StringGrid Objects - access violation - delphi

Question

I am trying to make use of the Objects property of the Stringgrid inside my descendant and I think I am doing something wrong.
So, I created a simple class for use in my StringGrid cells, something like:
type
TKind = (tkNone,tkStart, tkEnd, tkMiddle);
TMyCell = class(TObject)
private
FKind:string; // TKind: start, middle, end, none
FOfType:string; // new, registered, paid, over, none
FActualDate:TDate;
FTheText:string; // if you want to show a text in it
FIsWeekend:Boolean;
function IsItWeekend(dt:Tdate):boolean;
procedure setKind(s:string);
{ Private declarations }
protected
{ Protected declarations }
public
constructor Create;
property Kind:string read FKind write setKind;
property OfType:string read FOfType write FOfType;
property ActualDate:TDate read FActualDate write FActualDate;
property TheText:string read FTheText write FTheText;
property IsWeekend:Boolean read FIsWeekend write FIsWeekend default false;
{ Public declarations }
published
{ Published declarations }
end;
implementation
procedure TMyCell.setKind(s:string);
begin
FKind:=s;
end;
function TMyCell.IsItWeekend(dt:Tdate):boolean;
begin
if (DayOfTheWeek(dt)=6) or (DayOfTheWeek(dt)=7) then IsItWeekend:=true else IsItWeekend:=false;
end;
constructor TMyCell.Create;
var
i:integer;
a,l,z:word;
dt:TDate;
begin
FKind:='none';
FOfType:='none';
FActualDate:=now;
FTheText:='';
FIsWeekend:=IsItWeekend(FActualDate);
end;
then, in my StringGrid descendant (TMyGrid), I do the following:
TMyGrid = class(TStringGrid)
private
FStartSelection:integer;
FFixedColor:TColor;
FRowCount:integer;
...
published
property ColCount;
property RowCount;
...
constructor TMyGrid.Create(AOwner: TComponent);
var
i:integer;
a,l,z:word;
dt:TDate;
j: Integer;
myCell:TMyCell;
begin
inherited;
...// different settings
RowCount:=5;
for i := 0 to colCount-1 do
for j := 0 to RowCount-1 do
begin
Objects[i, j] := TMyCell.Create;
end;
end;
destructor TMyGrid.Destroy;
var
i,j:integer;
begin
for i := 0 to colCount-1 do
for j := 0 to RowCount-1 do
begin
TMyCell(Objects[i, j]).Free;
end;
inherited;
end;
... // other stuff
procedure Register;
begin
RegisterComponents('mygrid', [TMyGrid]);
end;
The problem is I don't know how do I tell my control that there are more rows when the developer changes the RowCount in the objectInspector before running the app.
So I drop my StrinGrid descendant on a form, and set the rowCount to 10. But my StringGrid does not have Objects created for the new rows, So the cells on ARow=5->9 do not have objects created... because in OnCreate I only set the initial value of the RowCount to 5 and create objects for i:=0 to RowCount-1.
Is there an event or method where I can tell the StringGrid to create the Objects after the developer changes the rowCount in ObjectInspector?
I am sure that this is my problem because, using the above code, when I drop my stringGrid on a form and set it's rowCount (design time or runtime) to 10 then I want to assign a value to Kind property of a cell that is on a Row>4 I get an AccessViolation, but if I do that for a row that is <= 4 the assignment works just fine.
I found something that should help here: http://embarcadero.newsgroups.archived.at/public.delphi.ide/200904/0904193279.html
but I do not know how and where to place this code in my StringGrid descendant class so it would get called when RowCount is changed at designtime/runtime
EDIT
After reading your comments I tried your idea (that seemed to work) to override the SizeChanged (I did not know that method existed, must have skipped it when I serached before).
Anyway, I added this code to my class:
TMyGrid = class(TStringGrid)
private
...
procedure SizeChanged(OldColCount, OldRowCount: Longint); override;
procedure UpdateGridDimensions(NewColCount, NewRowCount: Integer);
...
procedure TMyGrid.SizeChanged(OldColCount, OldRowCount: Longint);
begin
inherited;
if (OldRowCount<>FRowCount)or(OldColCount<>ColCount) then
UpdateGridDimensions(ColCount, FRowCount);
end;
procedure TMyGrid.UpdateGridDimensions(NewColCount, NewRowCount: Integer);
var
C, R: Integer;
Old: Integer;
begin
if NewColCount <> ColCount then
begin
if NewColCount < ColCount then
begin
for R := 0 to RowCount-1 do
begin
for C := ColCount-1 downto NewColCount do
Objects[C, R].Free;
end;
end;
Old := ColCount;
ColCount := NewColCount;
if NewColCount > Old then
begin
for R := 0 to RowCount-1 do
begin
for C := Old to NewColCount-1 do
Objects[C, R] := TMyCell.Create;
end;
end;
end;
if NewRowCount <> RowCount then
begin
if NewRowCount < RowCount then
begin
for C := 0 to ColCount-1 do
begin
for R := RowCount-1 downto NewRowCount do
Objects[C, R].Free;
end;
end;
Old := RowCount;
RowCount := NewColCount;
if NewRowCount > Old then
begin
for C := 0 to ColCount-1 do
begin
for R := Old to NewRowCount-1 do
Objects[C, R] := TMyCell.Create;
end;
end;
end;
end;
but now whenever I drop my control on a form, the rowcount is 93... where do I set that rowCount? Because I DONT.
And still, if I increase the RowCount from 93 to something else like 100, then my Objects exist for the first 93 rows but they do not get created for the 93-100 rows...
So the idea sounded great, but it does not work as I expect it...
Any thoughts?
Am I doing it wrong?

Answer 1

// SizeChanged - Called when the size of the grid has changed.
protected
procedure SizeChanged(OldColCount, OldRowCount: Longint); dynamic;
You can override dynamic method SizeChanged and initialize grid according to new size. You can check is it designtime or not (LU RD suggested link). And as David mentioned, it is better to keep Objects property for consumers of component. Create and use your own TList/TObjectList instead.