in MDI Development :: A user ("Commodianus") of the About Delphi Programming Forum posted a question Count MDI Children of Class: I have two types of MDI Child forms in my application. How might I go about counting each one? One is TFrmStatus the Other is FrmChannel. How do I know how many TFrmStatus children are alive?

Read the full article to learn how to Get the MDI Child Count By Child Class Name

Related:

• MDI Tips and Tricks
• Create New or Show Already Created Child Form?
• Remove MDI Child Title Bar

in Delphi TIPS ::

In Delphi 2006 (both Win32 and .Net) you can apply a special {$REGION 'Region Name'} directive to mark a "named" collapsible regions in the code editor.

To mark code as a region, surround it with the REGION and ENDREGION directives. You may include a caption that will be displayed when the code is folded and hidden.

Read the full tip to learn how to Create Collapsible Code Blocks in Delphi Code Editor using the {$REGION} directive.

Related: A First Look at (Borland Developer Studio) Delphi 2006 | Using Delphi Compiler Directives | How to enable .NET Compiler Warnings when using the dcc32 compiler?

in VCL to the Max ::
To have a more eye-caching user friendly interface you might want to decide to add graphics, change the color and the font style of a StatusBar Panel. Delphi's owner drawing technique let's you do that. Learn how...

Read the full article the learn about Drawing on a TStatusBar's Panel Delphi control: Styling a Panel with Background Color, Font Color, Graphics.

Related: Understanding Owner Drawing in Delphi | Placing a TProgressBar into a TStatusBar | Implementing the OnClick for a TStatusBar Panel

in Delphi Challenges :: The "UnCamelCase" challenge was a simple one, therefore I'm giving 5 points of fame and glory to all who participated :))

Some entries are faster some are slower, some use chars, some strings, some even use ASM...

Read the full article to learn who (you?) submitted accepted entries: Challenge Results: UnCamelCaseThisString Delphi Algoritm

Related:

• Delphi Challenges
• RTL Examples
• Delphi Tutorials / Online Courses

in Delphi 2010 Launch :: 13/10/2009. Delphi / RAD Studio launch in Zagreb, Croatia. Along with representatives of KONTO Pozega (local Embarcadero partner) a distributor for the Western Balkans, the new RAD Studio 2010 included special guests: Mr Mark Barringer, sales manager for Europe and senior consultant for database tools, and Mr. Pawel Glowacki, chief technician for RAD Studio for Europe within the Embarcadero. Here's a breakdown of the event.

Read the full article to get more on Delphi / RAD Studio 2010 Launch in Zagreb, Croatia.

in Delphi TIPS ::
The TBitBtn Delphi control is a button control that can include a bitmap on its face.

The Glyph property specifies the bitmap that appears on the bitmap button.

By design, the Glyph property can only display BMP (Windows Bitmap) images.

Read the full article to learn how to Use an Icon for a Glyph on a TBitBtn Delphi control with the help of TImageList

Related : Download FREE Icons and Glyphs | How to Convert a Bitmap to a Cursor | How to exchange Bitmap images between two TImageList components

in Using Delphi VCL ::
Delphi's TStatusBar control displays a row of panels, usually aligned at the bottom of a form. The Panels property of the TStatusBar control is a collection of TStatusPanel objects.

The TStatusBar exposes the OnClick event that gets fired when the user clicks the control.

Unfortunatelly, there's no "Panel Click" event to be fired when a particular Status Panel is clicked.

Read the full article to learn how to know what StatusBar Panel was Clicked

Related: Placing a TProgressBar into a TStatusBar | Get the Url of a Hyperlink when the Mouse moves | TMemoBar - T(Custom)Memo extender Delphi component

in Free VCL Sets :: Looking for a free source multi-purpose Delphi component collection to add more power to your applications? Look no more, here's a list of the best Delphi component sets (free with source) on the Net!

The list includes the GT Delphi Components. GT Component Pack is a freeware set of visual and non-visual components distributed will full source code.
Some of the components (their names): TgtFileInfo, TgtAutoAppStarter, TgtDateCtrlManager, TgtSplashScreen, TgtYouTubeVideoPlayer, TgtMenuTreeView, ...

Read the full article to locate more Free Delphi Component Sets

Related:

• A warning on dynamically instantiating Delphi components
• Creating Delphi components dynamically (at run-time)
• Creating and enhancing VCL components

in Delphi Does PDF :: If you need to create, edit and manipulate PDF documents from your Delphi applications, there are quite a few libraries you can choose from: PDF managing tools for Delphi.

I have a Delphi application that needs to validate existing PDF documents. One task is to get (and optionally change) the version of the PDF document, check if it is password protected in any way and check if it is optimized for fast web view (and optimize if needed). I did try a few native Delphi PDF tools but was unlucky to find one that does it all.

After searching the Internet for a PDF library I could use, I've stumbled on an open source C++ QPDF - a command-line program that does structural, content-preserving transformations on PDF files.

QPDF is capable of creating linearized (also known as web-optimized) files and encrypted files. It is also capable of converting PDF files with object streams (also known as compressed objects) to files with no compressed objects or to generate object streams from files that don't have them (or even those that already do).

QPDF is not a PDF content creation library, a PDF viewer, or a program capable of converting PDF into other formats. In particular, QPDF knows nothing about the semantics of PDF content streams. Once you have a valid PDF file, QPDF can be used to transform that file in ways perhaps your original PDF creation can't handle. For example, programs generate simple PDF files but can't password-protect them, web-optimize them, or perform other transformations of that type.

Read the full article to learn about TQPDF - Delphi Wrapper for the QPDF Library

Note: if you are looking for a Delphi library that supports PDF creation, manipulation, etc. take a look at Quick PDF Library. Quick PDF Library (Delphi source code, royalty-free PDF developer SDK) is a comprehensive set of functions that allow you to create, render, print split, merge, encrypt, modify and manipulate PDF form fields. It also provides advanced support for JavaScript.

Related:

• PDF Managing Tools for Delphi
• How To Use Adobe Acrobat (PDF) Files in a Delphi Application
• Dynamic Link Libraries (DLL) and Delphi

in Delphi TIPS ::
Every Delphi control, descendant of the TControl class, exposes two methods you can use to convert point coordinates: ScreenToClient and ClientToScreen.

In screen coordinates (0, 0) corresponds to the upper left corner of the screen.

In client area coordinates (0, 0) corresponds to the upper left corner of the control's client area.

Read the full tip to find out when and how to use ScreenToClient and ClientToScreen

Related: Implemention OnMouseOver for Items in a TComboBox. | How to Move and Resize Controls at Run Time | TreeView with check boxes and radio buttons