New GExperts IDE enhancement: Export and Import entries for the Tools menu

[dummzeuch 1517]

The Delphi IDE has the quite useful option to add custom entries to the Tools menu. These entries call external programs with some “Macros” that reference the current IDE status, e.g. the currently active project or source file and some of their properties like the output directory or the current editor column and row.

GExperts already enhances the Tools Properties dialog by adding auto completion for the file name and the working directory (for Delphi 6 and 7 it also adds support for Drag and Drop, but that doesn’t work for later versions).

It has always irked me that there was no easy way to port these custom tools entries from one Delphi version or installation to another. I always had to copy and paste four fields to achieve that.

GExperts now adds two new buttons to export and import the current entry:

 

Read on in my blog post

https://blog.dummzeuch.de/2019/06/08/new-gexperts-ide-enhancement-export-and-import-entries-for-the-tools-menu/

[uligerhardt 18]

Thanks! I missed that feature on every Delphi upgrade.

 

Re: clipboard format: Can't you just hand over the text? You can probably even put into a TMemIniFile for reading.

[dummzeuch 1517]

2 hours ago, uligerhardt said:

clipboard format: Can't you just hand over the text?

Yes, I could.

[Richard_Stevens 2]

Very useful enhancement, thank you.

[Edwin Yip 154]

It's useful, Thank you Thomas!

[PeterPanettone 158]

Very good idea!

 

Is it possible to export/import all Tools entries at once or only one by one?

[dummzeuch 1517]

1 hour ago, PeterPanettone said:

 

1 hour ago, PeterPanettone said:

Is it possible to export/import all Tools entries at once or only one by one?

Only one at a time. There is no API for them and I can't get at the data from the dialog that lists them. It's also not possible to directly modify the registry while Delphi is running, it will simply overwrite the new entries. Also there appear to be two different formats for the registry entries and they reference resource strings in the IDE. It's a veritable mess.

[PeterPanettone 158]

44 minutes ago, dummzeuch said:

It's a veritable mess.

Thank's for the clarification. I sometimes feel the smell of Atari in the Delphi IDE, or am I wrong?