How to detect if running in Delphi IDE

Question

How to detect if your program running in Delphi IDE or running as a standalone
EXE?

Answer

A:
 function DelphiLoaded : boolean;
{----------------------------------------------------------------}
{ Checks whether Delphi is loaded.  Gives correct result whether }
{ or not Delphi is minimized and whether or not Delphi has a     }
{ project open.  Also gives correct result whether the calling   }
{ application is launched free-standing or from within the IDE.  }
{ From ideas in a posting to the Delphi-Talk List by Wade Tatman }
{ (wtatman@onramp.net).       Mike O'Hanlon, The Pascal Factory. }
{----------------------------------------------------------------}

   function WindowExists(ClassName, WindowName: string): boolean;
   {------------------------------------------------------}
   { Checks for the existence of the specified Window,    }
   { conveniently using Pascal strings instead of PChars. }
   {------------------------------------------------------}
    var
     PClassName, PWindowName: PChar;
     AClassName, AWindowName: array[0..63] of char;
   begin
    if ClassName = ''
     then PClassName := nil
     else PClassName := StrPCopy(@AClassName[0], ClassName);
    if WindowName = ''
     then PWindowName := nil
     else PWindowName := StrPCopy(@AWindowName[0], WindowName);
    if FindWindow(PClassName, PWindowName) <> 0
     then WindowExists := true
     else WindowExists := false;
   end;  {WindowExists}

 begin {DelphiLoaded}
  DelphiLoaded := false;
  if WindowExists('TPropertyInspector', 'Object Inspector') then
    if WindowExists('TMenuBuilder',     'Menu Designer') then
      if WindowExists('TApplication',   'Delphi')    then
        if WindowExists('TAlignPalette','Align') then
          if WindowExists('TAppBuilder','')  then
            DelphiLoaded := true;
 end; {DelphiLoaded}


A:
 The following routine will return TRUE when running in the Delphi IDE
(NOTE:  this does _not_ work if this routine is in a DLL).

function InIDE: Boolean;
begin
  Result := Bool(PrefixSeg) and
            Bool(PWordArray(MemL[DSeg:36])^[8]));
end;  { InIDE }

Commenting out large sections of code

Question

While we're on this kind of thing, has anyone got a quick way of commenting
out a highlighted block of code lines??
It must work correctly with pre-existing embedded comments in {braces}.
Otherwise it's back to the Windows recorder!

Answer

A:
There are 2 sets of comment characters in pascal, {} and (* *). You can
embed one sort in the other.
Hence putting a (* at the start of your block and a *) at then end would
still work with embedded { } comments.

Duplicate resource identifier error

Question

Duplicate Resource identifier (c:/delphi/lib/controls.res)  ERROR!
I keep getting this... I don't know what's wrong... my project .RES
called (project1.res) doesn't have a single thing that's in common
with controls.res!
This is driving me absolutely nuts... the only thing I ever did was
to delete {$R .res} in the project file but since the, I've replaced
that line...

Answer

A:
Do you have the VCL source?  If so, you may want to recompile the whole thing
by adding that directory to your Library path in Environment Options | Library.
I think I had to do this once to get rid of such an error.  Another thing to
do is to figure out which $R directive is causing the problem, by removing it
temporarily and recompiling.  You can temporarily disable the $R directive by
adding a '.' before the $ (that's one of many ways to do it).

A:
You probably have subclassed one of the built in VCL's.  You need to be sure
that the resource identifier for your icon is unique.  Just pull it up in any
resource editor and change its number. Then you should be able to rebuild your
library.

2% resources, in design mode

Question

I have a problem with Delphi. When I load Delphi my resources drop from
around the 65% mark to around the 45% mark. No real problem there
but..... When I load my project it suddenly drops to around the 2%
mark!! :(
The project is not that complex, about 5 screens one Tabbed notebook on
each with about 20 controls on each page. No database stuff yet. A few
speed buttons with glyphs on each screen. Nothing exciting.
The question is, where are all my resources going and what can be done
about it? When you run the exe of the app it uses only the customary
15%.

Answer

If you have all of the forms open (either displayed or minimized) and
all of the units open in the editor, then resources very quickly
disappear. Try closing all forms and units, and only have open those
ones that you will be using. It is when the resources are used like
this that compiles start to hang Delphi and the machine.

Disk full error

Question

I keep on getting disk full errors when I try to recompile my component
library. I have over 150MB of disk space free and 32MB of ram. The
problem only started after I created a few .DCR files (the bitmaps in
the component palette) for some components.

Answer

A:
Try deleting everything in your project except the dpr, pas and dfm files
and recompile. It sounds like one of your project files has been corrupted.
I had a similar occurence once and fixed it that way.

Runs in IDE

Question

How can I detect whether the application runs in the IDE or as
a compiled program without the active IDE?

Answer

  Here are three routines which all work for D1 on Win 3.1x.

 function LaunchedFromDelphiIDE: Boolean;
{----------------------------------------------------------------}
{ Checks whether the calling application was launched from the   }
{ Delphi IDE.  From a posting to Delphi-Talk by Ed Salgado       }
{  of Eminent Domain Software.                }
{----------------------------------------------------------------}
 begin
   LaunchedFromDelphiIDE := Bool(PrefixSeg) {i.e. not a DLL} and
                            Bool(PWordArray(MemL[DSeg:36])^[8]);
 end; {LaunchedFromDelphiIDE}


 function DelphiLoaded: Boolean;
{----------------------------------------------------------------}
{ Checks whether Delphi is loaded.  Gives correct result         }
{  - whether calling App is launched free-standing or from IDE   }
{  - whether or not Delphi has a project open                    }
{  - whether or not Delphi is minimized.                         }
{ From ideas by Wade Tatman (wtatman@onramp.net).                }
{----------------------------------------------------------------}
 begin
   DelphiLoaded := false;
   if WindowExists('TPropertyInspector', 'Object Inspector') then
    if WindowExists('TMenuBuilder',      'Menu Designer') then
     if WindowExists('TAppBuilder',      '(AnyName)') then
      if WindowExists('TApplication',    'Delphi') then
       if WindowExists('TAlignPalette',  'Align') then
        DelphiLoaded := true;
 end; {DelphiLoaded}


 function DelphiInstalled: Boolean;
{----------------------------------------------------------------}
{ Checks whether Delphi is installed by looking for Delphi.ini,  }
{ then Component library in directory pointed to by ini file.    }
{----------------------------------------------------------------}
 var
   IniFile: string;
 begin
   DelphiInstalled := false;
   IniFile := WindowsDirectory + '\Delphi.ini';
   if FileExists(IniFile) then
     if FileExists(GetIni(IniFile, 'Library', 'ComponentLibrary'))
       then DelphiInstalled := true;
 end; {DelphiInstalled}


  I'm sure one of the above will help.  The last two routines
  use some other encapsulations of Windows API rouines or of
  Delphi classes and they are defined as follows:


 function WindowExists (WindowClass, WindowName: string): Boolean;
{----------------------------------------------------------------}
{ Checks for existence of specified Window using Pascal strings. }
{ To search on WindowName only, use WindowClass of '(AnyClass)'; }
{ to search on WindowClass only, use WindowName of '(AnyName)'.  }
{----------------------------------------------------------------}
 var
   PWindowClass, PWindowName: PChar;
   AWindowClass, AWindowName: array[0..63] of Char;
 begin
   if WindowClass = '(AnyClass)' then
     PWindowClass := nil         else
     PWindowClass := StrPCopy(PChar(@AWindowClass), WindowClass);

   if WindowName  = '(AnyName)' then
     PWindowName := nil         else
     PWindowName := StrPCopy(PChar(@AWindowName), WindowName);

   if FindWindow(PWindowClass, PWindowName) <> 0 then
     WindowExists := true                        else
     WindowExists := false;
 end; {WindowExists}


 function WindowsDirectory: string;
{----------------------------------------------------------------}
{ Returns path of Windows directory (without trailing backslash) }
{----------------------------------------------------------------}
 const
   BufferSize = 144;
 var
   ABuffer: array[0..BufferSize] of Char;
 begin
   if GetWindowsDirectory(PChar(@ABuffer), BufferSize) = 0
     then WindowsDirectory := ''
     else WindowsDirectory := StrPas(PChar(@ABuffer));
 end; {WindowsDirectory}


 function GetIni (const IniFile, Section, Entry: string): string;
{----------------------------------------------------------------}
{ Gets an initialisation 'profile' string from the specified     }
{ Entry in the specified [Section] of the specified INI file     }
{ (adding the '.ini' if not supplied).  Returns a null string    }
{ if the IniFile, Section or Entry are not found.                }
{----------------------------------------------------------------}
 var
   IniFileVar: string;
   IniFileObj: TIniFile;
 begin
   if StrEndsWith(IniFile, '.ini') then
     IniFileVar := IniFile
   else
     IniFileVar := IniFile + '.ini';
   IniFileObj := TIniFile.Create(IniFileVar);
   GetIni := IniFileObj.ReadString(Section, Entry, '');
   IniFileObj.Free;
 end; {GetIni}