OTA - Add In Wizards

Wizards are simply hooks you inject into the IDE. You supply information to allow the IDE to show either an object in the Object Repository, Menu Item in the Help menu or create an Add-in feature to the IDE. When the user selects the the Wizard it calles the Execute method to allow you to do your task.

  Wizards can be used to create a new Unit, Form, Library, Form descendant, add a Menu Item to the Delphi menu system, or incorporate interesting new enhancements to the IDE.

Add-in Wizard

  An Add-in Wizard allows for a package to be installed without adding visible objects to the Delphi IDE. "What good is that?" you may ask. Well think of the type of tools that come with GExperts. A number of lurk quietly in the background to the point that eventually you think that the feature was actually shipped with Delphi! That is what an Add-in Wizard can be used for. Quietly enhancing the IDE in the background. A few things that can be accomplished with an Add-in Wizard are creating a spell checker that checks for correct syntax as you type, watching for notifications of various action in Delphi such as when project files are opened or closed or when the project is about to be compiled, or adding a Hex calculator that pops up with a specific hot key sequence.

  Creating an Add-in Wizard consists of the following steps:

  • Creating the Add-in Wizard Unit

  • Registering the Wizard with Delphi

  • Creating the Wizard Package (or adding the Wizard unit to an existing package)

  • Installing or Removing the Packages from the IDE

 

  Back to OpenTools API page.

 


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