I want to display pictures stored in an MS Access database in a currently running program, where the person running the program will be able to see all of the pictures at the same time (maybe scroll up and down) and choose one of their choice.
I don't know the code
Please help, I'm still a high school student.
Unless all of the pictures are BMPs, Delphi won't help you much here. Although it has a TDBImage component, it only supports BMPs in your version(s) of Delphi, and it can only show one picture at a time anyway.
To do what you are asking, you will have to load the pictures manually. Do your query, such as with TADOQuery, and then loop through the results, using TDataSet.CreateBlobStream() and TGraphic.LoadFromStream() to load each picture. You would have to look at a picture's raw data header to decide which TGraphic class to use (TBitmap, TJPEGImage, TGifImage, etc), load it from the database blob, and then display it as needed, such as in a TImage, an owner-drawn TListView, etc. Repeat for each picture.
There are tons of examples and tutorials about this, if you look around. This is off-topic for StackOverflow.
Related
Preferably FastReport, but can be any that you know. I just ZConnection and ZQuery to work with the database. When I need to feed a grid with data from the database, do the power on hand, without using ClientDataSet. Does anyone know how I could feed a report without turning it into components database?
FastReport supports a wide variety of databases and datasources. You don't need to connect it to a TClientDataset to use it. From the wording of your question, it sounds like you need to make use of the TfrxUserDataset. This allows you to drive a report from any source (Listview, StringGrid, ObjectList etc).
You provide data via TfrxUserDataset's OnGetFieldValue event. You will also need to provide a RecordCount value and a OnCheckEOF event. As TLama pointed out, there are demonstration programs on how to do this in FastReport's Demos folder.
I'm developing my MS Access database editor (mdb, accdb) which I will give everyone for free. I've done mostly everything that matters except relationships. The problem for me is how to show relationship(s). I would like to do it like in the real MS Access:
The thing is, I don't know how would I connect these child windows with a line that is stretching and resizing when one of the windows move etc...
This maybe not a question that can have a direct answer but I'm stuck here and don't know how to show those relationship(s). I'm using C++ Builder XE2.
So you need a library to draw graphs...
Making an answer, for being able to put links in the list (which comments would not allow)
http://sourceforge.net/projects/extgraph/
How to create graphs in Delphi application
http://www.torry.net/pages.php?s=88
I have 100+ GB of photos going back 25 years. They are arranged in a directory tree by category, with nested sub-directories.
I want to a search for all photos taken in a given month, say April, in any of those directories.
I don't think that a Windows search will work as that will probably be the file creation data, which could be a month or two later wen I finally more the files from SD card to PC.
Perhaps searching the EXIF data? Is there a free VCL component which can help me to do that?
If your EXIF data is good, Windows Search (at least in Vista/7, not as sure about Windows Search 4 in XP) should index it and allow you to query by it once you learn the correct syntax. In Windows 7's Search something like "Date Taken:2011-04-01..2011-04-30" would probably work.
That said, for a more SO-specific answer to your question, CCR Exif is a Delphi Class library for read/edit/delete of EXIF/IPTC/XMP metadata in pictures. It's made available under the MPL 1.1.
You'll still have to write all the code to walk your directory tree and do your searching, but this can handle all the metadata work.
It seems that most Delphi applications fit into two classes: Database-centric Applications that use Reporting Systems for all their printing needs, and applications that don't need printing.
For those in the excluded middle (non-database printing, non-reporting system), there are components to help out. For example, I have been a Developer Express "Express Printing System" customer since early on in that product's life cycle. For printing out any component (grid, spreadsheet,etc) that is also a Developer Express Printing System component to help me out.
So far so good. What I'm looking for is an alternative way (in Delphi 2010) to generate one or two page printouts that contain, typically:
Titles, and Headings
Page Headers and Page Footers
Ability to include a large picture which is the primary thing on the page. In this case, the picture (bitmap) is a chart custom drawn by me.
100% bulletproof output quality on every version of windows known to human kind, with every kind of printer known to human kind.
[UPDATE: I was previously having bizarre glitches with Developer Express printing components on color laser printers, which I am now quite hopeful I can sort out. ] ... Still I think it would be wise to look at other printing components out there so my "toolbox" of possible solutions for my current and future projects can include a simple reliable way of generating printer pages.
So I could really use suggestions. I am biased against Reporting Systems, even Code Based ones, but I am considering fast reports even though my use for it would be far from the typical use-case scenarios. There are no row and column data-sets involved in my printed pages.
Update/Final: It looks like FastReports is great. It can easily transfer any data from in memory in your application (such as an Image), to the current report page(s), like this:
procedure TForm2.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
var
pic:TfrxPictureView;
begin
pic := frxReport1.FindObject('Picture1') as TfrxPictureView;
pic.Picture.Assign(Image1.Picture);
frxReport1.ShowReport;
frxReport1.Print;
end;
Fast Report is suited my needs very well. They even have a scripting system. You could try if is good enough for you.
http://fast-report.com/en/
I have been using the HtmlViewer component from www.pbear.com for all my printing solutions.
You have to create an html page (or two pagews) of course, but once you can do that, you can do anything you like (or at least what the html standard supplies). The HtmlViewer has a preview window so that can be used as a generic 'report' viewer and it can print the output immediatly.
You will be amazed what you can do with html, and it is easy to change the 'report' because it's just plain html.
If you should go that way, I will be happy to assist you in any question you might have. The component is free since a couple of years. So that could be an easy and inexpensive solution to your problem.
I am looking to build my own component and have no idea where to begin. I have some Delphi books but they are old and outdated, and am looking for some recommendations on tutorials/books to help me do this. The component will be pretty simple, basically 2 labels and an image. I need hundreds of these in an array, so I thought a component would be the best route. The text will adjust based on width etc, and have some mouseover events. So basically, where do I begin?
I am using Delphi 2009, this will be a win32 app.
Thanks!
You can order Ray Konopka's book Dev. Custom Delphi 3 Components - PDF for 25$. It's a specialized book on the subject and very good for a beginner too.
The main principles behind developing components is:
Whether the component is visual or
not (Does it need a Canvas to paint on)
Does it need a window handle or not (visual or non-visual)
Once you answered those questions you can look at Delphi's source code for examples.
As far as I know, Delphi Component Design, by Danny Thorpe, is still the best book on the subject. Component design hasn't changed significantly in the last 15 years, so whatever books you have probably aren't as outdated as you think. There are three things to keep in mind while reading older references:
Names of certain units have changed. There's no DsgnIDE anymore, for example. It's DesignIDE instead.
Design-time code is strictly separated from run-time code now. This means you can't use DesignIDE in your component's unit, or else you're barred from using run-time packages. Older Delphi versions didn't have this technical restriction (although it's always been a legal restriction), so old code examples you find might need to change a little bit.
Strings are Unicode now, so as with all old code examples you find, there might be some invalid assumptions about character sizes that you'll need to recognize.
The biggest obstacle to writing components is that you're expected to use various protected members of the classes you descend from, but those frequently aren't documented, so you'll have to be much more willing to go read the VCL source code for examples of how various methods are used.
The easiest way to do what you want is to create a new form. Drop the labels and image and arrange them the way you want; if it suits your need, put them on a panel so they can be moved around as a unit.
Select all the components you want included (and including the panel if you chose to use one), and then click the Component item on the IDE's main menu, and select the "Create Component Template". (It's only enabled if you have selected components on the current form.) A dialog will appear asking you for a name for the new component, and the Component Palette page on which you want it to appear.
Take a look at this article, which describes how to build new components made up of a group of existing components.
Don't worry about your books being old.
Just about everything from the old days still works fine and what little doesn't is generally due to name conflicts or the addition of Unicode in the 2009 version.
They aren't Microsoft, they don't go breaking old code without good reason. In fact, take some code from the old DOS days--assuming it doesn't try to manipulate the screen it's likely to run with minimal fixup.
Don't worry about your old books! Since v3, Delphi hasn't changed much. This is why most of the programs compiled with D3 still compiles in D7 or even newer versions. And if it doesn't compile, probably you need to change a line or two, here and then.
I would recommend you to search other VERY simple components on Internet and see how they are made. Then make your own and post it here. Let other take a look at it and suggest improvements or spot bugs.
About your control's design:
1) maybe you DON'T need those two labels. You can just paint the text directly on the image. If you have lots of those components as you say, you may save a little bit of memory.
2) you may NOT want to have lots and lots and lots of images loading in one form. The overhead may be significant. What you can do is to load the pictures ONLY in images that are visible on screen - and you will put on screen ONLY 5-10 images (or whatever number of images you can show on the form without going out of screen). As the user scrolls down, you keep the same same TImage controls on screen but you load new (next) images in them.
3) You may not want to store labels and TImage in an array (I suppose it is an TImage because it seems you want to show them on the screen else you won't need labels - you need to explain your problem in more details if I got it wrong). But you can store a TBitmap and the text (that you want to display in labels) instead.
So, you may need to calculate how much CPU/disk overhead your hundreds of controls will create and how much memory they need. If you stay well under 1GB and the loading time is under 10 seconds, then it is relatively ok. IF not, you may want to think about your control's design before starting to actually implement it.
Hope this was helpful.
See ya.