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Freeware Delphi Component Reviews

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    • Delphi is recognised as one of the best visual programming tools on the market. One of its great strengths is the VCL (Visual Component Library) which allows everyone to write plug-in components that compile into the executable. They allow the latest interface enhancements to be readily available and can extend the functionality of your application greatly.

    This page reviews a few of the more interesting and more useful freeware components I've come across. These are not components that I have written, for more detail visit the author's homepage. If the component you're after isn't here then head off to the Delphi Super Page which has a slightly more comprehensive collection. Keep coming back, the number of reviews will grow...

    If you want to see what I've done with Delphi try these pages:

    1. Mortgage-UK v1.4 - Calculates and compares the true cost of UK mortgages
    2. TaxMe-UK v1.2 - Gives a break-down of the tax and other deductions on your UK salary


    Reviewed Components:

    1. TCoolTrayIcon
    2. TGIFImage
    3. THHComp (HTMLHelp)
    4. TNapsterFree
    5. TPrintPreview
    6. TLUCombo & TLUEdit
    7. TSMDBGrid
    8. rmControls
    9. TPJCBView (clipboard viewer)

    TCoolTrayIcon

     If you want your program to live in the system tray (where the clock is) then this is the component for you. CoolTray allows you to create animated tray icons and to hide you application from the taskbar so it is only seen in the tray. Additionally you can customise the hints which pop-up and there is even an extended component to create text tray icons. Tray icons are now so easy with CoolTray, put your applications in the system tray where your users won't forget about them.

    Author: Troels Jakobsen

    Homepage: http://subsimple.com/delphi.asp

    Download: cooltrayicon.zip (347 KB)

    TGIFImage

     The standard .bmp bitmaps everyone uses in their applications are generally large and inflexible. Wouldn't it be handy if you could just drop a .gif onto your form? TGIFImage does just that, but it does it with style, supporting just about every possible type of .gif around. That means you can use your animated gifs, your transparent gifs and your interlaced gifs and have full control over their functioning. You can also stretch and tile your image, as well as accessing technical information such as number of frames and the width and height.

    Author: Theodor Kleynhans

    Homepage: http://www.sulako.com/tgifimage.htm

    Download: gifimg30.zip (233 KB)

    THHComp

     Since Microsoft released the new style of Help file using HTML, called HTMLHelp, programmers have wanted to use them too. In Delphi this is not immediately straight forward unless you have the very latest version. But now with these components you can use HTMLHelp for your Delphi application with minimal extra effort.

    Author: Ainars Skangals

    Homepage: http://balder.prohosting.com/ainars/Delphi.shtml

    Download: hhcomp.zip (D2-D5) & hhcomp6.zip (D6) (97 Kb)

    TNapsterFree

     Peer to peer applications are all the rage at the moment and Napster stole the headlines and then paid the price. But the Napster file sharing protocol lives on and is used in other P2P applications. Now, with this component, you can create your own. The protocol is fully implemented allowing you to just add events to get a simple file sharing application up and running, no knowledge of Napster protocol or sockets is needed! Your new applications will be fuilly compliant with Napster servers out there on the Internet as well. Great.

    Homepage: http://mitglied.lycos.de/delphiatpogorzelski/napsterinfo.php

    Download: http://mitglied.lycos.de/delphiatpogorzelski/napsterinfo.php (1.4 MB)

    TPrintPreview

     If your application prints then a print preview feature will keep your users much happier, its always good to see what will really appear on the printer before hand. This component allows you to very easily add print previewing, and it does it instyle. Your preview can be scaled and dragged to better see what's there, and it takes care of the printer paper settings too. Another great component to enhance your applications.

    Author: Kambiz R. Khojasteh

    Homepage: http://www.delphiarea.com/products/preview/

    Download: preview.zip (88 Kb)

    TLUCombo & TLUEdit

     There's nothing worse than searching through a huge list of items for the one you want, there must be a better way. Naturally there is, for people concerned about user friendliness this component should be at the top of your list. The two components allow you to start typing text and have the nearest match automatically presented before you've typed it all. This type-ahead/lookup functionality can draw its item list from the combo box or an invisible TStringList giving you the flexibility you need. There is also an option to have persistance by saving entries to the registry.

    Author: TMS Software

    Homepage: http://www.tmssoftware.com

    Download: lucombo.zip (92 Kb)

    TSMDBGrid

     The DBGrid component is essential for many database applications, so the ability to customise it further adds real value to your application. This DBGrid decendant gives you the power and flexibility to do a vast amount of customisation. For example, it wordwraps column titles, adds checkboxes for boolean fields, has a popup-menu of database tasks, displays stretched graphics in cells and allows dropdown lists from cells. Don't write a database without it.

    Author: Mike Shkolnik

    Homepage: http://www.scalabium.com/

    Download: smdbgrid.zip (50 Kb)

    rmControls

    How often do you wish that the standard components would do just that little bit extra and be a little bit more flexible? Well rmControls provides the answer. It is a package of over 50 components offering enhanced functionality; from TrmFloatSpinEdit to TrmPathTreeView to TrmComboTreeView. But there is more, many components offerneat new functionality; TrmClock, TrmCalendar, TrmDiffEngine, TrmCornerGrip to mention just a few. Why haven't you downloaded it yet?

    Author: Ryan Mills

    Homepage: http://www.mills-enterprise.ca

    Download: rmctl192.zip (376 Kb)

    TPJCBView (Clipboard viewer)

    If you need to access the clipboard as part of your application then try this simple component. It is non-visual component that triggers an event each time there is a change to the Windows clipboard.

    Author: Peter Johnson

    Homepage: http://www.delphidabbler.com/

    Download: pjcbview.zip (10 Kb)

     
     
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