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DELPHI: Basics

Component Palette Toolbars

Components can be added to a form by clicking on the icon representing the component and then clicking on the form.

To place more than one similar component on the form keep in SHIFT before selecting the component and then release SHIFT and place the components on the form.

Components can be moved around with the mouse. They can also be grouped with the mouse and then copied (CTRL+C) and pasted (CTRL+V) as required. To remove a particular component - click on a component and press DELETE.

Properties of components can be changed using the Object Inspector.

Standard Toolbar (in order from left to right)
Frames
MainMenu - adds a drop down menu to form
Popupmenu - adds a popup menu to form
Label - used for text such as instructions or used for output
Edit - edit box mainly used for input
Memo - memo box used for input of longer text - more than one line
Button - most often used to let the user prompt processing/enter data
CheckBox - Input using a box with an X
RadioButton - Similar to checkbox but usually requires one selection a a time (can also be used with GroupBox)
ListBox - List of text values (an index can be used to refer to a specific value)
ComboBox - List of values that can be selected in a drop down box
Scrollbar
GroupBox - group items such as RadioButtons together
RadioGroup - GroupBox with predefined RadioButtons
Panel - space that can be used to place components or as output
ActionList

If the QReport toolbar is not available, activate it as follows:
1) Go to 'Component' on the main menu
2) Select 'Install Packages'
3) Click on Add
4) Open the file dclqrt70.bpl (Usually located at: C:\Program Files\Borland\Delphi7\Bin)