TPJAboutBoxDlg Component


Contents


Description

This component encapsulates an About Box in a non-visual component.

It has string properties to display five different pieces of information in the about box. The positioning and names of the properties are shown in the picture.

The string properties are:

Alternatively, the about box can display information from a VERSIONINFO resource included in the program. This is done by placing a TPJVersionInfo component on the form which has its FileName property set to the empty string ('') and then setting the about box's VersionInfo property to refer to the TPJVersionInfo component. When the VersionInfo property is not nil the values of the ProgramName, Version, Copyright and Notes properties are ignored and the information from the TPJVersionInfo control is used instead.

The About box displays an icon. This is the icon defined for the application (see the Icon property of TApplication). If no icon has been specified for the application the default Delphi icon is used. Search for help on the Application tab of the Project Options Dialog Box in Delphi Help for information on specifying an application icon.

The position of the about box on the screen is determined by the DlgLeft and DlgTop properties unless the CentreDlg property is set to True when the about box is positioned at the centre of the screen.

The about box contains a close button, the appearance of which is governed by the ButtonGlyph, ButtonHeight, ButtonKind and AutoDetectGlyphs properties. The position of the button is determined by the ButtonPlacing property.

The HelpContext property allows Windows Help to be displayed for the dialogue box.

This component has no events.


Compatibility

This component has been tested with Delphi versions 1, 2, 3 and 4. It may work correctly in Delphi 5 but this has not been tested.

TPJAboutBoxDlg depends on the TPJVersionInfo component also being installed. The Delphi IDE will throw an error if TPJVersionInfo is not already installed since TPJAboutBoxDlg requires the type declaration of TPJVersionInfo for one of its properties.

The file aboutbox.pas requires different versions of the TPJVersionInfo component to work with 16 and 32 bit versions of Delphi. The latest download for TPJVersionInfo contains all the required versions.

You can download TPJVersionInfo from my web-site: http://homepages.tesco.net/~p.d.johnson/.


Installation

Please ensure that you have installed TPJVersionInfo before you install this component.

In these instructions $(DELPHI) is to be taken to represent the path where the appropriate version of Delphi was installed. For example, if you have Delphi 2 installed on the default installation path then $(DELPHI) is equivalent to C:\Program Files\Borland\Delphi 2.0.

Installation with Delphi 1

  1. Unzip the file aboutbox.zip into a folder, preserving the directory structure.
  2. Copy the files aboutbox.pas and aboutbox.dfm to the folder from where you wish to install the component into the Delphi Component Palette. This will probably be an existing folder where you keep the library components - say the default $(DELPHI)\lib folder.
  3. Copy aboutbox.dcr from the 16 sub-folder into the same place that you copied aboutbox.pas.
  4. Copy the help file aboutbox.hlp into the $(DELPHI)\bin folder.
  5. Copy the help keyword file aboutbox.kwf into the $(DELPHI)\help folder.
  6. Ensure Delphi is not running. Merge the help keyword file by running helpinst.exe from the $(DELPHI)\help folder. When helpinst.exe is running open the delphi.hdx file, add aboutbox.kwf and click on the Save button.
  7. Start Delphi. Select the Options | Install Components menu option. Click the Add button, then the Browse button and navigate to the aboutbox.pas file in the directory where you placed it. Click OK to recompile the components library.
  8. You can now delete aboutbox.pas from the place where you copied it if you wish. The component will appear on a palette called PJ Stuff. You can move the component to a different palette as required, or hack the source code (before installing the program) by finding the Register procedure at the end of the code and changing the string 'PJ stuff' to the name of the required palette.

Installation with Delphi 2

  1. Unzip the file aboutbox.zip into a folder, preserving the directory structure.
  2. Copy the files aboutbox.pas and aboutbox.dfm to the folder from where you wish to install the component into the Delphi Component Palette. This will probably be an existing folder where you keep the library components - say the default $(DELPHI)\lib folder.
  3. Copy aboutbox.dcr from the 32 sub-folder into the same place that you copied aboutbox.pas.
  4. Copy the help file aboutbox.hlp into the $(DELPHI)\help folder.
  5. Copy the help keyword file aboutbox.kwf into the $(DELPHI)\help folder.
  6. Merge the help keyword file by running helpinst.exe from the $(DELPHI)\help\tools folder. When helpinst.exe is running open the delphi.hdx file, add aboutbox.kwf and click on the Save button.
  7. Start Delphi. Select the Options | Install Components menu option. Click the Add button, then the Browse button and navigate to the aboutbox.pas file in the folder where you placed it. Click OK to recompile the components library.
  8. You can now delete aboutbox.pas from the place where you copied it if you wish. The component will appear on a palette called PJ Stuff. You can move the component to a different palette as required, or hack the source code (before installing the program) by finding the Register procedure at the end of the code and changing the string 'PJ stuff' to the name of the required palette.

Installation with Delphi 3 & Delphi 4

Note that although the provided help file gives information about using the component it cannot be linked into the Delphi 3 or Delphi 4 environments at present.

  1. Unzip the file aboutbox.zip into a folder, preserving the directory structure.
  2. Copy the files aboutbox.pas and aboutbox.dfm to the folder from where you wish to install the component into the Delphi Component Palette. This will probably be a sub-folder of the $(DELPHI)\lib folder.
  3. Copy aboutbox.dcr from the 32 sub-folder into the same place that you copied aboutbox.pas.
  4. Install the component into the palette by chosing the Component | Install Component menu option. The following instructions assume you are installing into the default "users components" package:
  5. You can now delete aboutbox.pas from the place where you copied it if you wish. The component will appear on a palette called PJ Stuff. You can move the component to a different palette as required, or hack the source code (before installing the program) by finding the Register procedure at the end of the code and changing the string 'PJ stuff' to the name of the required palette.


Known Issues


Update History

Un-released
AboutBox v1.0 of 16/02/1998

Un-released
AboutBox v2.0 of 25/04/1998

Un-released
AboutBox v2.1 of 01/08/1998

Un-released
AboutBox v2.2 of 01/08/1998

Un-released
AboutBox v3.0 of 06/12/1998

Release 3.0 of 08/07/1999
AboutBox v3.0a of 09/04/1999

Release 3.1 of 28/11/1999
AboutBox v3.1 of 27/11/1999


License & Disclaimer

This component is copyright © P.D.Johnson, 1998-1999.

The source code and help files can be freely distributed on a not-for-profit basis providing that:

  1. the source code is not altered.
  2. this readme file is distributed with it unchanged

By not-for-profit I mean that you may recover out of pocket expenses incurred in distributing the code, but should not make a profit from this.

If you discover any bugs in this implementation, or if you have any update suggestions, please contact me on peter.johnson@openlink.org.

Please do modify the code for you own use. I'd like to see any changes you make - I could incorporate them into future versions. Please notify me of changes on at the above e-mail address.

This software is provided as is - no warranty is given as to its suitability for any purposes to which you may wish to put it.


About the Author

I'm Peter Johnson - a hobbyist programmer living in Ceredigion in West Wales, UK. I write mainly in Delphi, but occasionally dabble in C, C++ and Java. My programs are available for download on my web-site: http://homepages.tesco.net/~p.d.johnson/.

I can be contacted by e-mail on peter.johnson@openlink.org.