GExperts Version 0.7
--------------------

Welcome to GExperts, a set of Delphi Experts designed to make life a
little easier for the Delphi programmer.  GExperts are freeware, so 
no registration fee is required.

Your GExperts package should consist of the following files:

GExpert2.DLL - The DLL with the all of the GExperts for Delphi 2
GExpert3.DLL - The DLL with the all of the GExperts for Delphi 3
GExpert.HLP  - The GExpert Help File
GDebug.exe - The GExpert Debugger window
ZIPDLL.DLL - Provides Zip support
UNZDLL.DLL - Provides UnZip support
Readme.TXT - This file
Readme.ger - This file in german
Dbugintf.pas - Interface unit for sending messages to the Debug Window
Setup.exe - GExpert setup program

GEXPERTS INSTALLATION
---------------------

To Install GExperts, simply run the Setup.exe program.  Once GExperts are
installed, start Delphi to configure them. GExperts should be active within 
Delphi.  To configure GExperts, click on the Tools menu and there should 
be a GExpert Options menu option.  If there is not, check the registry 
setting below to ensure it is pointing to the right location.

If you wish to install GExperts manually, follow the instructions below.

To manually install GExperts, copy the GExpertX.DLL (Where X is 2 or 3, 
depending on your version of Delphi) file to any directory.  
Next, copy the two DLL files, ZIPDLL.DLL and UNZDLL.DLL, into your 
Windows\System directory.  These files provide the necessary support for 
zipping and unzipping.

To make GExperts active in the Delphi IDE you must edit the Registry. Open 
the Registry editor and go to 
HKEY_CURRENT_USER/SOFTWARE/BORLAND/DELPHI/2.0/EXPERTS. 
Next, add a new string value called GExperts.  Finally, modify the new string 
value "GExperts" to point to where you copied the GExpert DLL.  For example, 
if you copied the GExpert DLL to a directory C:\Experts, the GExpert string 
value in the registry would be "C:\Experts\GExpertX.DLL"

Next, you must enter a registry setting specifying where GExperts can locate 
the debug window exe.  This is necessary if you are using the Debug Window
expert and is used by the program to start the debug window automatically
when a debug message is sent to it.  In HKEY_CURRENT_USER, add the following
"\Software\GExperts\Debug\FilePath=GDebug.exe"

You have now finished installing GExperts.

GEXPERTS USE
------------

There are many experts included in GExperts and most of them are easy to use 
and pretty self explanatory once you get started.

Grep
----

GExperts now includes a powerful text search engine.  This allows you to 
easily and quickly search for text within your project or selected 
directories.  It is many times faster the Delphi Find in Files option, as
much as 30 times faster.  It supports most regular GREP expressions including
classes, alpha, digit, ranges, punctuation and more.

Various search options are provided such as whole word only, case sensitive,
ignore comments when searching, and search DFM files.

Procedure Viewer
----------------

Select Procedure List from the Search menu and a listing of all procedures, 
functions and methods will pop up for the current unit.  To jump to any 
procedure, simply double click on it or hit enter.  To search for a 
procedure, simply start typing, full incremental searching of the list is 
supported.

Class Browser
-------------

Select Class Browser from the View menu.  The class browser will appear and 
it will start scanning all files in your project for classes.  A list of 
classes in your project will appear in the left pane.  As you click on each 
class, a list of all variables and methods in that class will appear in the 
right pane of the class browser.  

To view all classes in the VCL, click the VCL button.  The class browser 
will then scan your VCL source directory and build up a list of all 
classes in the VCL. 

Note that for both your project classes and the VCL classes the program 
saves them to a cached file with an extension of .GOB.  This way, the 
next time you start Delphi and want to view the VCL or project classes the 
browser doesn't need to rebuild them from scratch.  You can refresh the 
classes by clicking the refresh button at any time.

To instantly go to where a class, method or variable is declared, simply 
double click it.  You can also write click on methods to select whether 
you want to jump to the interface or implementation section.

Finally, when browsing the VCL classes a code pane will appear showing the 
appropriate VCL code for the class and method you are browsing.  Note that 
for variables and properties the code pane shows the interface section 
while for methods the code pane shows the implementation section for the 
selected method.

Finally, the class browser supports filtering similar to Delphi's 
object browser.


Project Dependencies
--------------------

Select Project Dependencies from the View menu.  A window will appear 
showing you the project name and a list of units in the project in the left 
pane.  You can view dependencies in one of two ways.  Units that the 
selected unit is dependant on, or a list of units which depend on the 
selected unit.

MessageDlg Wizard
-----------------

Allows you to easily insert MessageDlg code at the cursor point in the 
editor window.  Select MessageDlg Wizard from the Edit menu.

Expert Manager
--------------

To view the Expert Manager, select Expert Manager from the Tools menu.  The 
Expert Manager allows you to easily add, remove, enabled or disable experts 
in the Delphi IDE.

Project Backup
--------------

Allows you to backup all of your project files to a single zip file.  
Great for saving your project at incremental stages so you can roll it 
back to an earlier version if changes to the project don't work out.  
You can also optionally have the Project backup expert scan all .PAS 
files to include resource and include files in the backup. (i.e. files 
included with the $R,$I compiler directive)

Tab Order Expert
----------------

My biggest beef with the Delphi IDE is how poorly the setting of tab order 
is done.  It takes me forever to set the tab order of a form with a lot 
of controls just using those little blue arrows to move components up 
and down the list.

Using the Set Tab Order Expert is easy.  Simply hold down the shift key and 
select all components whose tab order you want to set.  Note that it's 
important that you select the components in the order you want the tab 
order to be set.  Once that is done, click on the Set Tab Order in the 
edit menu.  A window will appear allowing you to preview the tab order to 
ensure you didn't make any clicking errors. Then to set the tab order as 
shown, simply click on the Set button.

Note that all components selected must have the same parent. i.e. You 
cannot select components both inside and outside a groupbox at the same 
time and set the tab order of them all in one shot.  This is because 
tab order is only effective within a container control.

Debug Window
------------

The debug window provides a convenient way to output debug messages from 
within your program.  Simply include the DBUGINTF.PAS file in your project 
and call the SendDebug procedure with the string you want to output.  
Note that in the edit menu, there is a Insert Debug Statement that can 
insert the SendDebug call wrapped in a conditional define automatically.
Debug messages can be sent with mtInformation,mtError and mtWarning.  The
debug window will display an appropriate icon for the message type next 
to each message.

The Debug Window sits in the TaskBar tray, it is the paper icon.  When 
messages are sent to it, the little icon will change to show a pen on 
paper, indicating that a debug message has been received.

Clipboard History
-----------------

Keeps track of all copy and cut operations to the clipboard and saves
a user definable amount of them.  These previous clipboard buffers can
be recalled at any time.  Very useful for doing operations that require
multiple copies to the clipboard before a single paste.

Quick Source Open
-----------------

Quickly open any of the Delphi source files without having to click
through a huge number of directories.

Watch List Enhancements
-------------------------

The Watch List has been enhanced in a couple of ways by GExperts.  The 
first enhancement is the ability to set the watch list to always be on 
top.  A menu option, Always on Top, has been added to the Watch List 
system menu.  

A second enhancement is to call up the evaluate/modify IDE option from 
the Watch List popup menu.

Note that these watch list enhancements only work in the Delphi 2 version.

GExpert Options
---------------

You can configure the various options of GExperts by selecting GExpert 
Options from the Tools menu. 

Any questions, feedback or problems can be sent to me at 
gnunn@interlog.com.

I hope you enjoy GExperts!



Gerald Nunn
Toronto, Ont
