Chapter 2: Highlights of the Delphi Environment

• Different Versions of Delphi
• Asking for Help
• Delphi Menus and Commands
• Using the Menus
• The SpeedBar
• The SpeedMenus
• Working with Forms
• The Components Palette
• The Object Inspector
• The Alignment Palette
• Writing Code
• Managing Projects
• The Project Manager
• Setting Project Options
• Compiling a Project
• Exploring a Compiled Program
• The Integrated Debugger
• The Object Browser
• Additional Delphi Tools
• The Files Produced by the System
• Summary
  

Chapter 3: The Object Repository and the Experts

• The Object Repository
• The Pages of the Object Repository
• Delphi Experts
• The Database Form Expert
• Customizing the Object Repository
• Adding New Application Templates
• Adding New Form Templates to the List
• The Object Repository Options
• Summary
  

Chapter 4: The Pascal Language

• Pascal Data Types
• Predefined Data Types
• Specific Windows Types
• Typecasting and Type Conversions
• The Variant Data Type
• User-Defined Data Types
• Pascal Strings
• Long Pascal Strings
• C-Like Character Arrays
• Coding Style
• Comments
• Use of Uppercase
• White Spaces
• Pretty-Printing
• Syntax Highlighting
• Pascal Statements
• Expressions and Operators
• Simple and Compound Statements
• Pascal Conditional Statements
• If Statements
• Case Statements
• Pascal Loops
• For Statements
• While and Repeat Statements
• The With Statement
• Pascal Procedures and Functions
• Reference Parameters
• Constant Parameters
• Open Array Parameters
• What Is a Method?
• Forward Declarations
• External Declarations
• Procedural Types
• Summary
  

Chapter 5: Object Pascal as an OOP Language

• Introducing Classes and Objects
• The Delphi Object Model
• The First Delphi Example with Classes
• Declaring a Constructor
• Classes and Information Hiding
• Private, Protected, and Public
• Public and Published
• Classes and Units
• The Interface of a Class
• Units and Scope
• Encapsulating Changes
• A Date Unit
• Units and Programs
• Advanced Topics Relating to Methods and Classes
• The Self Keyword
• Class Methods and Class Data
• Method Pointers
• Class References
• Inheriting from Existing Types
• Inheritance and Type Compatibility
• Virtual and Dynamic Methods
• Overriding Virtual and Static Methods
• Virtual versus Dynamic Methods
• Message Handlers
• Abstract Methods
• Run-Time Type Information
• Handling Exceptions
• An Example of the Use of Exceptions
• The Finally Block
• Summary
  

Chapter 6: The Visual Component Library

• The Conceptual Foundation
• The VCL Hierarchy
• Components
• Objects
• Exceptions
• Using Components and Objects
• Properties
• The Name Property
• Properties Related to Component Size and Position
• The Enabled, Visible, and Showing Properties
• The Tag Property
• Properties Related to Color and Font
• Component Methods
• Component Events
• Delegation Is the Key
• Events Are Properties
• Using Delphi Collections
• The VCL Source Code
• Summary
  

Chapter 7: A Tour of the Basic Components

• Windows' Own Components
• Clicking a Button
• The BUTTONS Example
• Clicking the Mouse on a Component
• Adding Colored Text to a Form
• The LABEL_CO Example
• The Standard Color Dialog Box
• Dragging from One Component to Another
• The Code for the DRAGGING Example
• Accepting Input from the User
• Handling the Input Focus
• Entering Numbers
• Sophisticated Input Schemes
• Creating a Simple Editor
• The Font Dialog Box
• Creating a Rich Editor
• Selecting a Choice
• Grouping Radio Buttons
• The PHRASES Example
• A List with Many Choices
• The Form for PHRASES2
• Working with the List Boxes
• Removing a Selected String from the Other List Box
• Allowing Multiple Selections
• The Third Version of PHRASES
• Many Lists, Little Space
• Choosing a Value in a Range
• The Scroll Color Example
• Summary
  

Chapter 8: Creating and Handling Menus

• The Structure of a Menu
• Different Roles of Menu Items
• Changing Menu Items at Run-Time
• Editing a Menu with the Menu Designer
• The Standard Structure of a Menu
• Menu Shortcuts
• Using the Predefined Menu Templates
• Responding to Menu Commands
• The Code Generated by the Menu Designer
• The Code of the MENU_ONE Example
• Checking and Disabling Menus
• Changing Menu Items
• Changing Pull-Down Menus
• Changing the Menu Structure at Run-Time
• Short and Long Menus
• Customizing the Menu Check Mark
• Changing the System Menu
• The NOTES Program Menu
• Loading and Saving Files
• Pop-Up Menus (and the Right Mouse Button)
• The LOCAL Example
• Changing a Pop-up Menu When It Is Activated
• Handling Pop-Up Menus Manually
• Summary
  

Chapter 9: Back to the Form

• Forms versus Windows
• Overlapped, Pop-Up, and Child Windows
• The Application Is a Window
• Setting Form Styles
• Creating Topmost Forms
• Avoiding Topmost Flickering
• The Border Style
• The Effect of the BorderStyle Property
• The BORDERS Example
• The Border Icons
• Setting More Windows Styles
• Forms in Different Screen Resolutions
• Manual Form Scaling
• Automatic Form Scaling
• Setting the Form's Position and Size
• The Size of a Form and Its Client Area
• The Maximum and Minimum Size of a Form
• Automatic Form Creation
• Closing a Form
• Getting Mouse Input
• Using Windows without a Mouse
• The Mouse Events
• Drawing on the Form
• The Drawing Tools
• Drawing Shapes
• Drawing and Painting in Windows
• Painting a Single Shape
• Painting a Number of Shapes
• Delphi Output Components
• Summary
  

Chapter 10: Graphical Components

• Improving the User Interface with Graphics
• A Bitmap in a Button
• A Car in a Button
• An Animated Bitmap in a Button
• A Two-State Button
• Many Images in a Bitmap
• The Rotating World
• A List of Bitmaps, the Use of Resources, and a PaintBox
• An Image Viewer
• Drawing in a Bitmap
• Drawing Shapes
• Graphical Lists
• The Outline of the Book
• A Tree of Chapters
• The Nodes of the Outline
• A Graphical List
• Building Grids
• A Grid of Fonts
• Mines in a Grid
• Choosing Colors
• Summary
  

Chapter 11: A Toolbar and a Status Bar

• Grouping Controls with Panels
• Building a Toolbar
• A Simple Toolbar
• Enabling and Disabling Toolbar Buttons
• Adding Hints to the Toolbar
• Adding Hints to a Form
• Customizing Hints
• Adding Features to a Toolbar
• A Combo Box in a Toolbar
• A Toolbar You Can Drag
• Creating a Status Bar
• Menu Hints in the Status Bar
• Speed Button Hints in the Status Bar
• Summary
  

Chapter 12: Multiple Forms and Dialog Boxes

• Dialog Boxes versus Forms
• Adding a Second Form to a Program
• Modal and Modeless Forms
• Two Forms, Two Menus
• Merging Form Menus
• Creating a Dialog Box
• Modal Dialog Boxes
• A Modeless Dialog Box
• Using Predefined Dialog Boxes
• Windows Common Dialogs
• Message Boxes Parade
• A Dialog Box as a Main Window
• Extensible Dialog Boxes
• Special About Boxes
• Using the System About Box
• Building a Custom Hidden Screen
• Visual Form Inheritance
• Inheriting from a Base Form
• Polymorphic Forms
• Summary
  

Chapter 13: Scrolling and Multipage Forms

• When Forms Are Too Big
• Scrolling a Form
• The Scroll Testing Example
• Automatic Scrolling
• Scrolling an Image
• Scrolling and Form Coordinates
• Building Notebooks with Delphi
• TabControl, PageControl, and TabSheets
• A Notebook with a Tab Set
• Changing the Page of a Notebook
• Tabbed Notebooks
• Notebooks without Tabs and Tabs without Notebooks
• A Presentation in a Notebook
• An Image Viewer with Tabs
• An Image Browser with Tabs
• A Multipage Toolbar
• Summary
  

Chapter 14: Splitting Windows

• Form Splitting Techniques
• Splitting with a Header
• Using the HeaderControl component
• Using the Header Component
• Setting a Maximum and Minimum Size
• A Header behind the Scenes
• Splitting with Panels
• Drawing a Split Line
• Direct Mouse Splitting
• Dragging the Mouse
• The Dragging Code
• A Custom File Manager
• Components Used in the File Manager
• Adding a Preview Pane to the File Manager
• Summary
  

Chapter 15: Creating MDI Applications

• MDI in Windows: A Technical Overview
• Frame and Child Windows in Delphi
• A First Delphi MDI Demo
• Building a Complete Window Menu
• Building a Child Window
• MDI Applications with Different Child Windows
• Adding a Bouncing Shape
• The Menu Bar of the New Child Form
• Changing the Main Form
• A Fast Start with MDI
• Summary
  

Chapter 16: Using OLE Controls

• What Is an OLE Control?
• OLE Controls versus Delphi Components
• OLE Controls in Delphi
• Installing a New OLE Control
• The TOLEControl Class
• Using OLE Controls
• Building a Chart
• But What about Writing OLE Controls in Delphi?
• Summary
  

Chapter 17: Building Database Applications

• Data, Files, Databases, and Tables
• What Is a Table?
• Operations on Database Data
• Delphi Database Components
• Tables and Queries
• Other Data-Access Components
• Delphi Data-Aware Components
• Building Database Applications by Hand
• A Grid of Countries
• Customizing the DBGrid
• Navigating through Countries
• Using a Query
• A Query with Parameters
• Using the Database Form Expert
• Accessing the Fields of a Table or Query
• The TField Components
• An Example of a Calculated Field
• Using Fields to Manipulate a Table
• Looking for Records in a Table
• Changing the Data and Computing New Values
• Exploring the Tables of a Database
• Choosing a Database and a Table at Run-Time
• A Table Viewer
• A Field Editor
• An Outline for a Table Browser
• Creating a Graphical Table
• The Form and Its Startup Code
• Creating a New Table
• Choosing a Table with the Proper Fields
• Adding or Removing Records
• A Multi Record Grid
• Moving Control Grid Panels
• Building a Master Detail Form with the Expert
• Making a Join with SQL Queries
• Providing a Closed Selection in a Combo Box
• A Lookup in a Grid
• Summary
  

Chapter 18: Client/Server and Advanced Database Applications

• Accessing a SQL Server
• A First InterBase Application
• Accessing a SQL Server
• InterBase Server Tools
• Upsizing an Existing Program
• Copying a Table
• Porting the Application
• Using the Visual Query Builder
• From Porting to Upsizing
• Joining Tables with the Visual Query Builder
• A Join with Three Tables
• A Join with More Tables
• From a Two-Tier to a Three-Tier Architecture
• Creating a Data Module
• A Data Module for Multiple Views
• Setting Fields Properties and Initial Values
• Standard Tables Filtering
• Custom Table Filtering
• Custom Filtering and Client/Server Development
• Delphi Data Dictionary
• Summary
  

Chapter 19: Discovering the Application Structure

• Using the Application Object
• Showing the Application Window
• Checking for Multiple Instances of an Application
• Testing to See if Another Instance Is Running
• Activating the Previous Instance
• Handling User-Defined Windows Messages
• Searching the Windows List
• Programming without Components
• The Smallest Delphi Program?
• Reading the Command Line
• Using the Command Show Parameter
• Events, Messages, and Multitasking in Windows
• Event-Driven Programming
• Windows Message Delivery
• Building a Clock with a Timer
• Behind the Timers: The Clock
• A Full-Scale Graphical Clock
• Painting the Seconds Hand with Raster Operations
• Idle Computing and Multitasking
• Background Processing
• Computing Prime Numbers the Dumb Way
• Multithreading in Delphi
• The TThread Class
• A First Example
• Setting Threads Priorities
• Synchronizing Threads
• A Final Multithreading Example
• Using the Screen Object
• Getting Screen Information
• Handling the Forms List
• Saving Status Information
• Using Windows INI Files
• Using the Registry
• Summary
  

Chapter 20: Exploring the Behavior of a Program

• Debugging with the Debugger
• Debug Information
• Setting Breakpoints
• Inspecting Values
• More on Breakpoints
• Tracing through the VCL Source Code
• Alternative Debugging Techniques
• Debugging with a Terminal Window
• Debug and Release Versions
• Viewing a Compiled Program with the Object Browser
• Exploring the Message Flow
• Using WinSight
• A Look at Posted Messages
• The Memory Image of an Application
• Windows System Memory
• Free System Memory
• Summary
  

Chapter 21: Using Resources

• Resources in Windows
• Using Resource Editors
• Loading Resources in Delphi
• The Icons for Applications and Forms
• Adding Alternative Icons for Different Conditions
• Using the Cursor in Delphi
• Designing a Custom Cursor
• A Flexible Cursor
• Using String Table Resources
• Translating the Strings into Another Language
• Summary
  

Chapter 22: Adding Printing Capabilities to Delphi Applications

• Printing a Whole Form
• A Custom Print Dialog Box
• The Standard Print Dialog Boxes
• Accessing the Printer Object
• Printing Graphics and Using Print Preview
• Painting to the Printer
• Printing Text
• Printing Database Records and Tables
• The QuickReport Components
• A Quick Example
• Creating ReportSmith Reports
• Building a Custom Report
• Writing a ReportSmith Macro
• Quicker Than ReportSmith
• Summary
  

Chapter 23: Adding File Support to Applications

• Files and the Pascal Language
• Handling Text Files
• A Text File Converter
• Saving Generic Data
• File Support in Delphi Components
• File System Components
• Streaming Data
• The Idea of Persistency
• Summary
  

Chapter 24: Exchanging Data

• What Is the Clipboard?
• The Clipboard in Delphi
• Copying and Pasting Text
• Copying and Pasting Bitmaps
• Copying Delphi Components to the Clipboard
• Copying Custom Data to the Clipboard
• Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE): A Technical Overview
• DDE Conversations
• Roles of the Server and Client
• DDE in Delphi
• A Simple Example of DDE
• Copying and Pasting DDE Links
• Copying Link Data to the Clipboard
• DDE with Timers and Graphics
• The Automatic Server
• A Graphical DDE Client
• Summary
  

Chapter 25: The Power of OLE

• What Is an OLE Object?
• The Flavors of OLE
• OLE Behind the Scenes
• OLE Support in Delphi
• Building the Minimum OLE Container
• The Minimal Menu of an OLE Container
• Visual Editing and Toolbars
• The OLE Standard Dialog Boxes
• Multiple OLE Containers
• Creating OLE Containers at Run-Time
• Dragging Components and Activating OLE Containers
• OLE Automation
• Sending Data to Word
• Writing an OLE Automation Server
• Automating an MDI application
• Registering the Automation Object
• Writing a Test Program
• The future of OLE
• Summary
  

Chapter 26: Multimedia Fun

• Windows Default Sounds
• Every Box Has a Beep
• From Beeps to Music
• The Media Player Component
• Playing Sound Files
• Running Videos
• A Video in a Form
• Working with a CD Drive
• Summary
  

Chapter 27: Creating Components

• Extending the VCL
• Delphi Components Are Classes
• Static Linking Components
• Rules for Writing Components
• Introducing Some Simple Components
• The Fonts Combo Box
• Using the Fonts Combo Box
• Creating a Tabbed List Box
• Testing the Tab List Component
• Building Brand-New Components
• A Graphical Component Built Step by Step
• Defining an Enumerated Property
• Drawing the Arrow Component
• Testing the Arrow
• The Point of the Arrow, Plus a Pen and a Brush
• Testing the Second Version of the Arrow
• Defining a New Custom Event
• Testing the OnArrowDblClick Event
• Adding a Bitmap for the Components Palette
• The Final Test of the Arrow Component
• Correcting Bugs in the Arrow Component
• Arrows and Shapes
• The Clock Components
• The Digital Clock
• The Analog Clock
• A First Test
• Installing the Clock Components
• Defining an Array Property
• The New Tabbed List
• Using Dialog Box Units
• Installing the Component
• A Header and a Tabbed List Box
• Writing a Property Editor
• Forms Are Components, Too
• A Dialog Box in a Component
• Using the Nonvisual Component
• Summary
  

Chapter 28: Dynamic Link Libraries

• The Role of DLLs in Windows
• What Is Dynamic Linking?
• What Are DLLs for?
• The System DLLs
• Differences between DLLs and EXEs
• Rules for DLL Writers
• Win16 and Win32 DLLs
• Using Existing DLLs
• Calling a C++ DLL
• Creating a DLL in Delphi
• Routines, Methods, Objects, and DLLs
• A First Simple Delphi DLL
• Placing a Form in a DLL
• Calling the DLL Form from Delphi
• Calling a Delphi DLL from Other Languages
• A DLL of Icons
• Loading the Icons from the DLL
• Calling a DLL Function at Run-Time
• A DLL in Memory
• Summary
  

Appendix A: A Short Overview of OOP Concepts

• Abstraction in Programming Languages
• Classes
• Inheritance
• Polymorphism
• A Definition of OOP
• OOP Languages
• Object-Oriented Analysis and Design
• Summary
  

Appendix B: An Introduction to SQL

• What Is SQL?
• The Select Statement
• The Where Clause
• Avoiding Duplicates
• Making a Join
• More Select Clauses
• Choosing an Order
• Computing Values
• Defining Groups
• Beyond Select
• Summary