Book Image

Hands-On Design Patterns with Delphi

By : Primož Gabrijelčič
Book Image

Hands-On Design Patterns with Delphi

By: Primož Gabrijelčič

Overview of this book

Design patterns have proven to be the go-to solution for many common programming scenarios. This book focuses on design patterns applied to the Delphi language. The book will provide you with insights into the language and its capabilities of a runtime library. You'll start by exploring a variety of design patterns and understanding them through real-world examples. This will entail a short explanation of the concept of design patterns and the original set of the 'Gang of Four' patterns, which will help you in structuring your designs efficiently. Next, you'll cover the most important 'anti-patterns' (essentially bad software development practices) to aid you in steering clear of problems during programming. You'll then learn about the eight most important patterns for each creational, structural, and behavioral type. After this, you'll be introduced to the concept of 'concurrency' patterns, which are design patterns specifically related to multithreading and parallel computation. These will enable you to develop and improve an interface between items and harmonize shared memories within threads. Toward the concluding chapters, you'll explore design patterns specific to program design and other categories of patterns that do not fall under the 'design' umbrella. By the end of this book, you'll be able to address common design problems encountered while developing applications and feel confident while building scalable projects.
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
Title Page
Copyright and Credits
About Packt
Contributors
Preface
Index

Frames


Another concept that allows us to make parts of a user interface reusable are frames. A frame is similar to a form. It is implemented in a separate unit, can be visually edited in the IDE, and you can place controls and components on it. A frame, on the other hand, cannot be directly displayed on a screen. To use it, you must place it on a form, or on another frame, which is then placed on a form.

Frames function more like composite controls than full forms. You can even put a frame on the component palette and use it as a normal component later. Similarly to forms, frames can be added to the object repository and can be inherited from.

To create a new frame, select File| New| Other... Then, select the Delphi Files branch and find the VCL Frame icon. (The name of the icon will be FireMonkey Frame if you are designing a FireMonkey application.) Click OK and a new unit will be created. It will look and function similarly to a form. You can place components and controls on a designer,...