PJMessageDialog Components

Contents

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

Description

This unit provides various customisable message dialog box components. Three components are installed on the component palette. The installed components are:

• TPJWinMsgDlg
  This component wraps the Windows MessageBoxIndirect API call and displays a message box based on that provided by Windows. This component will be suitable for most purposes and has the lighter footprint.
• TPJVCLMsgDlg
  This component uses the Delphi VCL CreateMessageDialog function to create a form based message box. (CreateMessageDialog is used by the standard Delphi MessageDlgXXX functions). The component provides more flexibility than either the Delphi functions or TPJWinMsgDlg. It should be used when it is necessary to display buttons or combinations of buttons that are not supported by the Windows API message box or when a finer degree of control over the appearance and behaviour of the message box is required. TPJVCLMsgDlg supports all the features of TPJWinMsgDlg and extends them.
• TPJMessageDialog
  This is an updated version of the component supplied in release 1 of this unit. Various bugs have been fixed and the handling of user icons improved. This component is only provided for backwards compatibility with existing projects that use the old version. It exposes the same properties as the old component. Some of these properties vary from those common to TPJWinMsgDlg and TPJVCLMsgDlg. It is recommended that TPJWinMsgDlg or TPJVCLMsgDlg are used in new projects.

Compatibility

The components are known to be compatible with Delphi 4, 6 and 7 and are believed to be compatible with Delphi 2, 3 and 5. The help file integrates with the IDE of Delphi 3 and later versions.

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 components' .zip file into a folder.
2. Copy the files PJMessageDialog.pas, PJMessageDialogDsgn.pas, PJMessageDialogDsgn.dfm and PJMessageDialog.dcr 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. Start Delphi. Select the Options | Install Components menu option. Click the Add button, then the Browse button and navigate to the PJMessageDialog.pas and PJMessageDialogDsgn.pas file in the folder where you placed it. Click OK to recompile the components library.
4. You can now delete PJMessageDialog.pas and PJMessageDialogDsgn.pas from the place where you copied them if you wish. The components will appear on a palette called DelphiDabbler. You can move the component to a different palette as required.

Note: the help file is designed for use with Delphi 3 and later and is not compatible with Delphi 2.

Installation with Delphi 3 & later

1. Unzip the component's .zip file into a folder of your choice, preserving the directory structure.
2. Copy the files PJMessageDialog.pas, PJMessageDialogDsgn.pas, PJMessageDialogDsgn.dfm and PJMessageDialog.dcr to where you wish to install into Delphi. This will probably be a sub-folder of the $(DELPHI)\lib folder.
3. Install the unit's components and property editor into the palette by chosing the Component | Install Component menu option to display the Install Component dialog box. Then:
   • Select the Into existing package tab.
   • Click the Browse button next to the Unit file name edit box to display the Unit file name dialog box.
   • Select PJMessageDialog.pas and PJMessageDialogDsgn.pas from the file dialog and click OK to return to the Install Component dialog box.
   • Choose the package into you wish to install from the Package file name drop down list.
   • Click OK.
   • A confirmation dialog box, querying whether it is OK to rebuild and reinstall the package may displayed. Click Yes to proceed.
   • The package will now be built and a dialog box stating that the TPJMessageDialog, TPJWinMsgDlg and TPJVCLMsgDlg components have been installed should be displayed. Click OK to dismiss the dialog box.
4. You can now delete PJMessageDialog.pas and PJMessageDialogDsgn.pas from the place where you copied them if you wish (but ensure that the .dcu files are not deleted). The component will appear on a palette called DelphiDabbler. You can move the components to a different palette as required.
5. The simplest way to install the help file is to use my Component Help Installer Expert. To install manually, proceed as follows:
   • Copy PJMessageDialog.hlp to whichever folder you wish to install it to.
   • In Delphi 3 to 6 (where X is the Delphi version 3..6):
     • Edit DelphiX.ohl (in $(DELPHI)\Help), adding the line :Link PJMessageDialog.hlp to the end of the section labelled "Third party help".
     • Edit DelphiX.ohi (in $(DELPHI)\Help), adding the line :Index DelphiDabbler Message Dialogs=PJMessageDialog.hlp towards the end of the index section.
     • Edit DelphiX.cnt (in $(DELPHI)\Help), ensuring that the lines :Include delphiX.ohiand :Include delphiX.ohl appear somewhere in the file.
   • In Delphi 7:
     • Edit D7.ohl (in $(DELPHI)\Help), adding the line :Link PJMessageDialog.hlp to the end of the section labelled "Third party help".
     • Edit D7.ohi (in $(DELPHI)\Help), adding the line :Index DelphiDabbler Message Dialogs=PJMessageDialog.hlp towards the end of the index section.
     • Edit D7.cnt (in $(DELPHI)\Help), ensuring that the lines :Include d7.ohi and :Include d7.ohl appear somewhere in the file.
   • Using RegEdit open the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Help and add a new string value named PJMessageDialog.hlp whose value is the path where you copied the help file (probably ($DELPHI)\Help).
6. The supplied demo programs can be loaded into Delphi and compiled and run as required. Note that the demo program needs access to the PJMessageDialog.hlp, so this file should be installed as described above before running the demo.

Known Issues

All reported bugs have been fixed in release 2.0

Update History

Release 2.0 of 05 October 2003
PJMessageDialog v2.0 of 05 October 2003

• Added new base classes for all components.
• Modified TPJMessageDialog to descend from common base class with new TPJWinMsgDlg.
• Fixed the following bugs in TPJMessageDialog as follows:
  • Setting the IconKind property to miUser and leaving the IconResource property empty now displays MAINICON rather than nothing.
  • Failure to to display user icons under Win NT fixed by referencing resources in Unicode when NT used.
  • MakeSound property now works for all value of IconKind rather than just miUser.
• Added new TPJWinMsgDlg component that also wraps the Windows MessageBoxIndirect call. This new component is compatible with, and has properties that are a subset of those of TPJVCLMsgDlg.
• Added new TPJVCLMsgDlg component that wraps the Delphi VCL CreateMessageDialog function call that is used to implement the MessageDlgXXXX Delphi functions. This component permits finer control over buttons and positioning than is avaiable from the MessageBoxIndirect API call.
• Added new property editor to permit entry of multi-line text for dialog box.
• Moved component registration to new design time unit.
• Complete rewrite of help file adding information about new components and property editor.

Release 1.0 of 06 April 2001
PJMessageDialog v1.0 of 30 March 2001

• Original version with help file and HTML documentation.

License & Disclaimer

This component is copyright © P.D.Johnson, 2001-2003.

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 via my website.

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. My programs are available for download on my web-site: http://www.delphidabbler.com/.

I can be contacted via the website.