PeterPanettone

EXCELLENT piece of code! Thank you!

The functionality to hide a subset of components in the Form-Designer is already existing: Show Non-Visual Components in the Edit menu. Could that functionality be used by an add-on to selectively hide a single control component (and its sub-controls)?

It is not a question of accessing the hidden visual components. Of course, they can be accessed and selected in the Structure Panel (and thus shown and their properties edited in the Object Inspector), but their container content visually edited. Imagine you have a TPanel (Panel1) hidden behind another panel (Panel2) and want to insert and visually edit some other controls inside this hidden Panel1. In such a case it would be convenient temporarily hiding the Panel2 in the Form-Designer. However, the question was about an addon having such a feature. Thank you for your observations.

This project shows how to convert an SVG XML source text to a freely scalable SVG image (Scalable Vector Graphics): It uses the SVGMagic library which is available here: https://svgmagic.io TextToSvg2.zip I am NOT affiliated with SVGMagic. Have fun and DON'T BE SCARED!

In Delphi 10.3 Rio I missed the Structure Panel Search: So I was happy to read at Andy's Blog and Tools web page: DDevExtensions and DFMCheck released for Delphi 10.3 Rio [...] Fixed: Structure-View search dropdown had a max height of 2 items And after installing DDevExtensions in Rio I now have Structure Panel Search: Thank you, Andreas Hausladen! Additionally, I have a suggestion for the Structure Panel Search: Often I had the need to filter out all components/controls of a specific type in the Structure Panel: So, when explicitly writing a type name (e.g. *TLabel*) in the filter field, the Structure Panel should show all TLabel controls. This would be very useful! What do you think?

The above URL does not work anymore. Here is the current working URL: https://www.idefixpack.de/blog/2018/12/ddevextensions-and-dfmcheck-released-for-delphi-10-3-rio/

Why don't you tell this to the makers of the SVGMagic website? They will certainly be grateful for intelligent advice increasing their sales. I think this is the wrong place for criticism on third party websites.

That may be your personal opinion (which in this case is also a widely spread misconception). The reason for the Linux kernel being an exception is that it's easy to outstrip Microsoft in this field.

The SVGMagic library has many more features than displaying an SVG image. Are you from CNN? Please don't spread false information.

I think the importance of SVG for UI is underestimated. Using only pixel images for UI controls is the wrong way.

Did you test the project at all? Can you tell me your opinion about the project source? Good luck. and: DON'T BE SCARED!

I don't sell anything. Please don't insinuate anything here if I was a drug dealer. If you don't want to pay a small fee for other people's hard work you can write the code yourself. I am NOT affiliated with SVGMagic. While the opensource idea is a good concept for social collaboration, the misconception that EVERYTHING must be free is a pathological social delusion.

You can get the source code from Github. It is very easy to get.

In the IDE's FormDesigner Structure panel, when I copy a number of selected components, I get a collection of objects in the clipboard. An IDE expert would search and extract all code elements in the project's source code referring to any of the objects in the collection. This would allow us to easily copy a selection of UI elements together with their inherent code functionality and insert them into another project with minimal effort. The steps to extract the code elements would be: 1. Create a list of the object names in the clipboard collection 2. Search those object names in the project's source code 3. Automate the extraction of the code elements (procedures, functions, declarations, variables, etc.) referring objects in the object collection and put them in a code collection. 4. Insert the objects and the code-elements into another project. 5. Make the necessary adjustments and corrections

I know the term "orthogonal" from geometry. What do you mean with "orthogonal" in respect of code?

Consider this case: You have a PageControl where each page contains a number of UI-controls so that each page has a separate functionality. It is easy to re-use a specific functionality by copying the UI controls from a specific page. But how would you a priori separate just the code connected to these UI-controls so that just this code could be easily re-used? It would help if it was possible to put a TForm on a PageControl page. In this way both the UI-controls and their connected code would be confined inside this form. I diffusely remember a UI-component allowing to do this: Placing a TForm in it.

I have to make some more research into separating different functionalities in confined areas where they can be easily reused. It would be nice if the IDE (or an IDE expert) could help us doing this or help us refactoring existing code into clearly separated code areas.

In Delphi 10.3.3 I have the Floating Form Designer, with the Form Designer and the Structure panel on the second monitor. Sometimes it happens that the Structure panel is EMPTY, regardless whether it is located on the first monitor or on the second monitor: So I decided do file a support case with Embarcadero (never done that before). In the subscription e-mail, I got from Embarcadero, I found this support URL: http://support.embarcadero.com/annual I tried any of the dropdown menu items: With "Product support" I got a new login form although I was already logged in with my correct user name and password. I entered them again but it said "Invalid...". So I clicked the "Send new password" button. But since then no message from Embarcadero. Is there a working annual support page?

On the other hand, with this URL: http://supportforms.embarcadero.com ...there seems to be no option for an IDE bug support:

I don't understand your answer.

BTW, a much more EFFICIENT way to handle support cases would be: 1. Send 3 GUIDs (Globally Unique Identifiers) and a support email-address in the mail to the subscriber. 2. To file a support case with Embarcadero, the subscriber must only send an e-mail with one of the GUIDs in the subject field. This can be very well automated with software and subscriber databases at Embarcadero and saves a lot of manual work for the support staff.

The most ANNOYING brake shoe in Delphi programming is the stone-age linkage of the structure panel content to the current type of editor: • In the CODE EDITOR the structure panel always shows the identifiers of the code edited in the editor. • In the FORM DESIGNER the structure panel always shows the list of object instances of the current form in a tree view. PLUS, there is a linkage between the OBJECT INSPECTOR content and the selected object in the structure panel (but only if you are in the FORM DESIGNER; the INSTANCES LIST on top of the Object Inspector is unusable because it is not displayed as a tree view and its width cannot be resized). But what if you are in the code editor and need a specific object to be displayed in the Object Inspector? There are two possibilities: 1. You switch to the Form Designer by pressing the F12 key, support the flickering of the tool windows, then select the desired object to display it in the Object Inspector. 2. Or: You click the Instances List Combobox on top of the Object Inspector and spend a lot of time finding the desired object (because it is not displayed as a tree view and the width is not resizable). All this is an unnecessary loss of time because of the mentioned stone-age linkage. So, would it be possible with a piece of software to solve these problems? For example: • Show the Structure Panel with its object instances treeview even if you are in the code editor? • Have an Object Inspector Instances List in the form of a treeview and with resizable width? Also, there is no distinction between visual and non-visual elements in the structure panel displaying the objects tree: There is no button in the Structure Panel to show only the visual objects or only the non-visual elements. Could any of these problems be solved by a GExpert?

Delphi is wonderful for small projects. But if you have a middle-size or large project, the mentioned drawbacks (e.g. the linkage of the structure panel content to the current type of editor) are annoying and time-consuming.

Actually I work with Delphi 3. I am glad you helped me to understand.

And which style exactly did you add? I am still waiting for the screenshots.