About Box Component
An about box that can display version information.
Overview
This non-visual component encapsulates an About Box. When displayed the About Box appears like this:
The dialogue box can either display information stored in its properties or from the host program's version information resources.
TPJAboutBoxDlg requires that a DelphiDabbler Version Information Component is already installed in order to compile.
Features
The component has string properties to display five different pieces of information in the about box. These properties are:
- Title – The dialogue box's window caption. The default value is 'About'.
- ProgramName – The name of the program. This is the title of the application. The default value is the same as TApplications's Title property.
- Version – This version number of the program. Optional property – default is nothing.
- Copyright – A copyright message. Optional property – default is nothing.
- Notes – Up to three lines of notes. Optional property – default is nothing.
Alternatively, the about box can display information from a VERSIONINFO resource included in the program. This is accessed via a linked TPJVersionInfo component. The values of the ProgramName, Version, Copyright and Notes properties are ignored and relevant strings from the program's version information are used in their stead.
The dialog's position can be specified relative to the screen, desktop or parent application. The dialog has a single close button whose appearance and position can be customised. The About box also displays the program's icon.
Finally, the dialog box's font can be specified using the component's Font property.
Demo code
A demo program is included in the Demo sub-directory of download that can be used to exercise the component.
Get The Code
You can download the latest version of the About Box Component directly from SourceForge as dd-aboutbox-3.6.1.zip.
Download release v3.6.1 from SourceForge
The About Box Component source code is hosted in the ddablib/aboutbox GitHub repository. You can git clone or fork the repository as required.
Installation
The About Box Component is supplied in a zip file. Before installing you need to extract all the files from the zip file, preserving the directory structure. The following files will be extracted:
-
PJAbout.pas– component source code. -
PJAbout.dfm– form file containing the about box. -
PJAbout.dcr– component palette glyph. -
ReadMe.htm– read-me file. -
ChangeLog.txt– project change log. -
MPL-2.txt– the Mozilla Public License v2.0. -
Documentation.URL– short-cut to the component's online documentation. -
PJAbout.hlp– component help file that integrates with the Delphi 3-7 OpenHelp system. Deprecated -
PJAbout.als– a-link keyword file for integration with the Delphi 6 or 7 OpenHelp system. Deprecated
In addition to the above files you will find the the source code of a demo project in the Demo sub-directory.
You may now install the component into the Delphi IDE. To do this, the files PJAbout.pas, PJAbout.dfm and PJAbout.dcr should be added to a design time package. If you need help doing this see here.
Documentation
The About Box Component is comprehensively documented online here
The project's change log can be viewed here.
A read-me file (ReadMe.htm) is included in the project download.
A legacy WinHelp help file is included in the download that can only be integrated with the IDE in Delphi 7 and earlier. This article explains how to do it.
This help file is deprecated and is no longer being updated. The last update was in the v3.6.1 release. The help file will be removed from any future release.
WinHelp is an optional download for Windows Vista through to Windows 8.1 and can't be installed at all on Windows 10 or later.
There is also an FAQ.
Feedback & Queries
If you find any bugs or want to suggest a new feature please report them using the About Box Component issue tracker.
If you have created a bug fix or have implemented a new feature please open a pull request for it.
Should you have any queries about using the component please read the documentation and/or FAQ. If you can't find an answer in the documentation then post a message in the discussion group.
License
The About Box Component is open source. It is copyright © 1998-2014 by Peter Johnson. The source code is made available under the terms of the Mozilla Public License v2.0. All relevant trademarks are acknowledged.