in Delphi TIPS :: I needed to create my own customized "MessageDlg" message box with custom buttons, but I still wanted to have access to those spiffy icons that appear when you specify "mtInformation, mtConfirmation..." as the MessageDlg message type. After searching all over for icons on the web (and not finding anything suitable), I dug around in the Windows SDK help and cam across the LoadIcon API function.

Read the full article to learn how to Create a Custom Message Dialog with Standard Windows Icons

Related:

• Using LoadIcon to Extract Icon Resource from an EXE
• Icons and Glyphs for Delphi Programs: Menus, Toolbars and Buttons
• Use an Icon for a Glyph on a TBitBtn Delphi control

in Forms and Shapes :: Rectangles are boring. Here's an article describing windows regions and explaining how to use them to produce a star-shaped form. Stars display "Happy Christmas" in various languages.

Read the full article to learn how to Create Star Shaped Forms

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• Free Screen Ruler with Delphi Source
• xMouse - Full source code Delphi Application: Mouse Beam
• Custom Shaped Delphi Forms

in Do Properties Dream Of Default Values? :: In the Do Properties Dream Of Default Values? post I have asked you "Do all properties of an object have a default value?".

The results so far (some 2 weeks after the poll has been posted) are, at least for me, strange:

48% answered "YES"
37% answered "NO"
13% answered "I do not know"

I guess the problem here, if there is a problem, is what is meant by a "default property value"?

Picture a class you can instantiate to have an object. The object exposes properties and methods. Never mind the language the class was developed in. Be it Delphi, C++, .Net or whatever. But do mind the fact that you can use it (the class) from Delphi.

For me, the meaning of "default value" is the following: When I first read (get) the value of the property, after instantiating the object, what I receive (from the object) is for me the default value of the property..

Let's say there's a boolean property "OpenInDefaultProgram" for an object that has a method "Save". Let's say the object can "export" your report in various formats: doc, pdf, txt, rtf ... Once the report has been generated and saved, the value of the "OpenInDefaultProgram" determines should the associated application for the selected file type be started (and document loaded).

No, the Save method does not have a parameter "openInDefaultProgram" - it relies on the value of the "OpenInDefaultProgram" property.

Back to "property default value and does every property have a default value" ... if, when I read the OpenInDefaultProgram, sometimes I receive false and sometimes I receive true - this for me is a BUG.

Of course, never mind the type of the property be it string, int, enumeration or whatever.

For me, there's always a "default" value for a property - but if it is not consistent (always the same "get" value) - it's a bug. Would you agree?

in Delphi TIPS :: When working with files from Delphi you might want to display the size of a file to the user in a Explorer-like format where the file size is not displayed in bytes - but the display depends on the size of the actual file.

Read the full article to learn how to Format a File Size in Bytes for Display

Related:

• FormatFloat RTL Examples
• How to Search for Files and Folders (matching a mask) in Delphi ...
• File I/O with Delphi