Button Page
Button Page 1.0v

Introduction

Installation

What Does The Install Program Do?

Starting Button Page

Personal Notes

Un-installing The Button Page

System Page

Glyph Manager

Glyph Manager Settings

Activating The Glyph Manager

Settings

Method Box

Components

Creating A Component

Storing A Component

Creating A Group Component

Storing A Group Component

Editing Components

Sorting Components

Removing Buttons

Project Manager

Storing A Project

Executing A Project

Editing A Project

Sorting A Project

Removing Project Buttons

Pages

Creating A Page

Removing A Page

Save Settings

TroubleShooting

Common Problems

Contacting Me


Introduction

Though I had several reasons to write this utility, my main motivation was to provide a much easier way of creating forms on the fly (just speeding up the entire process of form creation was a great load off my work load). My early experiments through experts showed that it was becoming a cumbersome task. So after studying how the IDE worked I found it was easier to wrap everything into a component but streamlined into the Form Design. I won't go into detail on exactly on how I went about the whole process that my little secret..   But I am open to new ideas and enhancements to the product, the product alone has saved me heaps time in general development of applications.

Installation

What Does The Install Program Do?

Starting Button Page

Personal Notes

Un-installing The Button Page


Installation

1) Unzip PP.Zip into a temp directory

2) Run Install.exe

3) Enter the paths that are requested.

Note. Try and keep them the same for ease of installation.

4) From Delphi, choose Options|Install Components...

5) Choose Add from the install dialog, then choose Browse

6) Go to the directory where you installed pp.dcu and choose PP.DCU

7) Choose OK

8) Choose OK again (at the install dialog)

9) The Button Page should be now be completely installed.

Introduction


What Does the Install Program Do
What does the Install Program Do?

The installation program basically copies the files into the correct directories and setups the internal hooks into the IDE for usage. Note. if you have to reinstall Delphi then you will have to reinstall the application to re-establish the internal links.

(See TroubleShooting if you have problems)

Introduction


Starting Button Page

The button page automatically starts up when Delphi starts or when you rebuild the Component library.

Introduction


Personal Note
Personal Note.

As Button Page is constantly open on my desktop I generally never close it and if Delphi minimises so does Button Page so  I find that I don't have a need to close it down and open it backup. But if you do, I have a separate program that is Hooked into the Tools menu. Click on this and it will start it up.

Introduction


Un-installing Button Page

To un-install the Button Page perform the following steps.

1) Remove the PP.DCU file out of the Component Library

2) Rebuild Library.

3) File List

     Remove these files (delete them)

       C:\windows\pp001.ini

       bpcomp.dat	- Component Storage File

       bpcode.dat	- Component Code Storage File (not all versions have this file)

       ~bpcomp.str	- Temp file this file can be deleted at any time.

       bp.dll	- DLL

       pp.dcu	- Unit File

       pp.dfm	- form file

       pp.res	- Resource file

       pp.hlp	- Help File

Introduction


Components

Creating A Component

Storing A Component

Creating A Group Component

Storing A Group Component

Editing Components

Sorting Components

Removing Buttons


Creating a Component

Figure 1  -  Component Page

Find a component that you want to create.

Make sure you have a designing form in focus.

Click on the component to create it on the form and it will appear on the designing form.  If it doesnt appear then chances are that has put it into the clipboard.

A component can be created onto a designing form or the clipboard depending on the settings dialog (off the system page). It is possible that you created the component on the form and you just cant see it, that is, it could be off the main designing forms visible range or it could be under another object.  Use the object inspector to adjust its positioning.

Not all components are supported in the creation process but the majority are, if you come across one that is not created properly, please let me know.

Components


Storing a Component

Figure 2 - Storing a new component

Select the component/s you want to save on the designing form.

Note.  More than one component can be saved at one time, have a look at the Date Box example.

Select the component page you want to it to save on.

Right click on the page and select Insert Button

Enter a Description in the Description Dialog, this description will be displayed when you drag the mouse over the button.

Upon pressing OK, the new component will be stored on the selected component page.

Note. There two type of pages, a Component Page and a Project Page.

Components


Creating a Group Component

Find a group component that you want to create.

Make sure you have a designing form in focus.

Click on the component to create it on the form and it will appear on the designing form.  If it doesnt appear then chances are that has put it into the clipboard.

With a group of components any child components will be automatically assigned to there parent. Also watch in testing if components hide under each especially if you using panels.

Any non-visual components are always stacked on top of each other and will need to be separated. (if this is an issue please let me know)

A component can be created onto a designing form or the clipboard depending on the settings dialog (off the system page). It is possible that you created the component on the form and you just cant see it, that is, it could be off the main designing forms visible range or it could be under another object.  Use the object inspector to adjust its positioning.

Not all components are supported in the creation process but the majority are, if you come across one that is not created properly, please let me know.

Components


Storing a Group Component

Select the components you want to save on the designing form.

When selecting components, remember the first selection is generally the first component that will be created on retrieval, so if a TBevel is to have a TLabel on top of it, then Select the TBevel first and the TLabel second.

Parenting components are taken care of and upon creation of grouped components, parent linkages are reestablished.

Select the component page you want to it to save on.

Right click on the page and select Insert Button

Enter a Description in the Description Dialog, this description will be displayed when you drag the mouse over the button.

Upon pressing OK, the new component will be stored on the selected component page.

Note. There two type of pages, a Component Page and a Project Page.

Components


Editing the Component Button

Right click on a button and select Edit Properties.

A Description dialog will appear.  Change the Description to whatever you want it to be.

Components


Sorting Components

Right Click on a page.  Select Change Positions from the menu.

Use the dialog listbox to rearrange the buttons how you wish, using drag and drop techniques

Click on OK to save settings.

Components


Removing Buttons

Right Click on a button.  Select Remove Button from the menu.

The removal of the button removes it from the INI file, but it is still stored in the database until rebuild is selected. (Settings Dialog).

Components


Project Manager

Storing A Project

Executing A Project

Editing A Project

Sorting A Project

Removing Project Buttons


Storing a Project

Select a Project page to use to store your project.

Right click on the page and select Insert Button.

In the Description Dialog, on the first line, enter the description that you want displayed.

On the second line, press Ctrl-Space or click the button to the right of that field, to bring up a browse dialog.  Use the dialog to find the *.dpr file, you want to be saved.

Project Manager


Executing a Project

Selecting a Project Button will close down the current project (prompt for saving if modified).

Open the new project.

Project Manager


Editing a Project

Right click on the a project button.

A description dialog will popup and enter the new description. (See Storing Project.)

Project Manager


Sorting Projects

Right Click on a page and select Change Positions from the menu.

Use the dialog listbox to rearrange the buttons how you wish, using drag and drop techniques

Click on OK to save settings.

Project Manager


Removing Project Buttons
Removing Buttons

Right Click on a button and select Remove Button from the menu.

The removal of the button removes it from the INI file but it is still stored in the database until rebuild is selected. (Settings Dialog).

Project Manager


System Page

Glyph Manager

Glyph Manager Settings

Activating The Glyph Manager

Settings

Method Box


Glyph Manager

Glyph Manager provides the ability to view buttons glyphs.

From their directories, select the glyph you want and apply it to a selected TSpeedbutton or TBitBtn on a designing form.

Use the Page Up and Page Down keys to browse the pages of glyphs.

To apply a glyph select the glyph that you want, then respond to the Apply Dialog.

If a TSpeedButton or a TBitBtn has been selected on the designing form, then the glyph will be inserted into the button.

On the system page, the apply button will not be enabled to allow repetitive selection into other buttons. (Remembers the last glyph selected)

The directory field allows you to enter a new directory and press Enter, or click on the Refresh button to change to new directory.

To store extra directories, add directories in the settings dialog.

Glyph Manager Settings

System Page


Glyph Manager Settings

The directory list shows the available directories that the glyph manager can be changed to.

To add more directories, click on the Add button.

To Remove Directories, click on the Remove button.

The button size field represents the size of the displaying buttons.

The Number of glyph's field, shows how many glyphs are in one bitmap.  Usually a bitmap contains two glyphs, these being one for active and one for disabled.

Glyph Manager


Activating Glyph Manager

Clicking on this button will activate the glyph manager.

The button to the right of the glyph manager button, remembers the last glyph selected, to reapply the glyph to a TSpeedButton or a TBitBtn that has been selected on a designing form.

System Page


System Settings
Settings

This page is in a bit of turn as I generally build more options into the program.

Generally this page allows the turning on and off of options.

Datapath	- Directory of the storage BPComp.dat BPCode.Dat file (leave as is).

StayOnTop	- Puts the form into stay on top mode.

Copy To	- Clipboard, paste any created components into the clipboard

- Form, show the created component on the form.

StatusLine	- on  displays a status line on the bottom of the form

- off  any hints are displayed in the forms caption area.

Links	- Reestablish internal links into the IDE only needed if replace system libraries.

Registration	- Click here for the entry of your name a registration number.

System Page


Method Box

Unfortunately the Method box is nothing more than a Search control at the moment.

I was unable to finish it for this version.

It will be set to work exactly like the Visual Basic method list but I am seriously trying to justify its usage in this program.

Any comments will be appreciated.

System Page


Pages

Creating A Page

Removing A Page

Save Settings


Creating a New Page

Right click on a page and select New Page.

Enter the Page name (do not use commas please as they are stripped out).

Select what type of page it is, e.g.,  Project or Component.

Pages


Removing a Page

Right click on a page and select Remove Page.

Removing a page will delete all associated components on that page.

You can rename a page by selecting the Change Page Name

Pages


Save Page Settings
Save Settings

Saves all the internal settings as well as saving the screen position and width of the form.

Pages


TroubleShooting

Common  Problems


Common Problems

Q- I need to reinstall the program but I do not want to lose my settings and components I have stored.

A-Execute the install program,  when it finds that a PP001.INI exists then it will ask if you want to overwrite it with a new file, answer No and it will not overwrite your data files.

Q- When I rebuild my library I get an error Methods do not exist.

A-  Run the install program again but answer No to overwriting existing ini file.

Q- When I create a component it disappears and its not in the clipboard.

A- When you store a component, it remembers exactly where it was last time so it is possible that when you saved it last, it is not in the current view of the form, either expand the form to as larger as possible or find it in the object inspector and adjust its coordinates.

Another possibility is that the component could be under another component i.e. Tpanel or Notebook, I am currently working on an alternative to be able to create components inside a selected component. Unfortunately I have not perfected it yet.

Q- Why is it, when I save an OK button it does not remember the OK in the caption.

A-  This is because Delphi does not mark everything in the properties as modified and when I am storing the component it does not register that it has been change so, to solve this problem adjust any property that you want, save to make sure it has saved it properly.

TroubleShooting


Contacting Me

I encourage any and all feedback on Button Page.  I will read any correspondence regarding this utility.  I only ask that you follow a few simple guidelines when sending feedback.  First, be verbose.  Describe any problems or feature request in as much detail as possible.  Include any information that you think may be valuable code or bitmaps, the version of Delphi you are using, (remember to include file dates and size etc.).  If I cannot reproduce your bug, or do not know what you are talking about, I cannot fix the problem.  Second, include a method for me to contact you.  If you failed in step one, I may need to contact you for more information.  If you have an   e-mail address, include that.  Third, include in the subject/title reference to the type of feedback (if it is a bug report include bug in the title; if it is a feature request, include request in the title; etc.).

I can be contacted as follows:

CompuServe

100026,1274

e-mail: davidszk@ozemail.com.au

voice: (63) 0411-245-115

MAIL

David Szkilnyk

P.O. Box 609,

Glenroy

Victoria, 3046

Australia

Register

Registering your copy of Button Page will entitle you to the following:

- automatic notice of any new versions

- version without the trial notice and unlock Button Page that it can store 	unlimited buttons and unlimited pages. The registration will included the ability to store source code with components in their methods (if I have finished it at time of writing this it was almost there)

Also as a bonus I am throwing in the source code to my MRO (multirecord object)

Due to time constraints, I was unable to add a scroll bar but it will give you a very interesting insight into how things are done..

To register, send cheque or money order for $40.00 (US currency) to:

David Szkilnyk

P.O. Box 609,

Glenroy

Victoria, 3046

Australia