Library to create forms/GUIs/dialogs from scripts? - delphi

At the moment, whenever I need a custom dialog, however simple, I use Delphi's form designer to create a new dialog form. The form is then wrapped in an easy to use ShowMessage() type function.
In some situations it would be easier if forms could be created at run-time from a script. The script would detail all form components and their properties, much like Delphi's .DFM files.
Creating GUIs from scripts could be useful in other situations as well. For example, a GUI of a mini application could be embedded into the window of an existing application. Or the GUI script could be modified at run-time to create GUI variations.
I could create something to do this myself, but I assume other people have already tackled this problem. However I can't find anything using google. Is there anything currently available offering this kind of functionality? (Free or otherwise) Or does it already exist in Delphi?

Check out some of the scripting solutions for Delphi. For example, the TMS Scripting Studio, dwScript, RemObject's, FastScript, etc. I believe some of them are able to use DFM's for this purpose.

http://www.torry.net/pages.php?id=280 Delphin v.1.21, it can process DFM files, maybe you just want the DFM to code converter.

You might try XI Library (commercial): http://xilib.com/
I have never used it, it's just something sitting in my bookmarks, but it looks like it fits the bill. Not a scripting engine, more of a way to define dialog boxes via XML. There's sample XML code right on the front page, just click "Show the example".

Related

delphi integrate custom file editor into IDE

I have deveoped a custom file type, together with a custom editor (basically a tree with several data pages attached and a few extra buttons). OK, I can run it stand alone and that is fine, and even add it to the tools menu, but I would like to integrate it into the Delphi IDE so that my custom editor (or a similar new version) appears in the IDE, rather like a DFM file has a custom editor. I can find references to most extensions in the Delphi IDE, but not this one. Any guiding hands? Note that this is not a property or component editor (the file type has nothing to do with either of these) nor is it simply syntax highlighting of a text file.
AFAIK it currently isn't possible to reliably integrate a custom editor into the Delphi IDE. The required API simply isn't there. See QC89028 Custom Module support.
During the Delphi 2010 and XE betas I spent most my spare time trying to get a resource editor integrated. Although the effort had the official blessing of Embarcadero and got some, half hearted, support from the IDE engineer, I was never able to get them to deliver on their promises and surface the module API. I eventually abandoned the project.
Update: I've now checked my old correspondence regarding this and it turns out part of the problem was that IOTAModuleCreator (used to implement File|New for custom file types) and IOTAEditorContent (used to transfer data to/from the custom module) only supports text data. Binary data gets mangled.
You can probably do this via an IDE plugin that uses the ToolsAPI (see ToolsAPI.pas in the IDE's source folder (e.g. Program Files (x86)\Embarcadero\Studio\source\ToolsAPI\ToolsAPI.pas.)
For information on writing a plugin in general, see David G Hoyle's excellent blog. Once you know the basics - i.e., write a 'wizard' and get it to do something - you will need to work on integrating your editor.
I have never done this, and so I can't guarantee it is possible. However, some interfaces that look worth investigating and implementing are INTACustomEditorView, which represents a 'view' (file tab when that file is open - think the code editor, Welcome view, type library editor, etc) and IOTAEditorViewServices, to register your custom view. I do not know how you associate a view type with a file type, sorry - possibly something to do with the personality interfaces. You might also be interested in INTACustomEditorSubView which is what creates a tab on the bottom of a file.
Good luck, and if you find a solution please write here so that other people can learn too!

Is there any Delphi Open Source project that Implement a basic IDE structure?

I have written a framework for Android and Windows, and got some tool that draw the forms and scripting that run on both enviroments. Just another solution like thousands.
What I want to do now is using Delphi (Xe2 in my case) to write an IDE like Delphi itself. That I could manage source files in a project and have forms. I have much of it already on DevExpress components. But I was wondering if there is anything that I could reuse to not invent the wheel again.
Certanly the drawing form should be necessary to have changes for my particular case, however it being capable of drawing forms with buttons, text, those common controls we find in majority of the platforms.
Right now I am using Balsamiq Mockup to draw and export xml to my compiler to integrate on the framework, it is nice, because it is a great drawing product, howeve there is a need to have all that IDE properties integrated and the need to put events on each control, for that an IDE all in one solution is better.
TMS Scripter -> I have found this commercial package, that comes with basically everything I need, scripting (I need VB but with different flavor, I believe it could be changed), form designer, project management, etc... It is very nice indeed. However I would like to hear of open source solutions
How about Lazarus? I think that's free, and it certainly has an extensive IDE.
http://www.lazarus.freepascal.org/
It's not a Delphi Open Source IDE, but I think it is free for use and feature rich:
MS Visual Studio Shell
what-is-the-visual-studio-shell-standalone-shell-good-for
RemObject use it for there tools. So it fits also for Delphi.

Updates for controls in Win3.1 palette

Some people are saying that I must update the controls in Win3.1 palette (especially TFilterComboBox) with modern ones. But does Delphi provide such new controls?
I need to create a GUI (somehow similar to Windows Explorer, consisting in a DirectoryListBox, FileListBox and a FilterComboBox) where I allow the user to easily explore for files of a specific type. Since the interface is centered around this Explorer, a TOpenDialog will be like hitting the customer with a hammer in the middle of his head. I need an 'easy to use' solution.
Unfortunately Shell Controls are not stable enough to be used as replacement.
The Shell Controls that come as a demo with Delphi only have to be installed, and you'll have some nice shell controls. There is, IMO, no big need to get 3rd party components for that.
Look for ShellCtls (or similar, can't check right now) in your demos folder. That Demos folder can be accessed from the Windows Start menu for your version of Delphi.
Update
They are not in a Demos folder, it is called Samples now. They can be found in Samples\Delphi\VCL\ShellControls. Install vclshlctrls.dproj first and then dclshlctrls.dproj.
In our application we use tpShellShock which works rather well. You may need to tweak it a little for Unicode Delphi, but if I recall correctly that was pretty simple to do.
Here's what it looks like:

how to load delphi tframe from dll to delphi application

i have created a dll with tframe .
how can i load it inside my application, i dont like to use bpls , i only want to destribute exe and dlls with my app
Since a BPL is a DLL, go the BPL way: much easier.
It can be done but it's a hell of a job to get it working without errors or memory problems. To make matters worse, you will be using two VCL's in your application, one in your executable and another in the DLL. Your frame would try to refer to the DLL VCL, which would provide very different information than the EXE VCL. Especially when checking the global Screen and Application variables.
Still, a frame is nothing more than a special window control, just like forms. You could export a function from your DLL which would return a value of type TFrame. Your application would be able to call this function and thus create the frame, use it in any way it uses all other frames. It won't have any specific information about additional functionality within your frame, though.The next thing you'd have to work on is to synchronize the data between the EXE and the DLL that is VCL related. That's not very pretty. Plus, you will probably have some issues when using the tab key to tab through the controls on your screen, since the tab key won't be able to tab outside the frame. And you will notice a few more oddities like this.
I have worked on a simple application that used frames this way. Me, and two others spent two months getting some working solution, which did work reasonable well without memory leaks and other troubles. Before we started that project, it just seemed like a good idea. Afterwards, we decided that it didn't turn out to be the solution we'd wanted so we merged the code of the DLL's with the code of the executable to just create one executable. It was better that way.
We did use another alternative, though. We started using a webbrowser component in the mainform. The DLL would contain a HTML page, nicely formatted, and a bunch of methods that would be called when certain specific functions were used. We had this working in a simple test application with good results but then the company went chapter 11... My employer went dead broke since a deal with some customer misfired badly, leaving the company with some huge debts. And thus an interesting project ended...

Is there a way to store a Delphi form in a .dll file?

Is there a way to store a Delphi form in a .dll file?
You can make code that creates and displays a form, just like you would anywhere else. What you can't do without a lot of inconvenience is pass a TForm object (or any other object) out of the DLL, so it has to be self-contained. If you want a form that can communicate and interact with your program, you either need a package (BPL) or you need to make the form into a COM object.
The easiest way to do this is to compile your application and the DLL in question with packages. This requires that you include several BPL files with your application when it's deployed, but means that both the EXE and the DLL will be much, much smaller (great for on-the-fly updates!)
There are a number of open-source and commercial products that will help you "plug-in" forms into your application. http://delphi-jedi.org has the JVCL which includes a plugin system that will let you do this pretty easily, and take a lot of the heavy lifting out of developing it. Also, TMS Software at http://tmssoftware.com has a plugin framework that will allow you to do this as well.

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