Frames, inheritance... How?

[Guest]

I think i have made a grave mistake. Because of DX Ribbons having problems with inheritance, i have put stuff into frames for 2 days now.

 

It goes like this:

TMainFormBase has a frame called FrameBase (TFrameBase). TFramBase is inherited but this is not the problem.

 

Now i would like to inherit from TMainForm, TMainFormApplication. OK. Done.

I would also like to inherit from TFrameBase, say TFrameApplication. OK, done.

 

But how can i say to TMainFormApplication that i want it to use TFrameApplication in stead of TFrameBase?

TMainFormBase accesses functions in TFrameBase using the field "Frame". That must of course continue to work.

Also, TMainFormBase has design-time connections to TFrameBase, like actions in buttons.

 

Any ideas are much appreciated.

 

TIA,

 

/Dany

Edited December 16, 2019 by Guest
Clarification, TFramTop removed

[Uwe Raabe 1878]

First, you should clarify how TMainForm and TMainFormBase are related, as well as TFrameBase and TFrameTop. Disregarding these inconsistencies I will try to outline my solution:

You should avoid placing the frame instance into the form with the designer. Instead declare a field in TMainFormBase of type TFrameBase named Frame. Add a virtual class function CreateFrame returning a TFrameBase instance. During form creation call this function and set the field Frame with the result. Then in TMainFormApplication override that function and return a TFrameApplication.

[Guest]

17 minutes ago, Uwe Raabe said:

First, you should clarify how TMainForm and TMainFormBase are related, as well as TFrameBase and TFrameTop.

Ahrg! TFrameApplication, not TFrameTop. A typo. Fixed. Sorry.

[Guest]

18 minutes ago, Uwe Raabe said:

You should avoid placing the frame instance into the form with the designer. Instead declare a field in TMainFormBase of type TFrameBase named Frame. Add a virtual class function CreateFrame returning a TFrameBase instance. During form creation call this function and set the field Frame with the result. Then in TMainFormApplication override that function and return a TFrameApplication.

OK, that could work. Thanks.

 

But then if i have actions on the TFrameBase/TFrameApplication and connect them in the IDE, i'd have to change that into an initialising function that assigns all the actions to all the buttons/other stuff. Am i correct?

Actually, with your proposed solution i will not be able to do the connections design-time anyhow.

[Uwe Raabe 1878]

You can still connect these as long as both are inside the frame. If you want to connect buttons of the frame to action in the form: no, that must be done manually.

[Guest]

OK! Thanks again, Uwe. Since the frame sat embedded in the dfm i did not think of creating it dynamically in a vitual. I do that with a lot of other stuff.