Preview Customization breaks from 9 - 10

rbuser

rbuser

Sorry about that.. accidentally sent.

I had inherited from the TppPreview object in version 9.06 to put a button
on the top specifically for exporting easily to a PDF and one for printing
(because our clients werent figuring out which was the print button).

We recently upgraded to 10.06 Pro (since we are moving to D2007) and now the
Preview is done totally differently. I have tried to adjust my code to deal
with the changes, however I keep getting access violations, but they arent
specific to a line number.

I have posted my code (well most of it, if you need more let me know) below
if anyone could give me a tip on how to get this to work.

Thanks in advance,
Trevor

******************************
TsynPDFPreviewPlugin = class(TppPreview)
private
//FCustomButton : TcxButton;
//FCustomPrint : TcxButton;
FCustomButton : TppTBXItem;
FCustomPrint : TppTBXItem;

FAutoSearchButton: TppTBXItem;
FCancelButton: TppTBXItem;
FEmailButton: TppTBXItem;
FFirstButton: TppTBXItem;
FLastButton: TppTBXItem;
FNextButton: TppTBXItem;
FPageNoEdit: TppTBXEditItem;
FPageWidthButton: TppTBXItem;
FPercent100Button: TppTBXItem;
FPrintButton: TppTBXItem;
FPriorButton: TppTBXItem;
FTextSearchButton: TppTBXItem;
FWholePageButton: TppTBXItem;
FZoomPercentageEdit: TppTBXEditItem;

procedure CustomButtonClickEvent(Sender: TObject);
//procedure ShiftControls;

protected
//procedure PageChangeEvent(Sender: TObject); override;

public
procedure CreateToolbarItems; override;
//procedure BeforePreview; override;
procedure KeyDown(var Key: Word; Shift: TShiftState); override;

end;


procedure TsynPDFPreviewPlugin.CreateToolbarItems;
begin
Toolbar.BeginUpdate;

FPrintButton := Toolbar.AddButton();
FPrintButton.ImageIndex := ToolImageList.AddTool('PPPRINT');
FPrintButton.Tag := Ord(paPrint);
FPrintButton.OnClick := ehToolbutton_Click;
FPrintButton.Visible := False;

FEmailButton := Toolbar.AddButton();
FEmailButton.ImageIndex := ToolImageList.AddTool('PPEMAIL');
FEmailButton.OnClick := ehToolbutton_Click;
FEmailButton.Tag := Ord(paEmail);
FEmailButton.Hint := ppLoadStr(1093);

Toolbar.AddSpacer();
// AddSeparator();
Toolbar.AddSpacer();

FAutoSearchButton := Toolbar.AddButton();
FAutoSearchButton.ImageIndex := ToolImageList.AddTool('PPAUTOSEARCH'); //
(TppAutoSearchIcon);
FAutoSearchButton.OnClick := ehToolbutton_Click;
FAutoSearchButton.Tag := Ord(paAutoSearch);

FTextSearchButton := Toolbar.AddButton();
FTextSearchButton.ImageIndex := ToolImageList.AddTool('PPTEXTSEARCH');
FTextSearchButton.OnClick := ehToolbutton_Click;
FTextSearchButton.Tag := Ord(paTextSearch);
FTextSearchButton.GroupIndex := 2;
FTextSearchButton.AutoCheck := True;
FTextSearchButton.Hint := ppLoadStr(1054); {'Enable the Text Search
Toolbar';}

Toolbar.AddSpacer();
// AddSeparator();
Toolbar.AddSpacer();

FWholePageButton := Toolbar.AddButton();
FWholePageButton.ImageIndex := ToolImageList.AddTool('PPZOOMWHOLEPAGE');
FWholePageButton.OnClick := ehToolbutton_Click;
FWholePageButton.Tag := Ord(paWholePage);
FWholePageButton.GroupIndex := 1;
FWholePageButton.AutoCheck := True;
FWholePageButton.Checked := True;

FPageWidthButton := Toolbar.AddButton();
FPageWidthButton.ImageIndex := ToolImageList.AddTool('PPZOOMPAGEWIDTH');
FPageWidthButton.OnClick := ehToolbutton_Click;
FPageWidthButton.Tag := Ord(paPageWidth);
FPageWidthButton.GroupIndex := 1;
FPageWidthButton.AutoCheck := True;

FPercent100Button := Toolbar.AddButton();
FPercent100Button.ImageIndex := ToolImageList.AddTool('PPZOOM100PERCENT');
FPercent100Button.OnClick := ehToolbutton_Click;
FPercent100Button.Tag := Ord(pa100Percent);
FPercent100Button.GroupIndex := 1;
FPercent100Button.AutoCheck := True;

FZoomPercentageEdit := Toolbar.AddEdit();
FZoomPercentageEdit.EditWidth := 37;
FZoomPercentageEdit.ExtendedAccept := True;
FZoomPercentageEdit.OnAcceptText := ehZoomEdit_AcceptText;

Toolbar.AddSpacer();
// AddSeparator();
Toolbar.AddSpacer();

FFirstButton := Toolbar.AddButton();
FFirstButton.ImageIndex := ToolImageList.AddTool('PPFIRSTPAGE');
FFirstButton.OnClick := ehToolbutton_Click;
FFirstButton.Tag := Ord(paFirst);

FPriorButton := Toolbar.AddButton();
FPriorButton.ImageIndex := ToolImageList.AddTool('PPPRIORPAGE');
FPriorButton.OnClick := ehToolbutton_Click;
FPriorButton.Tag := Ord(paPrior);

FPageNoEdit := Toolbar.AddEdit();
FPageNoEdit.EditWidth := 37;
FPageNoEdit.ExtendedAccept := True;
FPageNoEdit.OnAcceptText := ehPageNoEdit_AcceptText;

FNextButton := Toolbar.AddButton();
FNextButton.ImageIndex := ToolImageList.AddTool('PPNEXTPAGE');
FNextButton.OnClick := ehToolbutton_Click;
FNextButton.Tag := Ord(paNext);

FLastButton := Toolbar.AddButton();
FLastButton.ImageIndex := ToolImageList.AddTool('PPLASTPAGE');
FLastButton.OnClick := ehToolbutton_Click;
FLastButton.Tag := Ord(paLast);

Toolbar.AddSpacer();
Toolbar.AddSpacer();

FCustomButton := Toolbar.AddButton();
FCustomButton.Caption := '&Save to PDF';
FCustomButton.Hint := 'Save to PDF';
FCustomButton.OnClick := CustomButtonClickEvent;

FCustomPrint := Toolbar.AddButton();
FCustomPrint.Caption := '&Print';
FCustomPrint.Hint := 'Print';
FCustomPrint.Tag := Ord(paPrint);
FCustomPrint.OnClick := ehToolbutton_Click;

FCancelButton := Toolbar.AddButton();
FCancelButton.Caption := ppLoadStr(ppMsgCancel);
FCancelButton.OnClick := ehToolbutton_Click;
FCancelButton.Tag := Ord(paCancel);
FCancelButton.Enabled := False;

Toolbar.EndUpdate;

//This is how I was doing it before and is now commented out
(*inherited CreateToolbarItems;

ToolBar.ShowHint := True;

FCustomButton := TcxButton.Create(Toolbar);
FCustomButton.Caption := '&Save to PDF';
FCustomButton.Parent := ToolBar;
FCustomButton.Left := CancelButton.Left;
FCustomButton.Top := CancelButton.Top;
FCustomButton.Width := 85;
FCustomButton.ParentShowHint := True;
FCustomButton.Hint := 'Save to PDF';
FCustomButton.LookAndFeel.Kind := lfStandard;
FCustomButton.LookAndFeel.NativeStyle := True;
FCustomButton.OnClick := CustomButtonClickEvent;

FCustomPrint := TcxButton.Create(Toolbar);
FCustomPrint.Caption := '&Print';
FCustomPrint.Parent := ToolBar;
FCustomPrint.Left := FCustomButton.Left + FCustomButton.Width + 7;
FCustomPrint.Top := CancelButton.Top;
FCustomPrint.Width := 85;
FCustomPrint.ParentShowHint := True;
FCustomPrint.Hint := 'Print';
FCustomPrint.LookAndFeel.Kind := lfStandard;
FCustomPrint.LookAndFeel.NativeStyle := True;
FCustomPrint.OnClick := PrintButton.OnClick;

CancelButton.Left := FCustomPrint.Left + FCustomPrint.Width + 7;
PrintButton.Visible := False;
ToolBar.Width := ToolBar.Width + FCustomPrint.Width +
FCustomButton.Width + 14; *)
end;

nicocizik

Hi Trevor,

Yes the toolbars and menus have changed drastically since RB 9. I would
suggest first copying the entire CreateToolbarItems routine from the
TppPreview class to your overridden version inside your custom previewer and
then running to be sure that works. Then begin adding your own buttons in
one by one to see where the problem is happening. We have many customers
who have successfully migrated their custom previews over to use the new
toolbars and there is a bit more to it but we feel it is well worth it to
get the higher quality look, feel, and functionality.

--
Regards,

Nico Cizik
Digital Metaphors
http://www.digital-metaphors.com

rbuser

Hi,
Thanks for your quick response. I have tried doing as you suggested,
unfortunately, the buttons and the toolbar are not exposed to decendant
classes, except through read-only properties, so I am forced to redeclare
the objects. I only say this because I think it might be part of the
problem. When I try to run a report and view the preview, I get access
violations. I have stepped through my overloaded version and the errors are
not comming directly from there. Any ideas?

The code is basically the same as in the orgiinal message but without
creating my custom buttons.

I am thinking that maybe I should just inherit from TppCustomPreview and
copy the functionality rather than inheriting directly from TppPreview.

Thanks in advance,
Trevor

rbuser

I guess my theory is that the base class is trying to modify the properties
of the buttons (i.e. enabling and disabling them) and since I had to
reintroduce the buttons so that I could modify them, they base class is
using its version of the buttons instead of my reintroduced ones and, since
they are not created, I am getting AVs. However I cannot see a way around
this because in the derived class I have no access to modify the buttons'
properties.

Would this be a correct assumption?

Thanks in advance,
Trevor

nicocizik

Hi Trevor,

With the new architecture, it is very simple to add a button to the front or
back of the Preview Toolbar. If however you need to insert a button inside
the current buttons, you will need to override the CreateToolbarItems
routine without calling Inherited and completely recreate each button that
is present including the event handlers if necessary. You should still be
able to use a descendent to the TppPreview class because all the buttons are
declaired as public properties and the event handlers are protected so you
should have access to everything you need.

--
Regards,

Nico Cizik
Digital Metaphors
http://www.digital-metaphors.com

rbuser

That is what I figured. However, the buttons are exposed only as read only
properties and so I cannot change their properties (like visible) or access
them to create them.

Is there a newer update that exposes them as read and write properties?

nardmoseley

When a read-only property is an Object, you can access the Object and modify
it's properties. What you cannot do is assign a new Object instance to
replace the existing one.

So in the case of the preview toolbar, you can modify the existing items,
hide the existing items, and add new items. If that is not enough, then as
Nico suggested you can override the CreateToolbarItems method and omit the
call to inherited.


--
Nard Moseley
Digital Metaphors
www.digital-metaphors.com

rbuser

Ah, the subtle difference that was annoying me.


Sorry if it seems that I am going over things a few too many times, but when
I try to do this, it wont let me create the buttons at all; the IDE wont let
it. So if I dont call inherited then the buttons are never created and I
get AV's when the TppPreview class tries to set the enabled status for them.
I tried redeclaring them, but that, of course, doesnt work.

As it is I just created my custom buttons after all the regular ones, so I
can get around it, but it would be good knowledge to have if my boss asks me
to do more customization work or change the order around.

You guys are great! Thanks for all the help.
Trevor

nardmoseley

Okay, so given that, you have two options:

1. Descend from TppPreview, override CreateToolbarItems by calling
inherited to create the default toolbar items and then add code to create
custom items. (I would recommend this approach as it is the simplest.)

2. Descend from TppCustomPreview (perhaps by copying the TppPreview class)
which will give you more control with the trade off of requiring more code.


--
Nard Moseley
Digital Metaphors
www.digital-metaphors.com

rbuser

Ya, I kinda figured those would be the options. Just thought that you would
like to know so if the intended functionality was to be able to insert the
buttons by creating them in an overridden function that it isnt that
possible.

Thanks again!
Trevor