HKEY Property Editor

Contents

• Description
• Compatibility
• Installation
• Known Issues
• Update History
• License and Disclaimer
• About the Author

Description

The file PJHKEYPropEdit.pas (included in hkeyed.zip) defines a property editor for properties of type HKEY -- i.e. registry root keys. The editor causes a drop-down list of all the registry root keys supported by Delphi to be displayed in the object inspector for any property of type HKEY.

Such a property is exposed by my TPJRegWdwState component (available from my website). This property editor is included with the later releases of that component.

Compatibility

The property editor has been tested with Delphi 2, 3 and 4. It is likely that it will work with Delphi 5, but this has not been tested. The editor is not compatible with Delphi 1 since this compiler does not support the registry.

Installation

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 2

1. Unzip the file hkeyed.zip into a folder, preserving the directory structure.
2. Copy PJHKEYPropEdit.pas to the folder from where you wish to install the property editor. This will probably be an existing folder where you keep library components - say the default $(DELPHI)\lib sub-folder.
3. Start Delphi. Select the Component | Install menu option. Click the Add button, then the Browse button and navigate to the PJHKEYPropEdit.pas file in the folder where you placed it. Click OK to recompile the component library.
4. You can now delete PJHKEYPropEdit.pas from the place where you copied it if you wish. The property editor will now be used for any property of type HKEY in any of your components.

Installation with Delphi 3 & Delphi 4

1. Unzip the file hkeyed.zip into a folder, preserving the directory structure.
2. Copy PJHKEYPropEdit.pas to the folder from where you wish to install the property editor. This will probably be a sub-folder of the $(DELPHI)\lib folder.
3. Install the property editor by chosing the Component | Install Component menu option. The following instructions assume you are installing into the default "users components" package:
   • Select the "Into exisiting package" page of the Install Components dialogue box.
   • Browse to the folder where you saved PJHKEYPropEdit.pas and select the file.
   • Ensure that the "Package file name" edit box contains $(DELPHI)\lib\dclusrXX.dpk (where XX=30 for Delphi 3 and XX=40 for Delphi 4).
   • Accept that the package will be rebuilt.
4. You can now delete PJHKEYPropEdit.pas from the place where you copied it if you wish. The property editor will now be used for any property of type HKEY in any of your components.

Known Issues

None at present.

Update History

Unreleased
v1.0 of 28/09/2000

• Original version.

Release 1.0.1 of 08/10/2000
v1.0.1 of 08/10/2000

• Fixed bug that was allowing invalid or empty values for an HKEY. An exception is now raised and existing value is retained.

License & Disclaimer

The source code for this property editor can be freely distributed on a not-for-profit basis providing that:

1. the source code is not altered.
2. this 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://www.pjsoft.contactbox.co.uk/.

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