When you start Delphi for the first time, you see a couple of windows.
You will also notice that there is no parent window which contains all other
(child) windows. Instead there is a main window (on top of the screen) that
has a menu bar and the icons. It also offers a component palette (which
will be discussed later). On the left side of the screen you can see the
object inspector. It allows you to change the properties of the current
component.
You can find the components you will need most on the first three tabs
in the component palette. I am not going to discuss all of them here, refer
to the help file if you have specific questions (or
mail me if you can't figure something out).
Here is an overview over the most important components:
To add a component to your form simply double-click on it. You can move it arround
with the mouse and customize its properties in the object inspector. To start your
program just press the "play" button in the main window.The components
Lets you add a standard menu bar to your form. To change the contents
double-click on the icon on the form.
Puts text on your form. The character in the caption with a "&" in
front of it will be underlined. You can link another component such as
TEdit to it by using the FocusControl Property. When the user pressen
Alt+CHARACTER that component will be selected. Modify the appearence of
the text with the "font" property.
Allows the user to input text. He can also use cut & paste to the Windows
clipboard.
Multi-line Edit.
Powerful properties are "default" and "cancel" (make button default-
or cancel-button).
Allow the user to switch them on and off. From a group of radiobuttons
only one can be selected.
Display lists. User can select an entry by clicking on it. You can allow
multiple selections, make them sorted, etc.
Probably easiest way to add a bitmap to your form. Use the "picture" property.
Let you put more components on a form than would normally fit by providing
several layers. The user can switch between the layers by using the tabs on
top of the control. You can use the page-editor to add pages at design time.
This control is often used for option dialogs.
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Please e-mail me with any comments!
© 27.12.96 Sebastian Boßung
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