Description
Compatibility
Current file versions
Recent changes
History
Installation
Help file installation
File list
Copying policy
New versions

Description

Compatibilty

Current file versions

What's new

Big transparent bitmaps caused form background painting to be awkwardly slow in earlier versions; a fact which successfully escaped my attention until recently, when the implementation of the GrayMapped property required some code redesign. This is fixed in version 4.

When GrayMapped is set to True and Picture.Graphic is a bitmap with 256 or less colors or a TGIFImage (GIFImage unit by Anders Melander et alii), all gray scale colors in the bitmap will be mapped to a "clBtnFace scale".
When GrayMapped is set to True and Picture.Graphic is a bitmap with more than 256 colors or another TGraphic descendant, all colors in Picture.Graphic will be mapped to a clBtnFace color gradation.
This is an substantially enhanced variant of a feature suggested by Harald Marschalek.
Note: This feature is not available if the unit is compiled using Delphi 2. Sorry...

The TileWidth and TileHeight properties allow to specify horizontal respectively vertical drawing offsets in tiling mode which are greater than the Picture dimensions. This can be useful especially with tranparent graphics. When AutoSizeTile is set to True, the tile size defaults to the Picture dimensions.

Recent changes

Version 3.1 (03-Feb-1999):
 

Fixes bug which prevented the background from being updated when the Picture property is set to nil.
Adds the Enabled property.

Version 3.01 (13-Aug-1998):
 

As a goodie for D2 users, TMDIWallpaper sets the proper (WS_EX_CLIENTEDGE) border style for the MDI client window.

Version 3.0 (06-Aug-98):
 

introduces Picture, Shift, ShiftMode and Info properties; the Picture property replaces the Bitmap property of prior component versions.
Some code sent to me by Kristoffer Henriksson pointed me to a way how to overcome the problems which caused me to remove the Mode property in V2.0.  Hence V3.0 has a Mode property again.
Includes a demo application demonstrating the use of the new properties Mode, Shift, ShiftMode and ZigZag.
Registers TGraphicEditor as component editor for TMDIWallpaper, thus changing the double-click behavior in design mode (but beware! There's a problem with Delphi 3, see below).

History

Cosmetic changes

Zigzag property implemented (using code by Fabio Cavicchio)

This version fixes the bug that version 1.6 only claimed to fix... (versions < 2.0.0 will not redraw correctly if a MDI child window which has been moved partially out of view is scrolled in view again (unfortunately this hadn't been tested ever).
Note that I found the values for internal constants ScrollUnit and ScrollLineSize by experimenting, so there is no guarantee that they are valid under all circumstances. However, tests did not give any hints that they are not.
The Mode property has been removed.  The virtual desktop of a MDI frame window is best considered as infinite in size (you may move a MDI child to the left until it's almost completely outside the window, then scroll it in view, then again move it to the left and so forth...); therefore notions like 'top', 'left', 'center' are meaningless in this context.
The component now always works in a mode equivalent to Mode=wpTile in earlier versions.
Bug fix: Previous versions won't redraw correctly for scrollbar positions <> 0.

• MDIWallpaper package comes with an online-help file now. While it is written for Delphi 3, it will work with Delphi 2.0, too, with the restriction that links to Delphi 2.0 online-help topics won't work. See below for installation instructions.
• Added transparency code by Mike Burton (see below), with some modifications, among others:

- SetTransparent property access method
- TransparentColor property
- TransparentMode property
#########################################
05-Mar-1998
Michael Burton AMS-Services, Inc.
burtonmi@ams.iix.com

Add a transparent background to the
bitmap. Use the upper-left pixel of
the bitmap as the transparent color.

Add a Transparent property to control
the transparent background.

#########################################

Bug fix: Prior versions will not redraw correctly on form resize if Mode property not in [wpTile, wpTopLeft].

Make it work with non-MDI windows by commenting out two lines in TMDIWallpaper.Create.
Minor fix.

Added wpTopRight, wpBottomLeft, wpBottomRight.
Some fixes.

added wpStretch

First public release

Installation

Important hint: Since TMDIWallpaper's Bitmap property has been removed in version 3.0, you are advised to save to disk any bitmap data contained in any pre-3.0 version TMDIWallpaper components and not available otherwise before installing the new version! After having installed version 3.0 or greater, you can load them into the new Picture property.

Delphi 3 problem

File not found: 'LibConst.dcu'

There are two alternative work-arounds for this problem:

• 1. Remove 'PicEdit' from the uses clause in MDIWallp.pas's implementation section.

2. Remove the line

RegisterComponentEditor(TMDIWallpaper, TGraphicEditor);

from the Register procedure.
This work-around has the consequence that in design mode double-clicking the component won't bring up the Picture Editor.

• The second solution doesn't have this flaw:

1. Copy <D3 directory>\Doc\PicEdit.int to the directory where MDIWallp.pas resides and rename the copy to PicEdit.pas (it is probably not such good an idea to overwrite the original PicEdit.dcu, hence don't copy it to <D3 directory>\Lib).
Although the file extension seems to imply that PicEdit.int only contains PicEdit's interface section, this is not the case.
2. Copy <D3 directory>\Lib\PicEdit.dfm to the same directory.
3. Replace the first lines of the implementation part of PicEdit.pas by
------8<------8<------8<------8<------8<------8<------
implementation

uses TypInfo, SysUtils, LibHelp;

{$R *.DFM}

resourcestring
  SLoadPictureTitle = 'Load Picture';
  SSavePictureTitle = 'Save Picture As';
  srNone = '(None)';

{ TPictureEditorDlg }
------8<------8<------8<------8<------8<------8<------
and you are done.

Help file installation

Delphi 2.0:

• Add

:Index MDI Wallpaper Component Help=MDIWallp.hlp
:Index TComponentInfo Help=CompInfo.hlp
to the "Index" section of Delphi.CNT;

• Add

:Link MDIWallp.hlp
:Link CompInfo.hlp
to the "Link" section of Delphi.CNT

• Move *.HLP and *.KWF files to the \Program Files\Borland\Delphi 2.0\Help\ directory (path might differ on your system)

• Run \Program Files\Borland\Delphi 2.0\Help\Tools\Helpinst.exe

• Add

:Index MDI Wallpaper Component Help=MDIWallp.hlp
:Index TComponentInfo Help=CompInfo.hlp
to the "Index" section of Delphi3.CNT

• Add

:Link MDIWallp.hlp
:Link CompInfo.hlp
to the "Third-Party Help" section of DELPHI3.CFG

• Move MDIWallp.HLP and CompInfo.HLP to the \Program Files\Borland\Delphi 3\Help\ directory (path might differ on your system)

File List

Copying policy

Use, modification and distribution is allowed without limitation, warranty, or liability of any kind.

These files are freeware copyright Ahto Tanner, Moon Software.

New versions of mdiwallp.zip

Last updated June 02, 1999.