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A new update to Visual Forms has been released. The update is for all supported IDE Versions.

Registered users should have received the necessary details yesterday. If not, please let me know.

This new update includes support for Delphi XE, IDE Logging and also Updating of Localisations within the options screen.

Due to an enhancement in the OTAPI for Delphi XE, the Visual Forms Options dialog has been replaced and options are now accessible in the Tools | Options dialog. You can still get to the options using the Options menu item in the Visual Forms sub menu and the toolbar button (although that might disappear in a future version now).

The option pages appear under a Third Party node. While it is possible to place your option pages elsewhere - most will be best suited to this new location.

The JED Software company page is just filling space at the moment. There will be some additional details coming to that page in future.

JED Software Options Page

Visual Forms About Options Page

Visual Forms General Options Page

Visual Forms 2.0 includes a replacement for the existing View Units dialog.

In more recent Delphi releases, the View Units dialog has seen some enhancements. What Visual Forms does is expand on these recent enhancements (there is no loss in current functionality) and then raises the bar a couple of notches.

Here is a screen capture from the Delphi 2007 version of the View Units dialog.

Here is the Visual Forms 2.0 version of the View Units dialog.

Visual Forms has also taken over the Ctrl+F12 shortcut used for this dialog.

Apart from the obvious enhancements (it shows a preview of the form in the dialog while navigating it), it also supports sub string filtering and being able to display units across all files in the current project group.

Sub String Filtering

The sub string filtering is really the killer feature here and it doesn’t exist in ANY of the current Delphi versions.

View a short video (20 seconds) of the feature in action.

This feature came in very handy recently when I knew I had to make a change to an “attachment” form in QC Plus but couldn’t recall the unit name. Typing and looking at the form previews saved we valuable time.

Support for all Delphi versions

This feature is available for all versions of Delphi that Visual Forms 2.0 supports. This means Delphi 5 to Delphi 2010 (except Delphi 8).

Future Visual Forms versions will see this new feature improved significantly. That is why there is a blank space to the right of the search box!

Snag It 10

Has anyone else recently upgraded to Snag It version 10 and noticed that most times a TButton won’t capture correctly. Look at the OK button in the first capture. The finally provide transparency and fix the zoom bug, but unfortunately capturing a button is now hit or miss.

This is the first in a series of post that will highlight the new features found in Visual Forms 2.0.

Support Replacement Captures in all IDE Versions

This feature first appeared in the Delphi 2009 release and then the Delphi 2010 release. It has now filtered down to support all IDE versions and has also been enhanced.
Replacement Captures is a feature that allows you to replace a captured form with an alternate image.

Some reasons why you might want to replace an automatically captured form with a different image:

• You create your form content dynamically.
• You use visual inheritence and the form doesn’t change much through each inheritance layer.
• You want a form to be more prominent in the viewer.

How to replace the default capture

1. To create a replacement take a screen capture of the image you want to replace the default capture with. There needs to be an image on the clipboard before the Replace command items are enabled.
2. Select the default capture in the Visual Forms viewer to replace.



3. Choose the Replace… menu item from either the Refresh drop down menu on the toolbar or from the viewers context menu.



4. The image on the clipboard is displayed. To use the image displayed, click on the OK button.


 

When you have replacement forms in the current project you can identify them easy because a small yellow star is painted over the capture in the top left hand corner in the viewer.

If refreshing your captures (using Refresh All) and you have replacements active, you are prompted on what to do about your replacement captures. You can choose to override any replacements or keep them.

Likewise if you refresh a capture that is a replacement, you will be prompted before the replacement is overwritten.

You can also clear all of the replacements used in your project by using the Clear Replacements button available in the Options | Project section. The project section is only visible when there is a current Visual Forms enabled project opened in the IDE.

These captures were created using the Delphi 2007 version of Visual Forms running under Vista.

I’ve made my Beyond Compare IDE Expert for Delphi 2010 available for download.

Further details are available from www.jed-software.com/bc.htm.

It includes a new feature that allows you to compare a modified version of a source file that shipped to the original version.

Note: No other versions have been updated with this change.

The new command is available in the Compare sub menu and is only enabled when the active file in the editor is the same name as an original source file that shipped with the IDE and is not in the original location.

Compare to Original Source File command location

Beyond Compare showing the comparison

Delphi 2010 versions of Visual Forms and JSDialog Pack will be released within the week.
Some final testing and additional documentation is still required.

JSDialog Pack

The release for JSDialog Pack is a large update that adds many new features and abilities. It also sees the debut of a vastly improved help file and demos.

There were no code changes required for Delphi 2010 support so the current version will compile and run without error.

Visual Forms

The release for Visual Forms will just be a point release and only to add Delphi 2010 support. This is because Version 2 of Visual Forms is continuing in the background and isn’t quite ready for deployment. If you have feature requests – you have a little while before the new features phase is complete.

Delphi Configuration Manager

An updated version will be available mid to late September.

Way back in January 2004 (not a misprint), I had an idea (some might say not too many since but I digress).

I put this idea into a system called QualityCentral. The system is full of bugs but more importantly, ideas. Some are good, some are not. You can vote on what you like, and also vote against what you don’t.

Here is a link and summary of the report.

Report No: 6932 (RAID: 193544)          Status: Open
Add functionality to indicate screen resolutions when designing forms.
http://qc.codegear.com/wc/qcmain.aspx?d=6932

I set aside a couple of hours this evening to do something different (been working really hard on a JSDialog Pack update).

Here is a smallish thumb (click for the full size version) and a link to a reduced image.

Screen Resolution Indication

http://www.jed-software.com/images/blog/Resolution_Half.png

Haven’t really decided what I’ll do with it (it may just sit on my hard disk for years and remain private like many others before it), although I’m planning something exciting for the Visual Forms product. It may get a call up for that.

Visual Forms for Delphi 2009 has been available for several months now. If you are a registered user and perhaps missed the email announcement, send me an email and collect your order!

This new version for Delphi 2009 (only) includes a few enhancements that will also be added to the next release that will support all IDE’s.

A beta version of the Visual Forms IDE Expert is now available for testing with Delphi 2009. Please request your copy via email.

This new version also includes a new feature where a replacement screen capture can be used to represent the form in the list. This will be useful if your application creates a lot of screen content at runtime.

I’ve made a final change to the disable IDE gradient package. This time it disables all* toolbars within the IDE.

For GExperts, because the toolbar is not loaded immediately the IDE is loaded, I suggest you request the GExperts people add an option. They already have a number of toolbar options available.

The code has been simplified quite a bit in this version.

Download is in the same location: DisableGradient.zip

Note: It may not work for some IDE add-ins that control and update the gradient themselves when loaded. It worked for my Visual Forms expert, plus a few others of mine that are not public. It will depend on how the specific expert is coded.

* By all I mean the toolbars for windows available in the currently loaded desktop. Also if new windows are in a specific project desktop, then they should also have their toolbars updated.

A long time ago I wrote a sample unit that disabled the Gradient effect on the toolbars within the IDE. This was a new feature for the Delphi 2006 IDE. The old post (which is badly formatted since the change in blog engines) is still available at http://jed-software.com/blog/?p=85.

Recently this topic came up in the newsgroups (which I rarely read nowadays) so I decided to revisit what I did and make it a little easier to use.

You will still have to compile and install a package (I have included a Delphi 2007 and Delphi 2009 DPK file). Now included is the ability to toggle the effect using a menu item (View | Show Gradient and also a Show Gradient option appears on the Toolbars context menu) and also to persist the option. The value is written under the Toolbars key in the registry location for the current IDE instance.

Download the zip file with full source here – DisableGradient.zip.