Way for external app to jump to a unit and position inside the IDE?

[domus 1]

Would anyone know of a way for an external app to jump to a certain unit and position inside the IDE? Like, unit "Main.pas", line 100.

 

Many thanks for pointers.

[uligerhardt 18]

You can use

  ShellExecute(0, 'open', PChar(FileName), nil, nil, SW_SHOWNORMAL);

to show the unit in your registered Pascal editor - which probably is Delphi.

I don't know about the line number.

[domus 1]

That's indeed a way to get me started. Totally forgot about ShellExecute being an option here. Thanks for that!

 

If anyone would know of a way to navigate to a certain procedure or class, or line number, I'd be grateful to receive that knowledge. But it's probably all documented somewhere in the Tools API documentation and I should just resort to reading it.

[dummzeuch 1505]

1 hour ago, domus said:

Would anyone know of a way for an external app to jump to a certain unit and position inside the IDE? Like, unit "Main.pas", line 100.

 

Many thanks for pointers.

AFAIK this can only be done using the OTAPI which is only available for IDE plugins.

Edited August 17, 2023 by dummzeuch

[domus 1]

35 minutes ago, dummzeuch said:

AFAIK this can only be done using the OTAPI which ins only available for IDE plugins.

That's the problem. I'd need to write a plugin that listens to the external app...

 

Thanks and cheers.

[aehimself 396]

To open a file you can use DDE, which @Attila Kovacs got working some time ago:

As for repositioning, you can try to get the handle of the editor control and send a EM_SETSEL message.

That would be my approach, that is.

 

[domus 1]

54 minutes ago, aehimself said:

That would be my approach, that is.

Excellent approach. I'll give it a try. Thanks!

[dummzeuch 1505]

6 hours ago, aehimself said:

As for repositioning, you can try to get the handle of the editor control and send a EM_SETSEL message.

I don't think this will work as the editor control (TEditControl) does not descend from TEdit or TMemo but from TWinControl (via TCustomControl -> TCustomEditControl):

 

But I might be wrong, maybe one of those controls processes this message.

 

Edit: TMemo descends from TCustomEdit (which itself descends from TWinControl), not from TCustomEditControl.

Edited August 18, 2023 by dummzeuch

[aehimself 396]

That's a pity. Unfortunately the source of TEditControl and TCustomEditControl is buried somewhere so we can not be sure what it can do, what it will reply to.

Worths a try though, maybe...

[aehimself 396]

I wonder where @RRUZ got this unit. IF we are talking about the same component, according to it, TEditControl has two published properties:

property CaretX: SmallInt;
property CaretY: Integer;

If we can find out how to access this type from a Delphi application (even without source) I'm sure TEditControl could be accessed via it's handle and some pointer magic...

[uligerhardt 18]

If you're prepared to write a wizard you might find something in this fragments from a very old wizard I no longer use:

procedure TMyWizMainForm.ShowInMessageView(const FileName, MessageStr: string;
  LineNumber, ColumnNumber: Integer);
var
  MessageServices: IOTAMessageServices40;
begin
  MessageServices := BorlandIDEServices as IOTAMessageServices40;
  MessageServices.ClearCompilerMessages;
  MessageServices.ClearToolMessages;
  MessageServices.AddToolMessage(FileName, MessageStr, '.....', LineNumber, ColumnNumber);
  ShowMessageView;
end;

procedure TMyWizMainForm.ShowUnitSource(const FileName: string);
begin
  (BorlandIDEServices as IOTAActionServices).OpenFile(FileName);
end;

procedure TMyWizMainForm.ShowParseError(e: EParseError);
var
  EditorServices: IOTAEditorServices;
  TopView: IOTAEditView;
  EditActions: IOTAEditActions;
begin
  ShowInMessageView(CurrUnit, e.Message, e.LineNo, e.ColumnNo);
  EditorServices := BorlandIDEServices as IOTAEditorServices;
  TopView := EditorServices.TopView;
  if TopView = nil then
  begin
    ShowUnitSource(CurrUnit);
    TopView := EditorServices.TopView;
  end;
  if TopView <> nil then
  begin
    EditActions := TopView as IOTAEditActions;
    EditActions.NextError;
  end;

  Close;
  Beep;
end;

It works (worked?) by inserting a custom line into the IDE's message window and make the IDE jump there.