Extended String Property Editor
Information Sheet

Contents

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

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Description

This property editor has been designed to get round two limitations of the standard Delphi string property editor.

1. The standard property editor does not allow multi-line strings with embedded CR/LF characters to be entered via the object inspector. Such strings can only be assigned run-time.
2. Although 32 bit Delphi strings have a 2Gb size limit, the standard property editor only accepts strings up to 255 characters long. Once again, longer strings must be assigned at run-time.

The enhanced property editor works with every string or TCaption property. It adds an ellipsis button to the right hand side of the data entry area in the object inspector. Clicking this button displays a dialog box in which the property's value can be entered. Pressing return in the dialog box starts a new line. There is no practical limit to the length of strings that can be entered.

Clicking OK (or pressing Ctrl+Return) causes the entered text to be assigned to the property. Any new lines will be displayed in the object inspector as pairs of vertical bars or empty squares, depending on the Delphi version.

The edit dialog is resizable. Word wrapping can be switched on or off. Both the word-wrapping and dialog box size and position are persistent.

Load and Save buttons are provided in the dialog box to enable the property's value to be loaded from, or saved to a file.

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Compatibility

The property editor compiles and works with all versions of Delphi from Delphi 4. It has been tested with Delphi 4, 6, 7 and 2006.

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Installation

The Extended String Property Editor and its readme file 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:

• PJStringPE.pas – property editor source code.
• PJStringPE.dfm – property editor form file.
• ReadMe.htm – this file.
• ChangeLog.txt – change log.

You can now proceed to install the property editor. 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
• Installation with Delphi 4 to 7

Installation with Delphi 2005 & 2006

The property editor 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 property editor. This may be a subdirectory of your Borland Studio Projects or $(BDS)\lib folders.
2. Copy PJStringPE.pas and PJStringPE.dfm to the chosen installation folder.
3. Start the Development System (selecting the Delphi Win32 personality if appropriate) then:
   • Open the required package. Select File | Open menu and choose a suitable package source file.
   • The package will now be displayed in the Project Manager with a .bpl extension. Right click the package's entry and select Add to display the Add dialog box. Enter the full path to PJStringPE.pas in the Unit file name edit box (use the Browse button to navigate to the file). Click OK to add the property editor to the package.
   • Back in the Project Manager, check that PJStringPE.pas appears under the package's Contains node. If so, right click the package's entry again and select Compile. The property editor will now be installed and available for use.
   • If the property editor is not used by the Object Inspector the package may not have been installed. Install it from the Project Manager by selecting the package's Install right click menu option.
   • Close the package project using the File | Close menu item. Accept any prompt that offers to save the package project.
4. If you wish you can now delete PJStringPE.pas from the chosen installation folder.

Installation with Delphi 4 to 7

The property editor 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. For Delphi 6 and later ensure that the package "requires" designide.pas.

1. Decide upon a suitable location into which to install the property editor. This may be a subdirectory of your $(DELPHI)\lib folder.
2. Copy PJStringPE.pas and PJStringPE.dfm to the chosen installation folder.
3. Start Delphi then:
   • Choose the Component | Install Component menu option to display the Install Component dialog box. Ensure the Into existing package tab is selected. Enter the full path to PJStringPE.pas in the Unit file name edit box (use the adjacent Browse button to navigate to the file). Choose the required package from the Package description combo box, or by navigating to the package using Browse. Click OK to confirm your selections.
   • A confirmation dialog box may displayed, querying whether it is OK to rebuild and reinstall the package. Click Yes to proceed.
   • The package will now be built. If this succeeds the property editor will now be ready for use.
4. If you wish you can now delete PJStringPE.pas from the chosen installation folder.

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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 PJStringPE.pas (Extended String Property Editor).

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

Portions created by the Initial Developer are Copyright © 2004-2005 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/.