Compiling using Delphi 7 Personal ?

[bad4u]

Hi antp

Finally I've got Delphi 7 Personal and wanted to give it a try with source code of AMC. I know it's not Enterprise Edition, but maybe you can help me.

What I did: I installed Delphi 7 Personal. I compiled and installed the additional components from your website - as far as possible. I had some problems with PNG (zlibpas.pas) , but after I downloaded it from sourceforge it seems to be installed correct. On SynEdit I need to choose SynEdit_D7_PE instead of SynEdit_D7 package. Only FreeReport won't install and gives me the message "Required package dbrtl not found"

When I open MovieCatalog and try to syntax check or compile the source, I got an error message about unit TeeProcs not found. I did not find this file on my harddisk, so maybe it's a part of Enterprise version only ? Or did I forget to install something ?

In next step I searched the web for TeeProcs and found an evaluation package from steema software, downloaded and installed it. The installation routine shows a message :"Your Borland Delphi version is 'Standard'. Delphi Standard does not include Quick Report, Database and Decision Cube packages. For this reason, the TeeChart for QuickReport, the database Chart and DecisionGraph components will not be installed." Are these components used for AMC ?

Nevertheless now the compilation starts until line

Code: Select all

 TheChart.SeriesList.Series[0].Active := idx in statItemsChart;

with error message "Undeclared identifier: 'Series' ". Any ideas about that or might it be related to personal version only ?

[antp]

Hi

You do not especially need the Enterprise edition, but at least the Professional (though that this won't change much the problem).

You may be able to compile the program with the Personal edition but you will have to get rid of some functionalities I think:

- FreeReport uses databases (though that I do not actually use databases - it is just ready for using them) so I guess that it cannot be compiled with Delphi Personal as that one does not includes database support. You would probably have to remove the printing form from the project and remove the few references made to it in the main form.
I could be able to modify FreeReport to make it work without these database units, but it is maybe lots of work.

- TeeChart is not included in Personal edition, so a quick solution would be to remove the stats form from the project as well. Maybe it would work with the demo version, but it is a much newer version than the one included in Delphi 7 Professional, so few changes may be required. Note that I am not sure that programs compiled with that demo version run outside Delphi (or maybe they just show a "demo" dialog when the component is loaded?).

For these reasons (and others) since long time I wanted to put these two windows in external DLL files, but as usual I do not know when I will do that

[bad4u]

Hmmm... it was a long night, but it was not a wasted one... finally I got AMC compiled on D7PE

After a lot of trial and error and even more searching the web, it seems I got FreeReport running on D7PE now. At least it installed without an error message. What exactly is it used for within AMC - or to be more precise - how can I do some tests to see if it works correct on a new compiled moviecatalog.exe ?

About TeeChart: The evaluation version of TeeChart Pro basically works on D7PE, but did not show graphics (only statistics on general information window) and I need to comment out some lines within stats.pas unit. Not sure about the reasons yet, but maybe that's why it doesn't show any graphics, or does AMC need one of the components that have not been installed (TeeChart for QuickReport, the database Chart and DecisionGraph components) ? In addition it shows a "Trial version" window when I open statistics on new compiled executable and I'm not sure about if it is time limited and/or legal to use in non commercial software (probably not). But it was quite easy to compile without statistics units, if I don't find a better solution..

[antp]

Only the basic TeeChart component is needed, not the other ones that you mentioned. Maybe that Delphi removed the TeeChart object from the form when you opened it the first time? Try to get the unit again from the original source of AMC now that you have the component installed.

About FreeReport, it is used exclusively by the Printing form: if you open that form and select a template in the list, it should display the preview correctly (i.e. movie info filled in the template layout)

[bad4u]

I've got two more questions..

1. I want to change the picture that shows up when you start AMC. It seems to be in file splash.dfm, but which program do you use to convert it to this format ? Has the picture to be a special format before converting ? I tried .jpg and .png using DFMEdit and the code I get looks similar to yours, but when I compile and start the program, it always terminates itself immediatly (I changed the sizes for client/panel/image/progress bar, too).

2. Where can I find the commands from the tools->preferences tree that contains 'Movie list' and 'Movie information' ? On language files they are called LvCat.Items.Item[x].Text , but I cannot find them as plain text somewhere on the source code .. although they appear on the program if there is no language file available

[antp]

1. It is a jpeg, but you can change that directly within Delphi: open the form, click on the picture, and in the Object Inspector window (which shows the properties/attributes), click on the "..." on the right of the "picture" entry.

2. They are in the treeview component itself, double-click on it to edit it.

[bad4u]

I did not know that it could be SO easy to change the picture.. but I had to search another 30 minutes for the correct treeview component.

Seems I should have had a closer look on the project manager .. this would have saved me hours

Thanks a lot !

[antp]

the treeview is visible directly when you open the options window
Indeed the project manager is useful, else you have the ctrl+f12 / shift+f12 shortcuts to open units/forms directly.

[bad4u]

the treeview is visible directly when you open the options window

Treeview window is visible when I open MovieCatalog.dpr, but it does not contain this treeview components I was searching for. When I open options window (it then shows options.pas besides main.pas on a new tab) treeview window or object inspector do not change its content. When I choose 'options' from project manager it works..

I guess I still have missed something or have not opened correct window. Delphi is still a mystery, but I can live with some detours, I think

[antp]

To have the object inspector update its contents, you have to focus the window/component itself, rather than the .pas file linked to it.
You can switch from the .pas to the linked form and vice-versa using F12 key.

[bad4u]

Just tested it again to see how it works - and now treeview updates even when I open options.pas through menu

Don't know what was going wrong before.. or what I did wrong.

[bad4u]

Hi again.
Is it possible that there could be an error on stats.pas unit, which is provided with the source code ?
As mentioned on the first posting, there is an error message from this unit: " Undeclared identifier: 'Series' " for the lines

Code: Select all

268:   TheChart.SeriesList.Series[0].Active := idx in statItemsChart;
269:   TheChart.SeriesList.Series[1].Active := idx in statItemsPie;
561:   TheChart.SeriesList.Series[1].Marks.Visible := ActionOptionsLabels.Checked;

and compiling is interrupted. When I outcomment these lines compiling runs to the end, but graphics on statistics will not work.

When I change these lines to

Code: Select all

268: //  TheChart.Series[0].Active := idx in statItemsChart;
269: //  TheChart.Series[1].Active := idx in statItemsPie;
561: //  TheChart.Series[1].Marks.Visible := ActionOptionsLabels.Checked;

it seems to work for me again - and it seems to make sense to me, as you don't use or declare 'TheChart.SeriesList' somewhere else..

But maybe it's correct and the problem should be caused by TeeChart Pro 6.0 Trial..?

[antp]

That code works fine on my version, but the error is probably due to the fact that you have a newer version of TeeChart.
TeeChart is declared, as it is the Chart object of the form and used at other places of the code.
I just checked, and at other places I access directly to the series without "SeriesList". I guess that they removed it as it was a duplicate property.
So if you just remove SeriesList to get what you posted below the original lines, it should be ok (but without the "//" comment in front).

[bad4u]

I just checked, and at other places I access directly to the series without "SeriesList".

That's why I got confused about it.

.. (but without the "//" comment in front).

Sure

[Wotan]

bad4u, are you working on a mod?

[bad4u]

Sure

[bad4u]

I want to use a '&' sign on a caption field in the object inspector, but I only get a '_' .. is there a possibility or some code to use this (or eventually more) characters ?

[antp]

just put &&
(a single & is used to underline letters and make shortcuts to the menu item, e.g. &File -> File, accessible through Alt+F)

[bad4u]

Aaargh.. seems sometimes I'm some kind of blind

Thanks!

[bad4u]

How are MovieFrame (in framemovie) and FrmMovie (in MainWindow) .. hmm.. connected ?
I know that MovieFrame is used for setting default preferences in AMC later, but when I do changes on this frame they migth appear on MainWindow, too, but not always .. (talking about layout changes only). So when I want to change the layout of the main window, where should I start ?
Seems I do not really understand the conjunction between these two frames yet