About Box Component
Information Sheet

Contents

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Description

This non-visual component encapsulates an About Box.

The component has string properties to display five different pieces of information in the about box. These properties are:

Alternatively, the about box can display information from a VERSIONINFO resource included in the program. This is accessed using a linked TPJVersionInfo component (see below) by using the about box's VersionInfo property. The values of the ProgramName, Version, Copyright and Notes properties are ignored and relevant string information program's version information is used in their stead.

The About box also displays an icon. This is the icon defined for the application (see the Icon property of TApplication). If no icon has been specified for the application the default Delphi icon is used.

The dialog's location when displayed can be explicitly set using the DlgLeft and DlgTop properties. If CentreDlg is set to True when the about box is centred. These properties act relative to the screen, the desktop work area or the owning control, depending on the value of thePosition property.

The appearance and location of the dialog's close button can be customised. Its appearance is governed by the ButtonGlyph, ButtonKind and AutoDetectGlyphs properties while the button's position and size are determined by the ButtonPlacing, ButtonWidth and ButtonHeight properties.

The HelpContext property allows Windows Help to be displayed for the dialog box when F1 is pressed.

Help file

A help file is included that integrates into the OpenHelp system of Delphi 3 to 7. The help file can be used independently of the IDE with Delphi 2 and Delphi 2005 onwards. This also applies to Delphi provided it is run on a 32 bit Windows platform.

Required component

TPJAboutBoxDlg requires that a DelphiDabbler Version Information Component (TPJVersionInfo) is installed in order to compile. The version of TPJVersionInfo required depends on whether the about box is being compiled under Delphi 1 or under Delphi 2 and later. The required versions are:

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Compatibility

The unit name changed to PJAbout as at release 3. Programs using earlier releases will need to be modified (or to have an alias set in Delphi's Project Options) before being recompiled using the new version.

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Installation

Important Note: Please ensure that you have installed an appropriate TPJVersionInfo component before installing TPJAboutBoxDlg. For 32 bit versions of Delphi you need TPJVersionInfo version 3.0 or later. For Delphi 1 you need a 16 bit version the component.

TPJAboutBoxDlg, its help files and demo program are supplied in a zip file. Before installing you need to extract all the files from the zip file, preserving the directory structure. The following files will be extracted:

You can now proceed to install the component using the emphasised files above. Installation methods vary between Delphi versions, so follow the instructions that apply to your version below. Note that $(DELPHI) represents the path where the appropriate version of Delphi was installed. Similarly $(BDS) refers to the installation path of a version of the Borland Development System.

Installation with Delphi 2005 & 2006

The component must be installed into a Delphi Win32 design package. It is assumed that you will be installing into an existing package. You may decide to install into the "user" package: $(BDS)\Lib\dclusr.dpk.

  1. Decide upon a suitable location into which to install the component. This may be a subdirectory of your Borland Studio Projects or $(BDS)\lib folders.
  2. Copy PJAbout.pas, PJAbout.dfm and 32\PJAbout.dcr to the chosen installation folder.
  3. Start the Development System (selecting the Delphi Win32 personality if appropriate) then:
  4. If you wish you can now delete PJAbout.pas from the chosen installation folder.
  5. The supplied help file cannot be integrated with the IDE's help system. However it can be used independently of the IDE, albeit with reduced functionality.
  6. The demo program can be loaded into Delphi and compiled and run as required.

Installation with Delphi 3 to 7

The component must be installed into a design package. It is assumed that you will be installing into an existing package. You may wish to use the "user" package named dclusr.dpk or dclusrXX.dpk (where XX is a version number). This package can be found in $(DELPHI)\Lib.

  1. Decide upon a suitable location into which to install the component. This may be a subdirectory of your $(DELPHI)\lib folder.
  2. Copy PJAbout.pas, PJAbout.dfm and 32\PJAbout.dcr to the chosen installation folder.
  3. Start Delphi then:
  4. If you wish you can now delete PJAbout.pas from the chosen installation folder.
  5. The provided help file can be integrated with the IDE's OpenHelp system. Delphi 6 and 7 also require the use of the supplied .als file. The simplest way to install help is to use my Component Help Installer Expert (v2.2.1 or later). If you prefer to install manually, this article explains the process.
  6. The demo program can be loaded into Delphi and compiled and run as required.

Installation with Delphi 2

  1. Decide upon a suitable location into which to install the component. This may be a subdirectory of your $(DELPHI)\lib folder.
  2. Copy PJAbout.pas, PJAbout.dfm and 32\PJAbout.dcr to the chosen installation folder.
  3. Start Delphi 2 then:
  4. If you wish you can now delete PJAbout.pas from the chosen installation folder.
  5. The supplied help file cannot be integrated with the IDE's help system. However it can be used independently of the IDE, albeit with reduced functionality.
  6. The demo program can be loaded into Delphi 2 and compiled and run as required.

Installation with Delphi 1

  1. Decide upon a suitable location into which to install the component. This may be a subdirectory of your $(DELPHI)\lib folder.
  2. Copy PJAbout.pas, PJAbout.dfm and 16\PJAbout.dcr to the chosen installation folder.
  3. Start Delphi 1 then:
  4. If you wish you can now delete PJAbout.pas from the chosen installation folder.
  5. The supplied help file cannot be integrated with the IDE's help system. However, if you are running Delphi 1 on a 32 bit Windows platform, the help file can be used independently of the IDE, albeit with reduced functionality.
  6. Please note: The demo program will not compile under Delphi 1.

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Demo Project

A demo program is included in the download that can be used to exercise the component. This program can be compiled with any 32 bit version of Delphi, but does not work with Delphi 1.

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Update History

A complete change log is provided in a text file that is included in the download.

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License and Disclaimer

This source code is subject to the Mozilla Public License Version 1.1 (the "License"); you may not use this program except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at http://www.mozilla.org/MPL/.

Software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" basis, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing rights and limitations under the License.

The Original Code is PJAbout (About Box Component).

The Initial Developer of the Original Code is Peter Johnson (http://www.delphidabbler.com/).

Portions created by the Initial Developer are Copyright © 1999-2005 Peter Johnson. All Rights Reserved.

All relevant trademarks are acknowledged.

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About the Author

I'm Peter Johnson – a hobbyist programmer living in Ceredigion in West Wales, UK, writing write mainly in Delphi. My programs are available for download from: http://www.delphidabbler.com/.

Please let me know if you have any comments about the components, if you have found a bug, or you want to suggest any updates.