IDE overview
When you work in a visual development environment, your time spends two different parts of your application: visualization designer and code editor. The designer allows you to operate the component at a visual level (such as you put a button on a form), or working on a non-visual level (such as when you place a DataSet component on a data module). You can see a form and a data module in the operations in Chart 1.1. In both cases, the designer allows you to select the initial value of your needs and set their properties.
Chart 1.1 in Delphi 7 IDE and a data module
The code editor is where you write code. The most obvious way to write code in the visual environment is to include the event to be reacted, and the event begins by the operation performed by the program user, such as one option to click on a button or select a list box. You can use the same way to handle internal events, such as events involving database changes or notifications from operating systems.
When the programmer is familiar with Delphi, they often use the event-handling code as the originating end, and then transfer to the computation of their own classes and components, and finally spend most of the time in the editor. Because the content covered by this book far exceeds visual programming, trying to help you grasp the entire power of Delphi, with the deepening of the text, you will see more code, fewer forms.
A IDE for two categories libraries
An important change first appears in Delphi 6. IDE now allows you to work on two different visual classes: VCL (Visual Component Library, Visual Component Library) and CLX (cross-platform component libraries, Component Library for cross-platform). When you create a new project, you can choose one you want to use from both class libraries, start: Create a typical VCL-based Windows program via the File ® New ® Application command; The ® New ® Clx Application Command establishes a new CLX-based portable application.
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CLX is a cross-platform library of Delphi, which allows you to recompile your code with Kylix to run under Linux. You can read more about CLX œVCL in Chapter 5, "Visual Control". The use of Clxs in Delphi 7 is more interesting, because Kylix's Delphi language version is available with Windows products.
When you create a new project or open an existing one, the component board is scheduled to display only a control related to the current library (although most controls are shared). When you operate a non-visual designer (such as a data module), the component board tag of the visual component is hidden and is not visible.
Desktop settings
Programmers can customize IDE- typical in a variety of ways, open many windows, arrange them, and stop. However, you often need to open a set of windows in design, and open another set of different window settings during debugging. Similarly, you may need a layout when you operate the form, and a completely different layout is required when you write components or low code using the editor. For each such need, reintertify IDE is a very boring job.
Due to this reason, Delphi allows you to save a specific IDE window in a name (called desktop Desktop, or Global Desktop to distinguish between project desktop Project Desktop) and easy to restore it. You can also save one of your default debug settings, which will be automatically recovered when you start debugging. All these features are available from Desktops Toolbar. You can also use the View ® Desktops menu to operate the desktop settings.
The desktop settings information is saved in the DST file (stored in the bin directory of Delphi), which is a camouflaged INI file. Saved settings include primary windows, Project Manager, Alignment Palette, Object Inspector (including its Property Category Settings), the state of Editor Windows (Code Explorer, and Message View), there are many other locations, plus a variety of windows Stop status. This is a small paragraph extracted from a DST file, it should be easy to read:
[Main window]
CREATE = 1
Visible = 1
State = 0
LEFT = 0
TOP = 0
Width = 1024
HEIGHT = 105
ClientWidth = 1016
ClientHeight = 78
[ProjectManager]
CREATE = 1
Visible = 0
State = 0
...
Dockable = 1
[Alignmentpalette]
CREATE = 1
Visible = 0
...
The desktop setting crosses the project settings, and the project settings are saved in a similar structure of the DSK file. Desktop settings help remove a project when you move between machines (or between developers) and have to resolve the window to become your hobby. Delphi separates the global desktop settings of each user and the desktop settings of each item to better support team development.
Tips If you open Delphi and you can't see the form or other window, I suggest you try to check (or delete) desktop settings (from Delphi's bin directory). If you open an item accepted by a different user and you can't see some windows or don't like desktop layout, load your global desktop settings or delete project DSK files.
