Update Readme.txt

readme file updated

Author: coderserdar

Other/Palette Bar/Readme.txt

@@ -1,3 +1,340 @@
+Legal status
+PaletteBar is FREEWARE. Freeware means, that you can use this soft-
+ware without paying anything for it.
+This software is protected under the law of the Federal Republic of
+Germany, the European Union and other countries.
+Please note, that I can’t take any warranty for the function of this soft-
+ware on any machine or software environment.
+You have to use it for your own risk!
+Copyright (C) 2003 by Peter Hellinger Software.
+All rights are reserved.
+Address:
+Peter Hellinger Software,
+Zerzabelshofstr. 41,
+D-90480 Nürnberg, Germany
+Email:
+mail@helli.de
+Web:
+http://delphi.helli.de
+PaletteBar – an alternative component palette for Delphi and C++Builder
+⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
+Page 4 of 16
+2. Some Basics
+The component palette in the Borland IDE is a little bit badly arranged,
+and if you installed a lot of components then you spend more time in
+clicking and searching than in developing your application.
+So, it is time for a new way of adding components and work with big
+component packages. It's time for PaletteBar!
+PaletteBar works with the following Borland IDEs:
+-
+C++Builder 6
+-
+Delphi 6 Personal Edition
+-
+Delphi 6 Standard / Professional / Enterprise
+-
+Delphi 7 Personal Edition
+-
+Delphi 7 Professional / Enterprise / Architect
+A version for Kylix Open 3 is under development and will be available
+soon.
+3. Installation
+Please make sure, that your IDE is not running while you are installing
+PaletteBar!
+Run the PB330.EXE setup program and follow the installation advices.
+Please select the Version you like to install. Use "Architect, Enterprise,
+Professional" for PaletteBar with CLX-Support, use "Standard, Personal
+Edition" for the IDE's without CLX, or choose the IDE's you prefer
+manually from the list.
+The setup program copies all necessary files to the folder you have
+chosen.
+After setup, PaletteBar is ready to use...
+PaletteBar – an alternative component palette for Delphi and C++Builder
+⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
+Page 5 of 16
+4. New in this Version
+- Fixed initialisation problem
+Some windows DLLs are loaded faster since a few weeks, maybe any
+updates from Microsoft… Ok, Delphi’s loads faster and when
+PaletteBar comes to initialise the list of components, the Delphi IDE
+has not initialized the built in component bar, which is read out by
+PaletteBar. So only one category is read out (mostly Standard),
+others are not filled.
+PaletteBar – an alternative component palette for Delphi and C++Builder
+⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
+Page 6 of 16
+5. Using PaletteBar
+After installing PaletteBar, the menu “PaletteBar” appears next to the
+Tools-menu of the IDE. Select the entry “PaletteBar to show up the
+main window. Place it anywhere on your desktop, the window remem-
+bers size, position and whether it was opened the last time you ran the
+IDE. As you see below, you can dock it anywhere in the IDE. Please
+remember to save your IDE-Desktop to restore docking state at next
+loading.
+Initial window of PaletteBar, docked to Objectinspector
+PaletteBar – an alternative component palette for Delphi and C++Builder
+⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
+Page 7 of 16
+5.1. The tool bar
+On top of the window you see a tool bar with 11 buttons. You see
+also a list of the components, which are on the actual tab of the
+built in component palette. On the right side you see the "A to Z
+bar". On the bottom of the window you see the so called Searchbar.
+5.1.1.
+The main menu
+The first button is the main menu of
+PaletteBar; all other Buttons are represented in
+this menu, and not further explained.
+Here you find all the pages of the common component palette.
+On the first run, all known pages are listed under the menu en-
+try “Others”
+If you have already configured your individual categories (see
+chapter 4.5 Configure Category), then you see in addition to
+"Others" menu entries for the Meta categories you have en-
+tered.
+5.1.2.
+Actual Category
+Show all components of the category you have
+chosen. The name of the category is shown
+below in the header of the component list.
+5.1.3.
+All components
+Shows all components you have installed in one
+big list.
+5.1.4.
+Actual Form
+Show all components on the currently edited
+form. Please note, that a form editor must be
+activated in the IDE (the form has to be the top
+window) to use this feature.
+5.1.5.
+History
+List all components you have already used in
+this session. If you want to store the history
+PaletteBar – an alternative component palette for Delphi and C++Builder
+⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
+Page 8 of 16
+from session to session, you can choose the "Save History" op-
+tion from the "Configure PaletteBar" menu.
+5.1.6.
+Favourites
+Lists all your favourite components. To add a
+component to the favourite list, simply right
+click on the component in the list and choose
+"Add to favourites". In the favourites list you can delete compo-
+nents in the same way (right click context menu).
+5.1.7.
+Edit Categories
+Shows a dialog box where you can edit the
+"meta” categories. (See chapter 4.5, “Edit
+Categories”)
+5.1.8.
+Configure Palette
+Run the standard IDE dialog for configuring the
+pages of the common component palette.
+5.1.9.
+Configure PaletteBar
+Brings up the configuration dialog PaletteBar
+wizard. (See chapter 4.6 “Configure PaletteBar”)
+5.1.10. Show Help for Component
+If a component is selected in the list, you can
+call the online help with the corresponding help
+page for the component.
+5.1.11. About PaletteBar
+Shows Information about the program version.
+PaletteBar – an alternative component palette for Delphi and C++Builder
+⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
+Page 9 of 16
+5.2. The Component List
+In the component list you see the components according to the se-
+lection you have made: Actual category, All components, History,
+Actual Form or Favourites.
+Clicking the Header of the list sorts the list in alphabetical or re-
+verse order. For “Actual category”, the list is also shown in the
+original order from the built in component palette.
+With the left and right arrows in the header, you can browse trough
+the component categories installed in your IDE.
+5.3. The A-Z Bar
+Selecting an item from the A-Z Bar scrolls the component list to the
+first item that begins with the corresponding letter.
+If you have selected the “Filter mode” feature from the context
+menu or from the global configuration, the list shows only the com-
+ponents with the corresponding letter.
+5.4. The Search bar
+With the Search bar you can search for a component or a group of
+components. Just enter the text you want to look for in the edit
+field and press the “Go” button. PaletteBar searches all compo-
+nents and lists those with matching the text you entered. For ex-
+ample enter the text “button”, and PaletteBar shows you all compo-
+nents with “button” in their names, (TButton, TSpeedButton, TRa-
+dioButton and TSpinButton for example).
+PaletteBar saves your searched keywords and you can choose them
+again from the combo box.
+5.5. Inserting Components
+To insert a component to your form is quite simple: Just click on
+the component you wish to insert, hold down the left mouse button
+and drag the component to your form. The component is inserted at
+the position, you release the mouse button.
+PaletteBar – an alternative component palette for Delphi and C++Builder
+⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
+Page 10 of 16
+5.6. Edit Categories
+If you select “Edit Categories” from the tool bar or the main menu,
+you get the following dialog to add “meta categories”.
+The Edit Categories dialog
+“Meta” means that this category did not contain components di-
+rectly, but contains groups of categories. This helps you to navi-
+gate quicker through the components than with the built in palette,
+because you can jump directly to any component page you like.
+On initial run, PaletteBar adds automatic all pages from the built in
+component palette to the Meta category “Others”.
+You can add your individual Meta categories by clicking the button
+“New”. The new category is inserted at the end of the list with the
+name “new category”. You can always edit the name of the Meta
+categories (except “Others”) by double clicking the entry or press-
+ing the F2 key when the entry is selected.
+To add a category (with components) to a meta category simple
+drag and drop the category item to the meta category you wish to
+put it. If you want to copy the category – i.e. to have the category
+under more than one Meta category – hold down the shift key on
+your keyboard when dropping.
+PaletteBar – an alternative component palette for Delphi and C++Builder
+⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
+Page 11 of 16
+To delete a Meta category, select the entry and click the “Delete”
+button. The categories in the Meta category you wish to delete are
+added automatic to “Others”.
+Please note, that you can not delete categories or the Meta cate-
+gory “Others”; also, you can not have a category more than once
+in a Meta category.
+5.7. Configure PaletteBar
+With the new designed configure dialog (select “Configure Palette-
+Bar” from the tool bar or the main menu), you can configure Palet-
+teBar for your individual needs.
+The Configure dialog
+PaletteBar – an alternative component palette for Delphi and C++Builder
+⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
+Page 12 of 16
+5.7.1.
+List of components
+Configure the look and feel of the component list. You can also
+configure the list by the context menu of the list (clicking with
+the right button into the list).
+• View
+Select the display options for the list. Choose “Symbols” to show
+only the symbol for the component, choose “Text” to show only
+the text, or choose “Symbol and Text” to show both of them.
+• Text size
+Select “Small”, “Middle” or “Big” size for the text used in the
+component list.
+• Hot tracking
+Select “Hot tracking” (selecting components by moving the
+mouse over the components instead of clicking to select) for the
+list, or deselect, if you don’t like this feature.
+5.7.2.
+Toolbar
+Configure the look of the tool bar. You can also configure the
+tool bar by its context menu.
+• Show Buttons
+Select the buttons you want to have displayed on the tool bar.
+• Position
+Select the position, the tool bar is displayed. Choose “Top”,
+“Right” or “Left”
+5.7.3.
+A – Z bar
+Place the A-Z Bar on the left or the right side of the component
+list, or switch it off, if you don't want to use it. Select “Filter
+mode” for activating Filter mode. Refer to chapter 5.3 “The A-Z
+bar” for more information.
+PaletteBar – an alternative component palette for Delphi and C++Builder
+⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
+Page 13 of 16
+5.7.4.
+History
+• Save history
+If selected, PaletteBar saves the history list when the IDE is
+shutting down.
+You can clear the history list by selecting “clear History” in the
+context menu of the history list.
+5.7.5.
+Search Bar
+Select the display options for the Searchbar.
+• Top, Bottom
+Display the Search Bar at the top or the bottom of the window.
+• Visible
+Select, if the Search bar is visible or not
+5.7.6.
+Language
+Actual you can choose between English, French, German, Potu-
+guese and Turkish.
+PaletteBar has the ability to add individual languages “on the
+fly” by the user. Please refer chapter 5.8 for defining additional
+languages.
+5.7.7.
+Clear/Delete
+In the “Clear” field you can choose which list to delete:
+- History
+- Favourites
+- Search text
+Press the Delete button to delete the list you choose.
+PaletteBar – an alternative component palette for Delphi and C++Builder
+⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
+Page 14 of 16
+5.8. Additional languages
+PaletteBar has the ability to add individual languages “on the fly” by
+the user. The language strings are stored in usual text files in the
+PaletteBar directory. They are named “palettebar.<lang>”.
+<lang> is the grammalogue of the language, for example “EN” for
+English or “DE” for German.
+To localize PaletteBar for your language simply translate the con-
+tent of “palettebar.EN” to your language, and rename it according
+to your language (i.e. palettebar.FR for French).
+To let PaletteBar know your language, you have to register it in an-
+other text file named “palettebar.lng”. The file contains the
+strings that are displayed in the language menu in a special format:
+<language>_<name>_<grammalogue>
+<language> is the grammalogue of the language the <name> part
+belongs to. <name> holds the string for the menu, and finally
+<grammalogue> is the file extension of the file where the corre-
+sponding language strings are stored. Example:
+EN_English_EN
+EN_German_DE
+DE_Englisch_EN
+DE_Deutsch_DE
+To add a individual language, you have to add the menu stings as
+described above. For example French:
+EN_English_EN
+EN_German_DE
+EN_French_FR
+DE_Englisch_EN
+DE_Deutsch_DE
+DE_Französisch_FR
+FR_Anglais_EN
+FR_Allemand_DE
+FR_Français_FR
+If you have added a language please sends it to me (see Email ad-
+dress above) and I put it in the next public release of PaletteBar.
+PaletteBar – an alternative component palette for Delphi and C++Builder
+⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
+Page 15 of 16
+6. Known Issues
+6.1. In some cases it is possible that the fresh docked PaletteBar main
+window is not zoomed correct to the extends of its parent. This is
+not a bug in PaletteBar, because it did not know when it is docked.
+The whole work is done by the IDE, so this is a bug in the IDE dock-
+ing routines. Just change the size of the parent window a little bit
+and PaletteBar zooms to fit in the window.
+7. Credits
+I wish to thank the following people:
+Andrea Jacobs for help and assistance with documentation and transla-
+tion.
+Jacob Thurman for help and assistance with docking functions.
+Bruno Sonnino for Portuguese translation.
+Phillipe Lucarz for French translation.
+Cumhur Semin for Turkish translation.
+Jürgen Kehrel, Brian Brunoni, Steve Gouldstone, Ralf Grenzing and An-
+thony Egerton for suggestions and help.
+dageek for CompBar, the inspiration for PaletteBar
 PaletteBar – an alternative component palette for Delphi and C++Builder
 ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
 Page 16 of 16