HKEY Property Editor

Contents

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

Description

The file PJHKEYPropEdit.pas defines a property editor for properties of type HKEY -- i.e. registry root keys. The editor causes a drop-down list of all the registry root keys supported by Delphi to be displayed in the object inspector for any property of type HKEY.

Such a property is exposed by my TPJRegWdwState component (available from my website). This property editor is included with current releases of that component.

Compatibility

The property editor has been tested with Delphi 2, 3, 4, 6 & 7. It is likely that it will work with Delphi 5, but this has not been tested. The editor is not compatible with Delphi 1 since this compiler does not support the registry.

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 .zip file containing the property editor into a suitable folder, preserving the directory structure.
2. Copy PJHKEYPropEdit.pas to the folder from where you wish to install the property editor. This will probably be an existing folder where you keep library components - say the default $(DELPHI)\lib sub-folder.
3. Start Delphi. Select the Component | Install menu option. Click the Add button, then the Browse button and navigate to the PJHKEYPropEdit.pas file in the folder where you placed it. Click OK to recompile the component library.
4. You can now delete PJHKEYPropEdit.pas from the place where you copied it if you wish. The property editor will now be used for any property of type HKEY in any of your components.

Installation with Delphi 3 & later

1. Unzip the .zip file containing the property editor into a suitable folder, preserving the directory structure.
2. Copy PJHKEYPropEdit.pas to the folder from where you wish to install the property editor. This will probably be a sub-folder of the $(DELPHI)\lib folder.
3. Install the property editor by chosing the Component | Install Component menu option. We will be installing into an existing package of your choice:
   • Select the "Into exisiting package" page of the Install Components dialogue box.
   • Browse to the folder where you saved PJHKEYPropEdit.pas and select the file.
   • Enter an existing design time package name in the "Package file name" edit box
   • Accept that the package will be rebuilt.
4. The property editor will now be installed. You can now delete PJHKEYPropEdit.pas from the place where you copied it if you wish. The property editor will now be used by the object inspector for any property of type HKEY in any of your components.

Known Issues

None at present.

Update History

Release 1.0.2 of 30 October 2003
PJHKeyPropEdit v1.0.2 of 30 October 2003

• Revised to compile under Delphi 6 and 7 by means of some conditional compilation.

Release 1.0.1 of 08 October 2000
PJHKeyPropEdit v1.0.1 of 08 October 2000

• Fixed bug that was allowing invalid or empty values for an HKEY. An exception is now raised and existing value is retained.

Unreleased
PJHKeyPropEdit v1.0 of 28 September 2000

• Original version.

License & Disclaimer

This property editor is copyright © P.D.Johnson, 2000-2003.

The source code 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.