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Secrets of Delphi 2 uncovers secrets and undocumented features of the Delphi programming language and environment.
Delphi is the most exciting product to hit the Windows development scene since Windows itself. You don't need to be a computer expert to create novel, interesting, and useful components and programs with Delphi. The fundamentals of Delphi are easy to learn, with its intuitive tools, rich component library, and innovative environment.
Delphi is big, though. There are many classes and components, a new dialect of a programming language, and several add-on tools. To further complicate matters, there are two versions of Delphi. Version 1.0 produces 16-bit programs for Windows 3.x. Version 2.0 produces 32-bit programs for Windows 95 and Windows NT. Most of the Delphi Pascal language and many components are the same in the two versions, but there are also significant differences.
If that weren't enough to keep you busy, there are the secrets. To master Delphi, you need to learn about the undocumented features, too. Some aspects of Delphi were accidentally omitted from the documentation. Other secrets are due to inaccurate documentation. Some features are not documented so they can be changed without concern for backward compatibility. Whatever the origin of these secrets, you can become a better programmer by knowing more about them. Learn how to write your own data-aware components, implement form inheritance in Delphi 1.0, or customize Delphi's design environment with your own property editors, component editors, and experts. Refine your components with message handlers for the undocumented, internal Visual Component Library (VCL) messages. These are just some of the secrets you will learn in Secrets of Delphi 2.
Chapter 1 | The Readiness is All |
Chapter 2 | Components and Properties |
Chapter 3 | Streams and File I/O |
Chapter 4 | Form Files |
Chapter 5 | Dynamic Arrays: The TList Class |
Chapter 6 | The Elegant, Versatile TStrings Class |
Chapter 7 | Run Time Type Information |
Chapter 8 | Registry Secrets |
Chapter 9 | Property Editors |
Chapter 10 | Secrets of Property Editors |
Chapter 11 | Designers and Forms |
Chapter 12 | Component Editors |
Chapter 13 | Metacomponents |
Chapter 14 | Secrets of Delphi's Windows Interface |
Chapter 15 | Secrets of Data-aware Components |
Chapter 16 | Application Secrets |
Chapter 17 | Internal Component Messages |
Chapter 18 | Undocumented Property Editors |
Chapter 19 | Heaps of Secrets |
Chapter 20 | On-line Help for your Component |
Chapter 21 | Advanced Design Tools |
Chapter 22 | Virtual Method Table |
Chapter 23 | Experts and the Open Tools API |
Chapter 24 | Summary |