TPJAboutBoxDlg Component |
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.
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/.
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
.
aboutbox.zip
into a folder, preserving the directory structure.
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.
aboutbox.dcr
from the 16
sub-folder into the same place
that you copied aboutbox.pas
.
aboutbox.hlp
into the $(DELPHI)\bin
folder.
aboutbox.kwf
into the $(DELPHI)\help
folder.
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.
aboutbox.pas
file in the directory where you placed it. Click OK to
recompile the components library.
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.
aboutbox.zip
into a folder, preserving the directory structure.
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.
aboutbox.dcr
from the 32
sub-folder into the same place
that you copied aboutbox.pas
.
aboutbox.hlp
into the $(DELPHI)\help
folder.
aboutbox.kwf
into the $(DELPHI)\help
folder.
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.
aboutbox.pas
file in the folder where you placed it. Click OK to
recompile the components library.
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.
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.
aboutbox.zip
into a folder, preserving the directory structure.
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.
aboutbox.dcr
from the 32
sub-folder into the same place
that you copied aboutbox.pas
.
aboutbox.pas
and select the file.
$(DELPHI)\lib\dclusrXX.dpk
(where XX=30 for Delphi 3 and XX=40 for Delphi 4).
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.
$(DELPHI)\bin
folder for Delphi 1 or the $(DELPHI)/help
folder for Delphi 2). The location of the help file will be remembered in future.
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
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:
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.
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.