Colour Popup Menu Component

Contents

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

Description

This unit contains a component that provides a pop-up menu giving access to the 16 basic Windows colour. Also included are:

• a component editor that permits the component's main properties to be edited and for the menu to previewed.
• a property editor for accessing the 16 basic Windows colours
• a dummy property editor that prevents editing of the Items property that is inherited from ancestor classes but not used
• a help file that can integrate with the Delphi IDE.
• two property editors to work with the component and a component editor.
• a demo project showing how to use the component.

Compatibility

The unit is compatible with Delphi 4. It may work correctly in Delphi 5 but this has not been tested.

Installation

1. Unzip the component's .zip into a folder of your choice, preserving the directory structure.
2. Copy the files PJColourPopupMenu.pas, PJColourPopupMenu.dcr, PJColourPopupMenuEd.pas and PJColourPopupMenuEd.dfm to where you wish to install into Delphi. This will probably be a sub-folder of the $(DELPHI)\lib folder.
3. Install the unit's components and property editor into the palette by chosing the Component | Install Component menu option to display the Install Component dialog box. Then:
   • Select the Into existing package tab.
   • Click the Browse button next to the Unit file name edit box to display the Unit file name dialog box.
   • Select PJColourPopupMenu.pas and PJColourPopupMenuEd.pas from the file dialog and click OK to return to the Install Component dialog box.
   • Choose the package into you wish to install from the Package file name drop down list.
   • Click OK.
   • A confirmation dialog box, querying whether it is OK to rebuild and reinstall the package may displayed. Click Yes to proceed.
   • The package will now be built and a dialog box stating that the TPJColourPopupMenu component has been installed should be displayed. Click OK to dismiss the dialog box.
4. You can now delete PJColourPopupMenu.pas and PJColourPopupMenuEd.pas from the place where you copied it if you wish (but ensure that the .dcu files are not deleted). The component will appear on a palette called DelphiDabbler. The other code in the unit can be made available simply by use-ing the unit in your projects. You can move the components to a different palette as required.
5. The simplest way to install the help file is to use my Component Help Installer Expert. To install manually, proceed as follows:
   • Copy PJColourPopupMenu.hlp to whichever folder you wish to install it to.
   • In Delphi 3 to 6 (where X is the Delphi version 3..6):
     • Edit DelphiX.ohl (in $(DELPHI)\Help), adding the line :Link PJColourPopupMenu.hlp to the end of the section labelled "Third party help".
     • Edit DelphiX.ohi (in $(DELPHI)\Help), adding the line :Index DelphiDabbler Drop Files=PJColourPopupMenu.hlp towards the end of the index section.
     • Edit DelphiX.cnt (in $(DELPHI)\Help), ensuring that the lines :Include delphiX.ohiand :Include delphiX.ohl appear somewhere in the file.
   • In Delphi 7:
     • Edit D7.ohl (in $(DELPHI)\Help), adding the line :Link PJColourPopupMenu.hlp to the end of the section labelled "Third party help".
     • Edit D7.ohi (in $(DELPHI)\Help), adding the line :Index DelphiDabbler Drop Files=PJColourPopupMenu.hlp towards the end of the index section.
     • Edit D7.cnt (in $(DELPHI)\Help), ensuring that the lines :Include d7.ohi and :Include d7.ohl appear somewhere in the file.
   • Using RegEdit open the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Help and add a new string value named PJColourPopupMenu.hlp whose value is the path where you copied the help file (probably ($DELPHI)\Help).
6. The supplied demo programs can be loaded into Delphi and compiled and run as required.

Known Issues

No bugs reported to date.

Update History

Release 1.1 of 10 September 2001
PJColourPopupMenu v1.1 of 10 September 2001

• Revised to make compatible with Delphi 6 & 7. All design time code has been separated out into separated units.

Release 1.0 of 06 May 2001
PJColourPopupMenu v1.0 of 06 May 2001

• Component and property editors
• Component editor
• Demo project
• Help file

License & Disclaimer

This component is copyright © P.D.Johnson, 2001-2003.

The source code and help files 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.