Pascal Newsletter #34 - 03-APR-2002
INDEX
1. A FEW WORDS FROM THE EDITOR
2. IN THE NEWS
- Borland TeamSource DSP now available
3. APPLICATIONS WITHOUT VCL (I)
4. ASSEMBLER IN DELPHI
5. TTRAYCOMPONENT
6. STOP WINDOWS FROM DISPLAYING CRITICAL ERROR MESSAGES
7. SHOWING WINDOWS "OPEN FOLDER" DIALOG (II)
8. FORUMS
9. DELPHI ON THE NET
- Components, Libraries and Utilities
. Shareware/Commercial
. Freeware
- Articles, Tips and Tricks
. Kylix
- Tutorials
________________________________________________________________________
1. A FEW WORDS FROM THE EDITOR
Hello folks,
Here it is - my second newsletter, number 34 in the Latium Software
history.
I'd like to thank the authors for the articles collaborated for this
issue, and I'm glad to award José Manuel Rodríguez (JMR) the license
of Greatis Print Suite, a set of components for print and preview,
provided by Greatis Software:
http://www.greatis.com/delphicb/printsuite/
In the next issue, one of our collaborators will receive a license of
SMImport, a component suite to convert from all popular data formats,
provided by Scalabium:
http://www.scalabium.com/smi/index.htm
Thanks to Demian Lessa, the Portuguese edition of this newsletter is
now a reality:
* Boletim Pascal
http://www.latiumsoftware.com/br/pascal/index.php
If you want to receive the Boletim Pascal, you can subscribe from the
web (Yahoo! ID required - you can register to get yours free if you
don't have one) or -more easily- by email:
http://br.groups.yahoo.com/group/boletim-pascal/join
boletim-pascal-subscribe@yahoogrupos.com.br
As you'll see, I have also made an HTML version of this newsletter. I
plan to do this every time from now, since HTML offers much more and
nicer options to display data. This way you can go for the plain text
newsletter by simply reading on this mail, or you can surf to the URL
and read the nicer HTML version:
http://www.latiumsoftware.com/en/pascal/newsletter34.html
I am looking for implementations of AI in Delphi for my personal
artificial intelligence site http://www.futureai.com --which is
undergoing a major restructure--. If the contribution is good enough,
you will get a free 10 Kb space on FutureAI.com (mail me for more
info) and you will also get an article on this newsletter.
Now on to the articles!
Charl Linssen
eds2008 @ latiumsoftware.com
__________________
Collaborated in this issue: Dave Murray.
________________________________________________________________________
JfControls Library. Multi-language. Multi-appearance. Skins. Privileges.
More than 40 integrated and customizable components. Impressive GUI.
Centralized resources administration. Multiple programming problems
solved. For Delphi 3-2006 & C++ Builder 3-6. http://www.jfactivesoft.com
________________________________________________________________________
2. IN THE NEWS
Borland TeamSource DSP now available
====================================
Borland TeamSource DSP is a collaborative development platform for
distributed teams. In plain English, if you need to coordinate the work
of your software development staff thru the Internet, then TeamSource
DSP might be the solution you are looking for. TeamSource DSP is not
software... well it involves software, but basically it's a service
(a web services solution hosted on a Borland's server, to be precise),
and it is charged as a subscription on a per user and per month basis.
To learn more about Borland TeamSource DSP and take the tour, visit
TeamSource DSP's main page at http://www.borland.com/teamsource/
________________________________________________________________________
Greatis Print Suite Pro - An extremely convenient set of VCL components
which provides advanced print and preview features into Delphi and C++
Builder applications. Forget BeginDoc, EndDoc, NewPage and other low-
level printing procedures, just draw your print job and Print Suite will
handle the rest! >>>>> http://www.greatis.com/delphicb/printsuite/ <<<<<
________________________________________________________________________
3. APPLICATIONS WITHOUT VCL (I)
By José Manuel Rodríguez (JMR)
CopyRight: JMR, Madrid 1997/1999/2002
Delphi's VCL allows us to do in a few minutes extraordinary things that
in other environments would take hours and hours. However this comes at
a price, which is the footprint the VCL leaves in the final product.
Every time we use a new component a good part of the code of all VCL
units that directly or indirectly provide support for this component,
including ancestors and some related components, gets linked in our
executable or DLL (SmartLinking ensures that only referenced code gets
linked, not all the code in these units, but anyway it's still a lot of
code). Of course, this only happens the first time we use a new
component. The components of this type or related types that get added
later produce much smaller size increments (good part of the common
ancestors is already included by the use of other components), but in
the beginning, or when adding certain components, we get brutal size
increments. For example, the use of a simple TButton produces a sudden
increment of the code size in the order of 150-200K, although from then
on, for each standard control that we add, the total size will just
suffer an increment of 1 or 2K, but if for example we add a TListView,
the size gets increased a lot one more time, but again every new common
control that we add produces an insignificant increment in the size of
the final PE (portable executable).
The use of packages solves this problem somehow, but in the end, the
program plus the runtime (the packages) is bigger than the program
linked in the traditional way.
While doing without the comfort and versatility of the VCL for almost
any project that deserves to be called as such would be almost insane,
for minimum projects, like little servers, utilities and things of this
kind, or mainly for DLLs or console applications, the use of the VCL is
totally superfluous. Matter of fact, many times we don't use it, but
inadvertently we make references to it, causeing the inclusion of its
code in our final product. Normally the unnoticed references to the VCL
come from some visual aspect of our program, like user interaction
("show data to" or "get data from" the user).
Well, the routines of the unit APIDlgs presented here intend to solve
this problem, providing input and output dialog boxes that don't use
the VCL but instead they use standard Windows resources and Windows API
calls. Of course, the unit doesn't interfere with the VCL, so you can
use it without problems in a VCL-based application. In the examples
that accompany it, you can see a program using the VCL (withVCL.DPR),
taking 178K, and the same program using only APIDlgs (WithoutVCL.DPR),
taking just 42K! (you can see it by yourself). Anyway, in normal
applications it isn't feasible or desirable to do without the VCL, but
you'll find the functions included here more versatile than their VCL
counterparts (MessageDlg/InputDlg), so even if you use the VCL, you
might still want to use APIDlgs.
Description
===========
The unit contains two well differentiated function families. The first
(APIMsgShow, APIInput, and their decaffeinated sisters QuickShow and
QuickInput) uses standard Windows resources created with a conventional
resource editor, while the second (APIMsgBox and CriticalMsg) uses an
internal Windows function (the same used by the well-known MessageBox),
and therefore it uses resources contained in the Windows libraries.
Here goes the syntax of the functions:
function APIShowMsg(hParent: THandle; const cTitle, cText: String;
Buttons: TAPIDlgBtns; DefaultBtn: TAPIDlgBtn;
hIcon: THandle; HelpCtx: Integer): TAPIDlgBtn;
function QuickShow(cTitle, cText: String;
Buttons: TAPIDlgBtns): TAPIDlgBtn;
function APIInput(hParent: THandle; const cTitle, cText: String;
hIcon: THandle; HelpCtx: Integer): String;
function QuickInput(cTitle, cText: String): String;
-------
function APIMsgBox(hParent: THandle; const cTitle, cText: String;
WinFlags: LongInt; HelpCtx: Integer): LongInt;
procedure CriticalMsg(const Title, Text: String);
For time limitations, I'm omitting the explanations, but I hope the
functions are clear by themselves, and that a quick look at the source
code would be enough to understand the parameters and return values.
Comments
========
a) This unit is meant for 32 bits. It hasn't been tested in 16 bits but
except for APIMsgBox which is based on a Win32 API, I don't see why
it shouldn't work on Delphi 1 and Windows 3.1x.
b) The unit has been tested, although not thoroughly. No bug has been
found so far, but I cannot guarantee the unit is free of them.
c) All code is mine, but I'd like to thank the collaboration, tips, and
suggestions of some fellow programmers, mainly Nicolás Aragón
(nico@nicoaragon.com). The theory base can be found in books and
articles (PC Magazine USA) about 32 bits Windows by Charles Petzold
and mainly about Delphi by Neil J. Rubenking.
d) This unit can be used free of charge in compiled programs without
any kind of restriction, but --if you use it-- I would be grateful
if you mention the author in the credits of the program.
If it is distributed as source code, the whole package should be
distributed, free of charge, with all files in full, including
copyright notices.
This first part of the article includes the unit APIDlgs and a couple
of sample applications. In the second --and last-- part, I will
introduce the unit APIApp that would allow us more flexibility in the
creation of non-VCL applications.
Any suggestions, corrections or critics (constructive, of course) would
be welcome.
José Manuel Rodríguez <jmr@clubdelphi.com>
________________________________________________________________________
SMImport component suite 1.46 - Components for data loading from Text,
CSV, HTML, XML, MS Excel (without OLE), MS Access (without the BDE),
Lotus 1-2-3, QuattroPro and Paradox/DBF. Available for Delphi 3-6 and
CBuilder 3-6. Price $35. >>> http://www.scalabium.com/smi/index.htm <<<
________________________________________________________________________
4. ASSEMBLER IN DELPHI
By Max Kleiner <max@kleiner.com>
We have always found OP (Object Pascal) to produce fast and more
efficient code, add this to the RAD Environment of Delphi and Kylix
and the need to use assembler becomes questionable.
This article is somewhat of an extract from the excellent paper
"Learning Assembler with Delphi" from Ian Hodger at:
http://www.delphi3000.com/articles/article_2245.asp
It was the wish of my students to shorten it and say a few words about
debugging.
Attached to this newsletter you'll find an impressive assembler example
in a DOS-Shell, it's shows a graphic-fire on the screen (firefast.pas).
In all of our work with OP, we faced just five situations where we have
felt one should consider the use of low level system code:
1. Stepping & processing large quantities of data. Of course I exclude
from this any situation where a data query language with a query
optimizer is employed, but not always in an automation- or micro-
controller environment.
2. For scientific reasons to provide high speed simulations or just for
education with Compiler-Assembler-Linker-Loader steps. I call that
CALL.
3. For controller programming or to develop or test peripherals like
COM-devices, e.g. on how to detect free COM ports (as far as Windows
knows...) and call some functions Windows doesn't allow, i.e. does
not detect a COM port if a mouse is attached. Uses a DPMI call with
assembler.
4. High speed display routines; here we want quick and easy routines
that comes with OP, not the strange C++ headers, external function
libraries or confused hardware demands of DirectX.
5. Strong and fast encryption algorithms like ciphers, hashes or
checksums, so the core encoding and decoding routines are written in
highly optimized assembler code.
To say that writing machine code is cosy would be an understatement and
as for debugging an assembler language is just an easy way of
remembering what machine code operations are available. The job of
converting to machine code is done by an assembler, so Borland's Turbo
Assembler is built into Delphi.
Let's practice a little "Bit":
If we look at adding an integer 15 to the register eax, the appropriate
assembler instruction is
add eax,15 // a := a + 15
Almost the same, to subtract the value of ebx from eax
sub eax,ebx // a := a - b
To save a value for a happy day, we can move it to another register
mov eax,ecx // a := c
or even better, save the value to a memory address
mov [1733],eax // store value of eax at address 1733
and of course to retrieve it with
mov eax,[1733]
This means also the the largest number we can store in a register, e.g.
eax is 2 to the power 32 minus 1, or exactly 4294967295.
Bear in mind the size of the values you are moving about; the mov
[1733],eax instruction affects not only memory address 1733, but 1734,
1735 and 1736 as well, because as you will recall eax is 32 bits long,
or rather 4 bytes, therefore memory is always addressed in bytes!
Next step is the example:
step := step + 1;
we would write something like this:
mov eax, step
add eax, 1
mov step, eax
or simply:
inc step
Now we're ready for our first snippet of assembler, but let aside the
simple nature of this example. Consider the following lines of OP code:
function BigSum(A, B: integer): integer;
begin
result := A+B;
end;
OP provides the asm...end block as a method of introducing just plain
assembler to our code. So we could rewrite the function BigSum as:
function BigSum(A, B: integer): integer;
begin
asm
mov eax,A
add eax,B
mov result,eax
end;
end;
This works fine, but there is a point to consider. There is no speed
gain and we've lost the readability of our code. But the fact is, all
our sophisticated class design is "broken" by an assembler.
You can also write complete procedures and functions using inline
assembler code, without including a begin...end statement, e.g.:
function LongMul(X, Y: Integer): Longint;
asm
mov eax, X
imul Y
end;
The compiler performs several optimizations on these routines so no
code is generated to copy value parameters into local variables. This
affects all string-type value parameters and other value parameters
whose size isn't 1, 2, or 4 bytes. Within the routine, such parameters
must be treated as if they were var parameters.
If we are going to produce really useful code, at some point we shall
need to implement more deeper routines. E.G. we have to display the
output of some function dependent upon two variables. You might imagine
this as a three-dimensional map, where the coordinates [X,Y] correspond
to a height H. When we plot the point [X,Y] on the screen we need to
give the imagination of depth. This can be achieved by using colors of
differing intensity, blue below sea level and green above. What is
needed is a function that will convert a given height into the
appropriate depth of color for a given sea level.
Debugging code
--------------
To finish this article, let's say few words about debugging. It is very
easy to set up watches, program breaks, and traverse OP programs a line
at a time. The same is true, even when using assembler. All we need to
do is add the four 32bit general registers eax, ebx, ecx and edx to
one's watch list, and see the effect of each line of assembler. In a
DOS-Shell you can also type "debug" and then "u" for disassembly. The
built-in assembler allows you to write Intel assembler code within OP
programs. It implements a large subset of the syntax supported by Turbo
Assembler and Microsoft's Macro Assembler, including all 8086/8087 and
80386/80387 opcodes and all but a few of Turbo Assembler's expression
operators.
Assembler functions return their results as follows:
- Ordinal values are returned in AL (8-bit values), AX (16-bit values),
or EAX (32-bit values)
- Real values are returned in ST(0) on the coprocessor's register stack
- Pointers, including long strings, are returned in EAX
- Short strings and all the variants are returned in the temp. location
pointed to by @result
So I hope you feel a little "Bit" the speed of Delphi and thanks Ian for
his fundamentals.
________________________________________________________________________
Join our Delphi forum for intermediate-level Delphi programmers at
Yahoo! Groups >>>>> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/delphi-en <<<<<
________________________________________________________________________
5. TTRAYCOMPONENT
Stewart Moss <stewartm@idcorpholdings.com> presents his modification
of TrayComponent to make the "Show in Taskbar" code work under Windows
2000/NT. TrayComponent was originally written by Alexander Rodigin,
based on the Stealth component by Janus N. Tøndering and the TrayIcon
component by Pete Ness. The component is in the file TrayComp.pas.
________________________________________________________________________
6. STOP WINDOWS FROM DISPLAYING CRITICAL ERROR MESSAGES
By Zarko Gajic http://delphi.about.com
When performing certain functions it is necessary for your program to
take full control over error messages. For example, if your program
wants to "quietly" check if a floppy drive has a floppy disk in it, you
may not want Windows to display a "critical error" if in fact the
floppy drive is empty.
You can control which error messages Windows displays by using the
"SetErrorMode()" Win API function as follows:
var
wOldErrorMode: Word;
begin
// tell windows to ignore critical
// errors and save current error mode
wOldErrorMode := SetErrorMode(SEM_FAILCRITICALERRORS);
try
// code that might generate a critical error goes here...
finally
// go back to previous error mode
SetErrorMode(wOldErrorMode);
end;
end;
________________________________________________________________________
7. SHOWING WINDOWS "OPEN FOLDER" DIALOG (II)
In the last issue I published source code to show the standard Open
Folder dialog, and since I received a lot of feedback about it, I
thought the article deserved a second part addressing a few issues
raised by the readers.
SelectDirectory
===============
Many people reminded me that the SelectDirectory function that comes in
the FileCtrl unit does that. Well, actually, this is not correct...
One of the two overloaded versions of SelectDirectory allows you to set
the root path, but not the selected directory:
var
Directory: string;
begin
Directory := 'C:\Delphi\';
if SelectDirectory('Select folder', '', Directory) then
ShowMessage(Directory);
end;
The other version of SelectDirectory allows you to set the selected
directory, but not the root directory, although it has some interesting
features (you can allow directory creation, the user can type the
directory name, and you can provide a context help id), but this
version of the function doesn't use the standard Windows' "Open Folder"
dialog:
var
Directory: string;
begin
Directory := 'C:\Delphi\';
if SelectDirectory(Directory, [], 0) then
ShowMessage(Directory);
end;
Disposing PIDLs
===============
In the code I used GlobalFreePtr to deallocate the memory allocated for
a PIDL. It's a quick and dirty way to do it but unsafe. PIDLs should be
released by calling IMalloc.Free. An easy way to replace GlobalFreePtr
could be using the following function:
uses shlobj, ActiveX;
procedure IMallocFree(Ptr: Pointer);
var
pMalloc: IMalloc;
begin
if Succeeded(SHGetMalloc(pMalloc)) then
pMalloc.Free(Ptr);
end;
Root directory as string
========================
A couple of readers requested that instead of the CSIDL of a special
folder the root parameter could be any directory passed as a string, so
I made a few changes in the source code to get the corresponding value
for TBrowseInfo.pidlRoot based on the root parameter (now called
RootFolder, a WideString):
:
function BrowseForFolder(Title: string; RootFolder: WideString = '';
InitialFolder: string = ''): string;
var
:
IDesktopFolder: IShellFolder;
Eaten, Attributes: LongWord;
begin
with BrowseInfo do begin
:
pidlRoot := nil;
if RootFolder <> '' then begin
SHGetDesktopFolder(IDesktopFolder);
IDesktopFolder.ParseDisplayName(Application.Handle, nil,
PWideChar(RootFolder), Eaten, pidlRoot, Attributes);
end;
:
end;
:
end;
________________________________________________________________________
8. FORUMS
Delphi
======
If you know much of Delphi but you are still far from being a guru this
forum is for you. This is the only forum for intermediate-level Delphi
programmers on the Web (Delphi hackers are also welcome :-)). The forum
now has more than 610 members and last February it had a nice level of
traffic with almost 250 messages:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/delphi-en
If you want to join the group, the best way is to subscribe from the
web since you can access the special features available at the web site
(a Yahoo! ID is required and you can get yours free by registering as a
Yahoo! user), but if you don't want to register or if you don't have
full Internet access you also can subscribe by email:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/delphi-en/join
delphi-en-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Components
==========
This is a forum for searching/recommending software components (VCL and
CLX components, ActiveX objects, DLL libraries, shared objects, etc.),
as well as utilities, tutorials, information, etc. The forum is rather
new and currently counts with a little over 125 members and very low
traffic:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/components
I hope you join the forum to help us build a larger group. You can
subscribe from the web or --more easily-- by email:
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/components/join
components-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
________________________________________________________________________
9. DELPHI ON THE NET
By Dave Murray
Components, Libraries and Utilities
===================================
Shareware/Commercial
--------------------
* Database Pro v1.14 - by IMG Software
Database Pro includes eleven components and give the most simple and
fast way to filter or find values in the database. You will get:
1) The simplest way to assign conditions of filtering / data retrieval
2) Support BDE, MIDAS, ADO, InterBase, KADao and any alternative
Database Pro is currently available in 18 languages.
http://www.imgsoft.com
* RichView Package - by TRICHVIEW.COM. Shareware ($139)
RichView is a suite of native Delphi/C Builder components for editing
formatted documents with images, tables and hypertext links.
Customizable attributes of text and paragraphs, Unicode, bi-directed
text, HTML export, RTF, printing, data-aware versions and more...
http://www.trichview.com/
* SMImport Suite v1.46 - by Scalabium, Mike Shkolnik
SMImport suite is a components for data loading from Text, CSV, HTML,
XML, MS Excel (without OLE), MS Access, Lotus 1-2-3, QuattroPro and
Paradox/DBF. Available for Delphi 3-6 and CBuilder 3-6, price: $35.
http://www.scalabium.com (mshkolnik@scalabium.com)
Freeware
--------
* dbExpress InterBase 6.5 driver for Delphi 6 available - by J Kaster
http://community.borland.com/article/0,1410,28508,00.html
Articles, Tips and Tricks
=========================
* Bring RAD to your Web app development with WebSnap - by GetPublished
WebSnap enables Delphi to build the scriptable business objects,
database driven web pages, and back-end servers that are integral to
a successful, dynamic web site.
http://community.borland.com/article/0,1410,28567,00.html
* Simple scripting with NetCLX extension components - by John Kaster
C++ Builder 6, Delphi 6 and Kylix all have new RTTI functions that
make simple scripting much easier to implement. John K shares some
producer components that show how.
http://community.borland.com/article/0,1410,28551,00.html
* From XML to Object: Part II - by Keith Wood
Wraps up this series on the XML Data Binding Wizard with sample
applications that demonstrate how to read and display XML documents
and generate new ones.
www.delphimag.com/features/2002/04/di200204kw_f/di200204kw_f.asp
* A Smart Combo Box, etc - by Bruno Sonnino
How to create a combo box that remembers the user's selection or
entry, and offers it as the default the next time around and tips for
RadioGroups and What's This? help.
www.delphimag.com/features/2002/04/di200204bs_f/di200204bs_f.asp
* Taming the Beast from Redmond - by Dave Ball
A step-by-step explanation of how to deploy ISAPI DLLs within an MTS
or COM+ memory-protected development environment, by configuring IIS
settings within the MMC.
www.delphimag.com/features/2002/04/di200204db_f/di200204db_f.asp
* Take Action - by Bill Todd
If you want your menus and toolbars to have the look and feel of
Office 2000, the ActionManager and ActionBars in Delphi 6 may be just
the ticket.
www.delphimag.com/features/2002/04/di200204bt_f/di200204bt_f.asp
* How to get an MP3's ID3-Tag?
http://www.swissdelphicenter.ch/en/showcode.php?id=121
* How to load Rft Text from a resource file into a TRichEdit?
http://www.swissdelphicenter.ch/en/showcode.php?id=1049
* How to refresh the icon cache?
http://www.swissdelphicenter.ch/en/showcode.php?id=1054
* How to enable the Return key in a TWebbrowser?
http://www.swissdelphicenter.ch/en/showcode.php?id=1055
* How to open local files in a TWebbrowser and start links directly?
http://www.swissdelphicenter.ch/en/showcode.php?id=1057
* How to program a peak level meter? - by Steve Schafer
http://www.swissdelphicenter.ch/torry/showcode.php?id=1086
* How to show the source code of a webpage in a Memo? - by Screaminator
http://www.swissdelphicenter.ch/torry/showcode.php?id=1085
* How to perform a binary seach on a TListview? - by P Below
http://www.swissdelphicenter.ch/torry/showcode.php?id=1078
* Add current page of a TWebbrowser to your favorites - by Screaminator
http://www.swissdelphicenter.ch/torry/showcode.php?id=1094
* How to connect to an ftp server + download a file? - by Thomas Stutz
http://www.swissdelphicenter.ch/torry/showcode.php?id=1095
* How to check if a given folder is empty - by Christian Cristofori
http://www.delphi3000.com/articles/article_3095.asp
* Component for saving User Settings (using Tools API) - D Wischnewski
Writing a Component, a Component Editor and a Property Editors.
http://www.delphi3000.com/articles/article_3096.asp
* A Simple Notepad with Delphi 6 - by S S B Magesh Puvananthiran
http://www.delphi3000.com/articles/article_3098.asp
* Implementation of the State Design Pattern - by Jochen Fromm
http://www.delphi3000.com/articles/article_3099.asp
* Find full path of registered Applications - by Andreas Schmidt
http://www.delphi3000.com/articles/article_3101.asp
* Exporting Syntax Highlighted text to HTML - by Danilo Vieira
http://www.delphi3000.com/articles/article_3103.asp
* Converting HTML colour names and codes to TColor - by D Wischnewski
http://www.delphi3000.com/articles/article_3104.asp
* Writing all controls of given component to TXMLDocument - by N Ozniev
http://www.delphi3000.com/articles/article_3106.asp
* Sending email in console mode - by Arman Rad
http://www.delphi3000.com/articles/article_3107.asp
* Creating High Performance Middleware Apps with Indy - by Romeo Lefter
Indy Step by Step part 4.
http://www.delphi3000.com/articles/article_3108.asp
* Move or resize a TControl object graphically - by Bertrand Goetzmann
Graphically move or resize a TControl object by using another object
that has all the necessary code.
http://www.delphi3000.com/articles/article_3109.asp
* How to get the long path and file name? - by Maarten de Haan
How to get the long path and file name from a DOS name.
http://www.delphi3000.com/articles/article_3110.asp
* Viewing Targa Bitmap File Format in Delphi (256-colors) - by h4ry p
http://www.delphi3000.com/articles/article_3113.asp
* Easiest way to draw a transparent image - by h4ry p
http://www.delphi3000.com/articles/article_3115.asp
* Un-hiding Properties - by Romeo Lefter
Unhiding some usefull properties for VCL controls.
http://www.delphi3000.com/articles/article_3116.asp
* PAS 2 HTML converter - by Eber Irigoyen
Sourcecode to HTML converter for web pages with highlighted syntax.
http://www.delphi3000.com/articles/article_3117.asp
* Grab the PC Serial Number & BIOS info using WMI calls - by Doug Good
Windows Management Instrumentation Calls in Delphi.
http://www.delphi3000.com/articles/article_3118.asp
* Windows detection routines - by Ronald Buster
Here is how to find out the Windows versions for all versions.
http://www.delphi3000.com/articles/article_3119.asp
* Easy logger - by Eber Irigoyen
http://www.delphi3000.com/articles/article_3121.asp
* Placing icons in DBGrid - by Fahad Aljarbou
http://www.delphi3000.com/articles/article_3122.asp
* Extract Icons from .exe, .dll, .lnk - by Prashant Gulati
http://www.delphi3000.com/articles/article_3126.asp
* Syntax Highlighted Source Code Export to HTML or RTF - by Jim McKeeth
Export many different source code files into HTML or FTP with Syntax
Highlighting and end user customization
http://www.delphi3000.com/articles/article_3128.asp
* Web Page to Image File - by Jim McKeeth
How to get the URL from IE, open it with PBear's THTMLViewer and save
it as a image file.
http://www.delphi3000.com/articles/article_3129.asp
* A simple class to implement compound files - by David Bolton
How do I store multiple files within one compound file?
http://www.delphi3000.com/articles/article_3130.asp
* Improving your Object classes reliability - by David Bolton
How to reference count the easy way.
http://www.delphi3000.com/articles/article_3132.asp
* How to send HTML messages with attachments (using Indy) - by N Cross
Using IdMessage to send HTML formatted emails with attachments.
http://www.delphi3000.com/articles/article_3133.asp
* How to parse a wave file? - by Liran Shahar
Parsing a wave file to access each of its chunks.
http://www.delphi3000.com/articles/article_3134.asp
* SignalDisplay component - by Liran Shahar
Ever wanted to display audio from a microphone or see wave file
samples like CoolEdit does?
http://www.delphi3000.com/articles/article_3135.asp
* How to get keys, like up,down,left, right? - by Etienne Nijboer
http://www.delphi3000.com/articles/article_3136.asp
* Determine If a File has One of Several File Extensions - by John Long
http://www.delphi3000.com/articles/article_3137.asp
* Changing IE Proxy Settings - by Shannon Wynter
How do I set proxy settings in IE without having to restart?
http://www.delphi3000.com/articles/article_3138.asp
* How do we implement the Choice Pattern - by Max Kleiner
Working with Interfaces.
http://www.delphi3000.com/articles/article_3141.asp
* How to make a Window with RAW API - by Simone Di Cicco
http://www.delphi3000.com/articles/article_3142.asp
* From XML to Object: Part I - by Keith Wood
The Delphi 6 XML Data Binding Wizard.
www.delphimag.com/features/2002/03/di200203kw_f/di200203kw_f.asp
* Differential Equations - by Alexander Gofen
Implement the Taylor center, a powerful numeric and expression-
processing application with extensive visual features, in Delphi.
www.delphimag.com/features/2002/03/di200203ag_f/di200203ag_f.asp
* Hot Spots: Part II - by Victor Hornback
Build a custom component, showing how to register a custom property
editor, stream non-published data, and more.
www.delphimag.com/features/2002/03/di200203vh_f/di200203vh_f.asp
* Spreadsheet Data via ADO, ODBC, or Automation - by Bill Todd
A detailed explanation and example projects for accessing MS Excel
spreadsheet data via ADO, ODBC, or automation.
www.delphimag.com/features/2002/03/di200203bt_f/di200203bt_f.asp
* Bug in StringReplace (Handling Null characters) - by Stewart Moss
Workaround for a bug in StringReplace function when used on a string
which contains NULL (#0) characters (not null terminated).
http://www.delphi3000.com/articles/article_3090.asp
* Making a "recent files" menu - by Dan Strandberg
How to make a simple "recent files" menu/list in your application.
http://www.delphi3000.com/articles/article_3091.asp
* Yet another "recent file" menu - by Magnus Flysjö
http://www.delphi3000.com/articles/article_3093.asp
* RGB and HSV conversions - by William Egge
Explains HSV and RGB colour values and includes source for converting
between the two.
http://www.delphi3000.com/articles/article_3094.asp
* Quiz: Delphi ADO Programming - by Zarko Gajic
Who Wants to be a Delphi ADO Database Programming Guru - trivia game.
One copy of a great Delphi book will be given away in this
"competition". Closing date is 31st May and a winner will be picked
randomly on 1st June.
http://delphi.about.com/library/weekly/aa030502a.htm
* Spell Checking with MS Word - by Zarko Gajic
Why buy or write spell checking components when you can use MS Word?
Add spell checking + thesaurus capabilities to your Delphi app using
the MS Word Object Library.
http://delphi.about.com/library/weekly/aa032701a.htm
* Creating PDF Documents, the free way - by Romeo Lefter
How to create easy and fast PDF Documents.
http://www.delphi3000.com/articles/article_3076.asp
* Implementation of the Memento Design Pattern - by Jochen Fromm
How do you implement the MEMENTO Design Pattern in Delphi ? A Memento
is an object that stores a snapshot of the internal state of another
object - the memento's originator.
http://www.delphi3000.com/articles/article_3077.asp
* Reducing Source Code Complexity in your application - William Egge
Using a MessageCenter to link your application systems together.
Implementation of an observer pattern except that it uses Delphi's
built in message dispatching and also maintains the relationships.
http://www.delphi3000.com/articles/article_3079.asp
* Creating a simple HTTP Server
How to create a simple HTTP server using TIdHTTPServer from Indy
and the TPageProducer for simple scripting capabilities.
http://www.delphi3000.com/articles/article_3081.asp
* Read/write summary information of an Office document - by B Goetzmann
How read/write summary information of an Office document?
http://www.delphi3000.com/articles/article_3082.asp
* How to create disabled bitmap - by Mike Shkolnik
How can I create a disabled bitmap from original?
http://www.delphi3000.com/articles/article_3085.asp
* Convert Tab to Space - Yilmaz Kaygisiz
How Can i Change TAB Char To Space in my string?
http://www.delphi3000.com/articles/article_3086.asp
* String or Number? Undocumented Effects of Val(...) - by D Wischnewski
Interesting phenomenon where obvious string is incorrectly converted
into a number by Delphi functions Val, IntToStr + InToStrDef.
http://www.delphi3000.com/articles/article_3087.asp
* Lost your MainForm? - by Eber Irigoyen
Has it ever happened to you that the MainForm that you want is not
listed in Delphi's Projects|Options|General?
http://www.delphi3000.com/articles/article_3088.asp
Kylix
-----
* Simple scripting with NetCLX extension components - by John Kaster
C++ Builder 6, Delphi 6 and Kylix all have new RTTI functions that
make simple scripting much easier to implement. John K shares some
producer components that show how.
http://community.borland.com/article/0,1410,28551,00.html
* How to catch kernel-signals in Kylix?
http://www.swissdelphicenter.ch/en/showcode.php?id=1059
* How to use RCDATA resources in Kylix?
http://www.swissdelphicenter.ch/en/showcode.php?id=1060
* How to clone a process in Linux?
http://www.swissdelphicenter.ch/en/showcode.php?id=1061
Tutorials
=========
* Cup of Coffee for Dolphins Part I - by John Kaster
Java for Delphi programmers. Describes basic Java instructions in
comparison with Delphi.
http://community.borland.com/article/0,1410,28481,00.html
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