Creating a Concave User Interface

This post is part of series of posts to help developers develop great user interfaces.  

One way to take your FireMonkey HD application into the the 3rd dimension is to make a concave user interface. This interface simply consists of several TLayer3Ds, arranged in a concave fashion. Each TLayer3D simply is the parent of a form on a different unit. Its that simple!

Well, not quite. You need this bit of code.

http://www.learndelphi.com/uSet3DGridPosition.zip

This function takes in an X,Y position of your concave user interface, along with other important info, and returns the position, width, and height of your TLayer3D!  All you need to do is fill your 3D interface with TLayer3D components, and call this function to set the positions!


For more great articles, check out LearnDelphi.com!
To convert your VCL/VGScene applications to FireMonkey, check out the FREE MonkeyGroomer tool!
Check out more information about 3D and Delphi at the Embarcadero Developer Portal
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• Twitter: @Coderage, or #CodeRage6
• CodeRage FREE Signup

Announcement: MonkeyGroomer 0.1 Public Release!

I am proud to announce the public release of MonkeyGroomer 0.1!

Download Now for FREE!

MonkeyGroomer is a simple application that aims to help convert your Delphi projects to FireMonkey projects. Currently only VGScene is supported. It also supports VGScene style files.

• MonkeyGroomer supports over 100 VGScene classes and components
• In this release, components not supported in the selected project will halt the conversion. (with a helpful message)
• In the final release, you will have the option of removing unsupported components.
• Currently the VCL conversion converts specific properties for any component. In a future release the engine will be more discriminatory.
• Most VGScene components have been tested. 

• A wizard is planned, to make the conversion process simple and painless!
• Most of the work was done on the form parser and conversion engine. Once support for VCL is complete this engine will be adapted to support other delphi platforms and components in the future, using Lua4Delphi! (donate now!)

Special thanks to Simon J Stuart!

For inquiries, please contact me at thestamp@gmail.com

Quoted from: http://tgr.ph/cjQUr2

MonkeyGroomer - Roadmap

The feedback from MonkeyGroomer has been tremendous! That, paired with the announcement of MonkeyGroomer having plans for LUA support, this aims to be a very important release for the Delphi community! Not only will you be able to migrate your VCL and VGScene applications, you will be able to script and convert your own custom components!  So, whats the plan?

This week:

• Release MonkeyGroomer with Full VGScene support (stable) for public use for free!
• Release an alpha version with limited VCL support, to test the VCL conversion engine.

Over the next month:

• Release continual updates with additional VCL and other common controls
• Set up a community for developers to discuss and share experiences on migrating their projects.

And when that's done:

• Add Lua4Delphi support
• Set up a community for developers to share and discuss migrating custom and third party components.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at thestamp@gmail.com, or follow me on twitter: @PascalCoder

Join me at my CodeRage Session: FireMonkey FireStarter

That's right! I will be doing a talk on some FireMonkey essential topics, named "FireMonkey FireStarter!"

Click here to register now!


Its my first time talking at CodeRage (or any event for that matter), so enjoy me stumbling around the virtual stage, making a fool of myself! I'll be in the official IRC chat as well (url and channel TBA), so we can chat as the session happens! It'll be a great time, see you there! 

MonkeyGroomer - Action Shots and Component List

Update: MonkeyGroomer 0.1 has been released! Download here!

MonkeyGroomer is a simple application that converts your Delphi VGScene or VCL form files to FireMonkey form files. It will also support VGScene style files.

The upcoming release of MonkeyGroomer Alpha will have support for an incredible amount of components, both for VGScene, VGScene styles, and VCL.

• MonkeyGroomer supports over 100 VGScene and VCL components
• In this release, components not supported in the selected project will halt the conversion. (with a helpful message)
• In the final release, you will have the option of removing unsupported components.
• The final release will be available as a wizard to simplify migration.
• Currently the VCL conversion converts specific properties for any component. In a future release the engine will be more discriminatory.

For more information, contact me at thestamp@gmail.com.

Action Shots

VGScene

VGScene converted to FireMonkey

VCL

VCL Converted to FireMonkey

Supported Components (so far)

VCL
(preliminary list)

• TLabel, 
• TStringBox, 
• TEdit,
• TMemo,
• TButton

VGScene
(final list)

• TvgBackground,
• TvgBitmapAnimation,
• TvgBitmapListAnimation,
• TvgColorAnimation,
• TvgColorKeyAnimation,
• TvgFloatKeyAnimation,
• TvgGradientAnimation,
• TvgButton,
• TvgStringListBox,
• TvgFloatAnimation,
• TvgTreeViewItem,
• TvgTextBoxClearBtn,
• TvgTextBox, 
• TvgMemo,
• TvgCalendarTextBox,   
• TvgComboTextBox,
• TvgPath,
• TvgImage,
• TvgShadowEffect,
• TvgInnerGlowEffect,
• TvgGlowEffect,
• TvgAngleButton, (now TArcDial)
• TvgTabItem,
• TvgRadioButton,
• TvgListBoxItem,
• TvgCheckBox,
• TvgCalendarBox,
• TvgBevelEffect,
• TvgGroupBox,
• TvgPopupBox,
• TvgBlurEffect,
• TvgCornerButton,
• TvgReflectionEffect,
• TvgSpeedButton,
• TvgDropTarget,
• TvgImageViewer,
• TvgGrid,
• TvgStringGrid,
• TvgGridLayout,
• TvgArc,
• TvgCalloutRectangle,
• TvgCircle,
• TvgEllipse,
• TvgLine,
• TvgPaintBox,
• TvgPie,
• TvgRectangle,
• TvgRoundRect,
• TvgText,
• TvgComboTrackBar,
• TvgNumberBox,
• TvgSpinBox,
• TvgStatusBar,
• TvgToolBar,
• TvgTreeView,
• TvgSizeGrip,
• TvgFramedVertScrollBox,
• TvgPlotGrid,
• TvgCalendar,
• TvgSelection,
• TvgSelectionPoint,
• TvgGridLayout,
• TvgLayout,
• TvgScaledLayout,
• TvgAniIndicator,
• TvgCalloutPanel,
• TvgExpander,
• TvgFramedScrollBox,
• TvgImageControl,
• TvgLabel,
• TvgPanel,
• TvgProgressBar,
• TvgScrollBar,
• TvgScrollBox,
• TvgSmallScrollBar,
• TvgSplitter,
• TvgTabControl,
• TvgLayout,
• TvgTrackBar,
• TvgVertScrollBox,
• TvgAlphaTrackBar,
• TvgBWTrackBar,
• TvgColorBox,
• TvgColorPanel,
• TvgColorPicker,
• TvgColorQuad,
• TvgComboColorBox,
• TvgGradientEdit,
• TvgHueTrackBar,
• TvgTrack,
• TvgBrushObject,
• TvgBitmapObject,
• TvgPathObject,
• TvgListBox,
• TvgThumb

   

Announcement: MonkeyGroomer - Convert VCL Forms to FireMonkey!

Update: MonkeyGroomer 0.1 has been released! Download here!


I am proud to announce MonkeyGroomer!

MonkeyGroomer is a simple application that converts your VGScene or VCL form files to FireMonkey form files. It will also support VGScene style files.

• An alpha version will be available shortly! Available now!
• Most VGScene components have been tested. 
• Initially, VCL support will be limited, but quickly expanded.
• A wizard is planned, to make the conversion process simple and painless!
• Most of the work was done on the form parser and conversion engine. Once support for VCL is complete perhaps this engine will be adapted to support other delphi platforms in the future, possibly using Lua4Delphi! (donate now!)

Special thanks to Simon J Stuart!

For inquiries, please contact me at thestamp@gmail.com

Syndicate: Firemonkey Styles

TLDR: Felix Colibri has posted a good tutorial on how to use Firemonkey's styles.

http://www.felix-colibri.com/papers/delphi/firemonkey_styles/firemonkey_styles.html

• abstract : FireMonkey Styles tutorial : changing styles for all or for some selected components.
• key words : FireMonkey Styles - Style Designer - .STYLE files - StyleLookup - StyleName - FindComponentResource - Predefined Styles - Delphi XE2
• software used : Windows XP Home, Delphi XE2
• hardware used : Pentium 2.800Mhz, 512 M memory, 140 G hard disc
• scope : Delphi XE2
• level : Delphi developer
• plan :
  • FireMonkey Styles
  • Custom FireMonkey Styles
  • Default FireMonkey Styles
  • .STYLE file
  • Download the Sources

Delphi XE2: Announcement, World Tour, and a Giveaway!

Embarcadero has announced Delphi XE2, and its expected to be their best Delphi release since.. Delphi 1! To celebrate this they are hosting the largest world tour ever held, with over 70 locations! Gratz to the folks in New Zealand for being the first to use Delphi XE2! Unfortunately, the closest tour city to me is over 12 hours drive to Calgary. Phooey. Check out the world tour here: http://www.embarcadero.com/world-tour

But thats not all! Embarcadero is giving away a copy of RAD Studio XE2 (which includes Delphi XE2, Delphi Prism XE2, and more) to 1 lucky developer! Sign up for it here: http://forms.embarcadero.com/forms/RADStudioXE2WinBeforeYouBuyPromo

What I find very exciting is their announcement of 64 bit, FireMonkey, and building Mac application support included in Delphi XE2. Being a developer that loves to create beautiful applications for clients FireMonkey sounds very promising, with the GPU being used to drive the UI. Deploy applications to Mac? Yes please!

Armed with their flexible IDE, fast compiler, and now 64 bit and FireMonkey support, Delphi is set to be the premier native application IDE for Windows.. and Mac!