News Page

March 26th, 1998

Clinton Johnson brings us some more great material. First, he discusses using the TMediaPlayer to manage Multiple CD Rom Drives. Then, he gets a little artistic with a great discussion of how Bezier Curves and Paths work.

Grahame Marsh also has something for us today. He has put together a very nice discussion of implementing Windows Hooks in your applications.

March 25th, 1998

Do you need to create a help system for your Delphi applicatioin or component? WinHelp Office to the rescue! Check out my review of this fantastic help authoring system.

March 20th, 1998

I'm currently working on a number of great articles, so stay tuned this weekend for more.

On a completely unrelated note however, I have 2 unused software packages that I will let go for best offer if anyone is interested. The first is "BoundsChecker 5.0" for Visual C++ (NT/95) still shrinkwrapped (Hey... I am a Delphi programmer, why would I want this?). The second (also unused) is "Web Speed Workshop" by Progress Software, a development toolset for building Internet transaction processing applications. I will pay shipping on these to whoever gets them. Email me if you are interested.

March 18th, 1998

A bunch of great stuff today. Peter Larsen brings us two great pieces of code that work well together... (Yes, both a desert topping and a floor wax!!!). Check out the articles on creating shortcuts in Taking a Shortcut, and also getting information on Windows 95 special directories with his WinInfo Unit. There is also a nice demonstration program that illustrates their use.

Also, Angus Johnson brings us another interesting component showing how you can draw on the surface of a TEdit component. He uses this technique to create a simple button on the right side of the control. Handy for creating drop-down calendars, calculators, and so on! Take a look at this article on Drawing on a TEdit Component.

Want another great resource for Delphi tips & techniques? Many of you already know this, but Borland has a great page that has all sorts of technical documents on techniques for Delphi. Check it out!

March 17th, 1998

Over the past few days, I have received a bit of mail and sample components utilizing the technique first illustrated by Matt Hamilton earlier this month. Clinton Johnson brings a very complete solution to moving and resizing a control in his Sizeable/Moveable Panel component.

John Mertus also brings us a very interesting article on Using the Clipboard with WAV files. Now's your chance to use this interesting and powerful technique in your Delphi Apps!

March 10th, 1998

Thanks for all the great feedback on the March 6th article on sizing components. I can see we really sparked some creative juices out there! I am going to sort through what I have received on this and post them in the next few days.

Grahame Marsh has two new offerings today. The first is a way of Determining the CPUType in a machine including its vendor ID string. The second article is an interesting discussion of Compressing 256 color BMPs in your Delphi applications.

I also have updated and added new links to both the Tips & Tricks page and the Articles & Reviews page.

March 6th, 1998

Matt Hamilton brings us a truly sick and twisted technique for Moving and Sizing Components at Runtime. The basic behavior is one line of code. Everyone has to check this out, as it is terribly cool...

March 5th, 1998

The winners of the monthly UNDU prizes have been selected! In case everyone doesn't know what I am talking about... each month, I will take all the names of contributors to UNDU and put them in a hat. Then I will draw one name at random and that person will win some cool prize.

To inagurate the launching of the new UNDU site, I will be giving prizes to all contributors this past month. The first two winners are: Tex Murphy (for his article on Digital Sound) and Clint Johnson (for his discussion of Delphi 3's Code Parameters). They each win a copy of the Borland Developer's Collection CD Volume II, courtesy of The Cobb Group. Next, comes Tom Deprez (for his article on CD Change Notificaitons) who wins a one-year subscription to Delphi Informant magazine. Next, comes Lance Leonard (for his article on clipboard functions with the active control) who wins a copy of Creating Cool Web Applets with Java by Paul J. Perry. The fifth winner is Herbert Beemster (for his article on Giving Editboxes Some Attention) who wins a copy of Developing Active X Web Controls from Coriolis Books. And the last and final winner is Eddie Shipman (for his article on the Win95 FindFiles dialog) who wins a copy of Kick Ass Java Programming (also from Coriolis Books). If the winners would email me with their snail-mail addresses, I will send your prizes off! Congratulations to all of you and thank you again for your support of UNDU!

In order to keep the size of the News Page to a minimum, I will be archiving previous months and listing them at the bottom.
News Page for February, 1998