I need to know the basics behind making a component produce and manage sub-components. I originally tried this by creating a TCollection, and tried to put a name on each TCollectionItem. But I learned it's not that easy as I had hoped.
So now I am going to start this project from scratch again, and I'd like to get it right this time. These sub-components are not visual components, and should not have any display or window, just based off of TComponent. The main component holding these sub-components will also be based off of TComponent. So nothing here is visual at all, and I don't want a little icon on my form (in design time) for each of these sub-components.
I would like to be able to maintain and manage these sub-components in a collection-like fashion. The important thing is that these sub-components should be created, named and added to the form source, just like menu items are for example. This is the whole point of the idea in the first place, if they cannot be named, then this whole idea is kaput.
Oh, another important thing: the main component being the parent of all the sub-components needs to be able to save these sub-components to the DFM file.
EXAMPLE:
Instead of accessing one of these sub items like:
MyForm.MyItems[1].DoSomething();
I would instead like to do something like:
MyForm.MyItem2.DoSomething();
So I do not have to rely on knowing the ID of each sub item.
EDIT:
I felt it a little necessary to include my original code so it can be seen how the original collection works. Here's just the server side collection and collection item stripped from the full unit:
// Command Collections
// Goal: Allow entering pre-set commands with unique Name and ID
// Each command has its own event which is triggered when command is received
// TODO: Name each collection item as a named component in owner form
//Determines how commands are displayed in collection editor in design-time
TJDCmdDisplay = (cdName, cdID, cdCaption, cdIDName, cdIDCaption);
TJDScktSvrCmdEvent = procedure(Sender: TObject; Socket: TJDServerClientSocket;
const Data: TStrings) of object;
TSvrCommands = class(TCollection)
private
fOwner: TPersistent;
fOnUnknownCommand: TJDScktSvrCmdEvent;
fDisplay: TJDCmdDisplay;
function GetItem(Index: Integer): TSvrCommand;
procedure SetItem(Index: Integer; Value: TSvrCommand);
procedure SetDisplay(const Value: TJDCmdDisplay);
protected
function GetOwner: TPersistent; override;
public
constructor Create(AOwner: TPersistent);
destructor Destroy;
procedure DoCommand(const Socket: TJDServerClientSocket;
const Cmd: Integer; const Data: TStrings);
function Add: TSvrCommand;
property Items[Index: Integer]: TSvrCommand read GetItem write SetItem;
published
property Display: TJDCmdDisplay read fDisplay write SetDisplay;
property OnUnknownCommand: TJDScktSvrCmdEvent
read fOnUnknownCommand write fOnUnknownCommand;
end;
TSvrCommand = class(TCollectionItem)
private
fID: Integer;
fOnCommand: TJDScktSvrCmdEvent;
fName: String;
fParamCount: Integer;
fCollection: TSvrCommands;
fCaption: String;
procedure SetID(Value: Integer);
procedure SetName(Value: String);
procedure SetCaption(const Value: String);
protected
function GetDisplayName: String; override;
public
procedure Assign(Source: TPersistent); override;
constructor Create(Collection: TCollection); override;
destructor Destroy; override;
published
property ID: Integer read fID write SetID;
property Name: String read fName write SetName;
property Caption: String read fCaption write SetCaption;
property ParamCount: Integer read fParamCount write fParamCount;
property OnCommand: TJDScktSvrCmdEvent read fOnCommand write fOnCommand;
end;
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
implementation
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
{ TSvrCommands }
function TSvrCommands.Add: TSvrCommand;
begin
Result:= inherited Add as TSvrCommand;
end;
constructor TSvrCommands.Create(AOwner: TPersistent);
begin
inherited Create(TSvrCommand);
Self.fOwner:= AOwner;
end;
destructor TSvrCommands.Destroy;
begin
inherited Destroy;
end;
procedure TSvrCommands.DoCommand(const Socket: TJDServerClientSocket;
const Cmd: Integer; const Data: TStrings);
var
X: Integer;
C: TSvrCommand;
F: Bool;
begin
F:= False;
for X:= 0 to Self.Count - 1 do begin
C:= GetItem(X);
if C.ID = Cmd then begin
F:= True;
try
if assigned(C.fOnCommand) then
C.fOnCommand(Self, Socket, Data);
except
on e: exception do begin
raise Exception.Create(
'Failed to execute command '+IntToStr(Cmd)+': '+#10+e.Message);
end;
end;
Break;
end;
end;
if not F then begin
//Command not found
end;
end;
function TSvrCommands.GetItem(Index: Integer): TSvrCommand;
begin
Result:= TSvrCommand(inherited GetItem(Index));
end;
function TSvrCommands.GetOwner: TPersistent;
begin
Result:= fOwner;
end;
procedure TSvrCommands.SetDisplay(const Value: TJDCmdDisplay);
begin
fDisplay := Value;
end;
procedure TSvrCommands.SetItem(Index: Integer; Value: TSvrCommand);
begin
inherited SetItem(Index, Value);
end;
{ TSvrCommand }
procedure TSvrCommand.Assign(Source: TPersistent);
begin
inherited;
end;
constructor TSvrCommand.Create(Collection: TCollection);
begin
inherited Create(Collection);
fCollection:= TSvrCommands(Collection);
end;
destructor TSvrCommand.Destroy;
begin
inherited Destroy;
end;
function TSvrCommand.GetDisplayName: String;
begin
case Self.fCollection.fDisplay of
cdName: begin
Result:= fName;
end;
cdID: begin
Result:= '['+IntToStr(fID)+']';
end;
cdCaption: begin
Result:= fCaption;
end;
cdIDName: begin
Result:= '['+IntToStr(fID)+'] '+fName;
end;
cdIDCaption: begin
Result:= '['+IntToStr(fID)+'] '+fCaption;
end;
end;
end;
procedure TSvrCommand.SetCaption(const Value: String);
begin
fCaption := Value;
end;
procedure TSvrCommand.SetID(Value: Integer);
begin
fID:= Value;
end;
procedure TSvrCommand.SetName(Value: String);
begin
fName:= Value;
end;
MyCommand.Send(['abc', '123']);instead ofMySocket.Commands[765].Send(['abc', '123']);– Integumentary