress bars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-15
Reading and setting pixels . . . . . . . 12-9
Help and hint properties . . . . . . . . . . 10-16
Using Canvas methods to draw
Grids. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-16
graphic objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-10
Draw grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-16
Drawing lines and polylines . . . . . 12-10
String grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-16
Drawing shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-11
Value list editors (VCL only) . . . . . . . . . . 10-17
Handling multiple drawing objects
Graphic controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-18
inyourapplication . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-12
Images. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-18
Keeping track of which drawing
Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-18
tool to use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-12
Bevels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-18
Changing the tool with speed
Paint boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-19
buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-13
Animation control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-19
Using drawing tools . . . . . . . . . . 12-14
Chapter 11 Drawing on a graphic. . . . . . . . . . . . 12-16
Making scrollable graphics . . . . . . 12-17
Designing classes and
Adding an image control . . . . . . . 12-17
components with ModelMaker 11-1
Loading and saving graphics files. . . . . 12-19
ModelMaker fundamentals. . . . . . . . . . . 11-2 Loading a picture from a file . . . . . 12-19
ModelMaker models. . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-2 Saving a picture to a file . . . . . . . . 12-20
Using ModelMaker with the IDE. . . . . . 11-2 Replacing the picture . . . . . . . . . . 12-20
Creating models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-3
viii
Using the clipboard with graphics . . . . . 12-21 Executing thread objects . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-12
Copying graphics to the Overriding the default priority . . . . . . 13-12
clipboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-22 Starting and stopping threads . . . . . . . 13-12
Cutting graphics to the clipboard . . . 12-22 Debugging multi-threaded applications . . . 13-13
Pasting graphics from the Naming a thread. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-13
clipboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-23 Converting an unnamed thread
Rubber banding example . . . . . . . . . . 12-24 toanamedthread . . . . . . . . . . 13-13
Responding to the mouse . . . . . . . . 12-24 Assigning separate names to
Responding to a mouse-down similar threads . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-15
action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-25
Chapter 14
Adding a field to a form object to
trackmouseactions . . . . . . . . . . 12-27 Exception handling 14-1
Refining line drawing . . . . . . . . . . 12-28 Defining protected blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-2
Working with multimedia . . . . . . . . . . . 12-30 Writing the try block . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-2
Adding silent video clips to an Raising an exception . . . . . . . . . . . 14-3
application. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-30 Writing exception handlers. . . . . . . . . . 14-4
Example of adding silent Exception-handling statements . . . . . 14-4
video clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-31 Handling classes of exceptions . . . . . 14-6
Adding audio and/or video clips to Scope of exception handlers . . . . . . . 14-6
an application. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-32 Reraising exceptions . . . . . . . . . . . 14-7
Example of adding audio and/or Writing finally blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-8
video clips (VCL only) . . . . . . . . 12-33 Writing a finally block . . . . . . . . . . 14-9
Handling exceptions in VCL
Chapter 13
applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-9
Writing multi-threaded applications 13-1
VCL exception classes . . . . . . . . . . . 14-10
Defining thread objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-2 Default exception handling in VCL . . . . 14-11
Initializing the thread . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-3 Silent exceptions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-12
Assigning a default priority . . . . . . 13-3 Defining your own VCL exceptions. . . . 14-13
Indicating when threads are freed . . . 13-4
Chapter 15
Writing the thread function . . . . . . . . . 13-4
Using the main VCL/CLX thread . . . 13-4 Developing cross-platform
Using thread-local variables . . . . . . 13-6 applications 15-1
Checking for termination by other
Creating CLX applications. . . . . . . . . . . . 15-2
threads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-6
Porting VCL applications . . . . . . . . . . . . 15-2
Handling exceptions in the thread
Porting techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15-2
function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-6
Platform-specific ports . . . . . . . . . . 15-3
Writing clean-up code . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-7
Cross-platform ports . . . . . . . . . . . 15-3
Coordinating threads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-7
Windows emulation ports . . . . . . . . 15-3
Avoiding simultaneous access . . . . . . . 13-7
Modifying VCL applications. . . . . . . . . 15-4
Locking objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-8
WinCLX versus VisualCLX. . . . . . . . . . 15-5
Using critical sections . . . . . . . . . . 13-8
What VisualCLX does differently . . . . 15-6
Using the multi-read exclusive-write
Features that do not port directly
synchronizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-8
or are missing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15-7
Other techniques for sharing
Comparing WinCLX and
memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-9
VisualCLX units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15-8
Waiting for other threads . . . . . . . . . . 13-9
Differences in CLX object constructors . . 15-11
Waiting for a thread to finish
Handling system and widget events . . . 15-12
executing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-10
Waiting for a task to be
completed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-10
ix
Writing portable code . . . . . . . . . . . . 15-12 Editing package source files
Using conditional directives . . . . . . 15-13 manually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16-10
Terminating conditional Compiling packages . . . . . . . . . . . . 16-10
directives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15-14 Package-specific compiler
Including inline assembler code . . . . 15-15 directives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16-11
Programming differences on Linux . . . . 15-16 Compiling and linking from the
Transferring applications between command line . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16-13
WindowsandLinux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15-17 Package files created when
Sharing source files between compiling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16-13
WindowsandLinux . . . . . . . . . . . . 15-17 Deploying packages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16-14
Environmental differences between Deploying applications that use
WindowsandLinux . . . . . . . . . . . . 15-18 packages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16-14
Registry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15-20 Distributing packages to other
Look and feel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15-20 developers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16-14
Directory structure on Linux . . . . . . . . 15-20 Package collection files . . . . . . . . . . . 16-14
Cross-platform database applications . . . . . 15-21
Chapter 17
dbExpress differences . . . . . . . . . . . . 15-22
Component-level differences . . . . . . . . 15-22 Creating international applications 17-1
User interface-level differences . . . . . . . 15-23 Internationalization and localization . . . . . . 17-1
Porting database applications Internationalization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17-1
to Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15-24 Localization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17-2
Updating data in dbExpress Internationalizing applications . . . . . . . . . 17-2
applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15-26 Enabling application code . . . . . . . . . . 17-2
Cross-platform Internet applications . . . . . 15-28 ~Character sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17-2
Porting Internet applications OEM and ANSI character sets . . . . . 17-3
to Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15-28 Multibyte character sets . . . . . . . . . 17-3
Wide characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17-4
Chapter 16
Including bi-directional functionality
Working with packages and
inapplications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17-4
components 16-1 BiDiMode property . . . . . . . . . . . . 17-4
Locale-specific features . . . . . . . . . 17-7
Why use packages? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16-2
Designing the user interface . . . . . . . . . 17-7
Packages and standard DLLs . . . . . . . . 16-2
Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17-7
Runtime packages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16-3
Graphic images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17-8
Loading packages in an application . . . . 16-3
Formats and sort order . . . . . . . . . . 17-8
Loading packages with the
Keyboard mappings . . . . . . . . . . . 17-8
LoadPackage function . . . . . . . . . . 16-4
Isolating resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17-8
Deciding which runtime packages
Creating resource DLLs. . . . . . . . . . . . 17-9
to use. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16-4
Using resource DLLs . . . . . . . . . . . . 17-10
Custom packages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16-5
Dynamic switching of resource DLLs. . . 17-11
Design-time packages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16-5
Localizing applications. . . . . . . . . . . . . 17-12
Installing component packages. . . . . . . 16-6
Localizing resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . 17-12
Creating and editing packages . . . . . . . . . 16-7
Creating a package. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16-7
Editing an existing package. . . . . . . . . 16-8
Understanding the structure of
a package . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16-8
Naming packages . . . . . . . . . . . . 16-8
Requires clause . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16-9
Contains clause . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16-9
x