Author(s) Ray Lischner
Title Secrets of Delphi 2
Publisher Waite Group Press
ISBN 1-57169-026-3
Source code on CD
Price 49.99 USD
Level advanced


Description

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.


Table of Contents

Chapter 1The Readiness is All
Chapter 2Components and Properties
Chapter 3Streams and File I/O
Chapter 4Form Files
Chapter 5Dynamic Arrays: The TList Class
Chapter 6The Elegant, Versatile TStrings Class
Chapter 7Run Time Type Information
Chapter 8Registry Secrets
Chapter 9Property Editors
Chapter 10Secrets of Property Editors
Chapter 11Designers and Forms
Chapter 12Component Editors
Chapter 13Metacomponents
Chapter 14Secrets of Delphi's Windows Interface
Chapter 15Secrets of Data-aware Components
Chapter 16Application Secrets
Chapter 17Internal Component Messages
Chapter 18Undocumented Property Editors
Chapter 19Heaps of Secrets
Chapter 20On-line Help for your Component
Chapter 21Advanced Design Tools
Chapter 22Virtual Method Table
Chapter 23Experts and the Open Tools API
Chapter 24Summary
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