I am thinking of building objects with their own config UI that gets returned on TPanel. But playing around earlier I know that coding a visual design is quite tideous. Is there any way I can design a form in the IDE Designer and then load this “code” in my component?
TMyObject=class(TObject)
public
procedure ShowCfg(APanel:TPanel);
end;
procedure TMyObject.ShowCfg(APanel:TPanel);
begin
with TEdit.Create(APanel) do begin
Left:=20;
Top:=20;
Width:=100;
Height:=20;
end;
end;
should be something like
procedure TMyObject.ShowCfg(APanel:TPanel);
begin
ImportDFM(APanel);
end;
or a way to export a DFM into Delphi code?
0
Yes, use a frame. A frame is designable like a form and you can create an instance in code, see /a/1499646/1431618.
The GExperts plugin has a feature called “Components to Code”. It copies all marked components on a form to the clipboard in Pascal code format, in which all properties with non-standard values are included.
Example form:
object Form1: TForm1
Left = 0
Top = 0
Caption = 'Form1'
ClientHeight = 204
ClientWidth = 305
Color = clBtnFace
Font.Charset = DEFAULT_CHARSET
Font.Color = clWindowText
Font.Height = -12
Font.Name = 'Segoe UI'
Font.Style = []
TextHeight = 15
object Panel1: TPanel
Left = 0
Top = 91
Width = 305
Height = 113
Align = alBottom
TabOrder = 0
object Edit1: TEdit
AlignWithMargins = True
Left = 4
Top = 4
Width = 297
Height = 23
Align = alTop
TabOrder = 0
end
end
end
Select the panel and the edit component, then do a right click and click “Components to Code” in the context menu. After that you should have the following code in the clipboard:
var
Panel1: TPanel;
Edit1: TEdit;
Panel1 := TPanel.Create(Self);
Edit1 := TEdit.Create(Self);
Panel1.Name := 'Panel1';
Panel1.Parent := Self;
Panel1.Left := 0;
Panel1.Top := 91;
Panel1.Width := 305;
Panel1.Height := 113;
Panel1.Align := alBottom;
Panel1.TabOrder := 0;
Edit1.Name := 'Edit1';
Edit1.Parent := Panel1;
Edit1.AlignWithMargins := True;
Edit1.Left := 4;
Edit1.Top := 4;
Edit1.Width := 297;
Edit1.Height := 23;
Edit1.Align := alTop;
Edit1.TabOrder := 0;
Now do with it whatever you want…
There is an (rather old) project that was originally on Borland code central called “Custom Containers Pack”.
https://blog.dummzeuch.de/delphi-custom-containers-pack/
This creates a component that is basically a panel with some controls on it. Not sure how useful this is nowadays.