LCL Tips

From Lazarus wiki
Jump to navigationJump to search

Deutsch (de) English (en) français (fr) русский (ru) 中文(中国大陆)‎ (zh_CN)

Creating a GUI by code

It is possible to create the GUI code completely by code in Lazarus. Everything accessible from the IDE is also accessible by code. It should look like in this example bellow. The most important part is not forgetting to set the Parent property of the components. The creation of controls inside the form can be done in the constructor of the form:

main program file:

<delphi> program codedgui;

{$MODE DELPHI}{$H+}

uses

 Interfaces, Forms, StdCtrls,
 MainForm;

var

 MyForm: TMyForm;

begin

 Application.Initialize;
 Application.CreateForm(TMyForm, MyForm);
 Application.Run;

end. </delphi>

And a unit containing a form:

<delphi> unit mainform;

interface

uses Forms, StdCtrls;

type

 TMyForm = class(TForm)
 public
   MyButton: TButton;
   procedure ButtonClick(ASender: TObject);
   constructor Create(AOwner: TComponent); override;
 end;

implementation

procedure TMyForm.ButtonClick(ASender:TObject); begin

 Close;

end;

constructor TMyForm.Create(AOwner: TComponent); begin

 inherited Create(AOwner);
 Position := poScreenCenter;
 Height := 400;
 Width := 400;
 Self.VertScrollBar.Visible := False;
 Self.HorzScrollBar.Visible := False;
 MyButton := TButton.Create(Self);
 with MyButton do
 begin
   Height := 30;
   Left := 100;
   Top := 100;
   Width := 100;
   Caption := 'Close';
   OnClick := ButtonClick;
   Parent := Self;
 end;
 // Add other components creation here

end;

end. </delphi>

Create controls manually without overhead

Set the Parent as last

For Delphians: Contrary to Delphi the LCL allows to set nearly all properties in any order. For example under Delphi you can not position a control without a parent. The LCL allows this and this feature can be used to reduce overhead.

 with TButton.Create(Form1) do begin
   // 1. creating a button sets the default size
   // 2. change position. No side effects, because Parent=nil
   SetBounds(10,10,Width,Height);
   // 3. change size depending on theme. Not yet, because Parent=nil
   AutoSize:=true;
   // 4. changing size because of AutoSize=true. Not yet, because Parent=nil
   Caption:='Ok';
   // 5. Set Parent. Now all the above takes place, but in a single action.
   Parent:=Form1;
 end;

When a control has a Parent, then all properties take effect immediately. Without a Parent many properties do nothing more than store the value. And as soon as the Parent is set every property is applied. This is especially true for grand children:

 GroupBox1:=TGroupBox.Create(Self);
 with GroupBox1 do begin
   with TButton1.Create(Self) do begin
     AutoSize:=true;
     Caption:='Click me';
     Parent:=GroupBox1;
   end;
   Parent:=Form1;
 end;
 Form1.Show;

Autosizing starts not before every parent is setup and the form becomes visible.

Avoid early Handle creation

As soon as the Handle of a TWinControl is created, every change of a property changes the visual thing (called the widget). Even if a control is not visible, when it has a Handle, changes are still expensive.

Use SetBounds instead of Left, Top, Width, Height

Instead of

 with Button1 do begin
   Left:=10;
   Top:=10;
   Width:=100;
   Height:=25;
 end;

Use

 with Button1 do begin
   SetBounds(10,10,100,25);
 end;

Left, Top, Width, Height are calling SetBounds. And every change of position or size invokes recalculation of all sibling controls and maybe recursively the parent and/or the grandchild controls.

DisableAlign / EnableAlign

When positioning many controls, it is a good idea to disable the recalculation of all auto sizing, aligning, anchoring.

 DisableAlign;
 try
   ListBox1.Width:=ClientWidth div 3;
   ListBox2.Width:=ClientWidth div 3;
   ListBox3.Width:=ClientWidth div 3;
 finally
   EnableAlign;
 end;

Note: Every DisableAlign call needs a EnableAlign call. For example if you call two times DisableAlign, you must call two times EnableAlign.

For Delphians: This works recursively. That means DisableAlign stops aligning in all childs and grand childs.