How can I get Delphi 2010 IDE to show a split view with a form and its code at the same time?

Question

I program in Delphi 2010, and I have enough screen space to show both a form and its code (that is, the code and design tabs of a form) at the same time, but so far I haven't had any luck trying to make that happen. Is there a way to customize the IDE to show both at the same time?

Burette

I only have a non-english IDE here, so maybe it is not exactly correct, but: under menu "tools" - "options" you can "unlink" the forms from the editor (displayed as forms) and under menu "view" you can open an additional editor. Thus it should be possible to display the editor and the form at the same time. – Kinsfolk

could you tell me what submenu of the options dialog you find the unlinking option under? I'm probably just overlooking it but I'm having a hard time finding it. – Burette

Answer 1

Set your desktop to "Classic Undocked"

Then you need to uncheck the embedded designer option in the VCL Designer options page:

You'll also have to restart the IDE for those changes to take effect.

Rishi

thanks Nick. I think this will really help to improve the efficiency of my workspace. – Burette

Thank you so much. That they could imagine we'd prefer to see a crippled form and not see our code is beyond words! – Haemoglobin

FireMonkey forms can be designed only in embedded designer. – Comatulid

The option was removed from XE4 - XE8 and you had to use a registry hack. Apparently they added it back in 10. For the registry hack - see: #24648135 – Sternson

Answer 2

The option Andreas is talking about is located under Tools | Options | Environment options | VCL Designer. It is called Embedded designer.

When you uncheck that a form will be displayed free-floating at its designed position instead of embedded in the docked editor. You need to restart the IDE for the option to take effect.

To show both form and code you will have to change your layout and/or move the form to a position where it doesn't cover the code editor.

As an alternative you could opt for the classic undocked layout. That way you can certainly position form and code editor not to overlap. To activate that you need View | Desktops | Classic Undocked.

Note: be aware that the position of the form at designtime is reflected at run-time if you have a form's Position property set to poDesigned.

Urethroscope

Answer 3

Cool hack for Delphi XE4-XE7:

Changing 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Embarcadero\BDS\11.0\Form Design\Embedded Designer' to FALSE will bring the classic designed back.

Burchett