I got an email this morning asking for the Windows 7 component update. I had published those last Thursday, but must have unchecked the publish button. It is available now, so go here and get them.

More information will come, soon.

Well, here comes the update promised. Originally, I planned to release it yesterday, but I had to give a talk today on short notice. So I pushed around priorities a little.

Anyway, this update has a few fixes as well as support for taskbar windows as well, interesting for MDI applications. It is all in the code.

A more detailed update will come in the next days, for now, just the download.

ZIP File (790 Kb). Uninstall prior version first! Unzip and install into IDE.

Well, I am quite overwhelmed by the amount of positive feedback I've received during the recent days. One of the most frequent questions was whether I would send out previews to select people. In short: no, this would take too much of my time keeping up with the people. So far only two have received the current dev-state. One is going to use them today for a talk about Windows 7 and one person has given me the most valuable input on the latest feature, the Windows Taskbar Previews.

To all others: it's only two more days, you must wait. Sorry for those.

One good comment regarded the logo used in the latest preview, stating Borland Delphi, so I have changed that. In due course I redesigned the Embarcadero Studio logo as EPS file, so if you're interested, I provide it as download. The download contains the EPS file (vector graphic) and a PNG file (bitmap @ 600dpi) for your use. Please, be aware that Embarcadero may be quite alert to how you use it. I can not give you permission to use it, but I guess (hope?) they will be fine with us using it to promote their products within ours. If not, it's your risk to take!

Download file (ZIP, 430kB)

Well, in my last blog post I've asked for your input for getting a preview of WinControls. I am getting pretty well along with the controls and I've wanted to show you a small preview of the Taskbar Windows component.

Download video (WMV, 4MB) here

Watch my blog for the upcoming release of the controls and see them live at the EKON 13 this week!

Currently, I am getting ready to ship an update for the Windows 7 taskbar components. As the preview, this one will be open source and free of charge for anyone to use in any project.

However, one problem still remains to be resolved. I try to get a "screen shot" from a tab sheet, whether it is currently visible or not. The normal Delphi method WinControl.PaintTo, and the Windows API methods PrintWindow and BitBlt do not give the desired results.

What do I need this for? Well consider the image below, showing the tabs of the Internet Explorer, currently opened. Something similar I want to create for Delphi as simple component. To create the preview, I must be able to get the "screen shot" of all Tabcontrols, whether they are visible or not.

I have uploaded a sample application, which demonstrates the problem. Feel free to download and test it. This application runs on Windows XP and Windows Vista as well, as it does not demonstrate the preview windows, but simply the "copy" feature, ehm problem.

Feel free to send me any ideas you have regarding this problem, as all other solutions would not be the best ;)

Download the problem sampler (Source, ZIP-file, 4 KB)

Email any solution to dwischnewski (at) gmail.com

Thank you for your support, I'll mention the solution provider in the finals.

UpdateI got the solution in my Inbox now, thanks to Craig Peterson from Scooter Software, who already has helped me a great bit for this whole problem. I'll finish the components now, await the release for October 1st. Be first to see them at the EKON.

Well, I am back from the SDN Event in Driebergen. It was a fun event, I have met quiet a few people and, after a few years, finally met Dr. Bob again. One of my session was about the Windows 7 Taskbar (an update for the components is in the pipe line, btw). And when talking about Windows 7, one of the question coming up was the user account control (UAC) and how - IF - they have changed it.

While talking about that, I started out to remind them WHY it was implemented in Windows Vista and WHY I have not turned it off, ever. The reason is simple: it was implemented to block viruses from invading your computer and yes, it works. My story for them was as simple as it was obviously surprising for most of them sitting in the room.

About two years ago, I started a small experiment. I set up a computer with a new and clean Windows Vista install. Leaving the UAC on and running updates as Windows reminded me to do just that. The way a user should be working with the PC. However, I have not installed any third party Anti-Virus software, nor any third-party firewall, just the on-board tools Windows Defender and the UAC. I used this PC regularly for internet surfing, writing mails, doing some fun, testing software and so on. I let my girl friend use it for internet surfing - she knows how to use a computer, but by far, she is no geek, or even close to that. She does Excel, Word, mails online, games online, iTunes, etc. Even some peer-to-peer sharing. She had an administrative account and I explained to her what UAC meant and why it was implemented.

Well, end of last year I put on Norton AntiVirus, McAffee and a few other anti-virus tools and ran the big test: All tools reported the same final results: 0 viruses found!

Now my challenge to you: try that with Windows XP in todays Internet world ;-)

Conclusion: yes, the UAC is bothersome at times, and when it pops up to often, it will get the user aggravated, but it has its purpose. With Windows XP's on-board tools you simply where at a large risk when you went online. I am a believer of the UAC and, while it bothers me at times, I support it.

With Windows 7 it shows up less often. So some settings will be changed easier than under Windows Vista without the user confirming that. But as far as I have seen, none of the changes (except setting the computer time of course) will survive the next reboot of your computer. And if you don't mind, under Windows 7 you can move up the UAC messages to the Windows Vista level again. And yes, if you still mind, you can turn it off as well, but I know, I won't.   

Today, I show you the second set of screen shots from the Windows 7 Taskbar components. Since Windows 95 - which introduced the last real change in how the user handles multiple running applications on Windows - we all know the notification area. Sadly many programs have abused this area, so that on some users computers this really grow into a monster featuring easily 30 and more icons. Never on my computer though ;-)

Windows 7 stops this Taskbar spamming in a really effictive way. The notification icons will not be shown anymore, at least on default. They are all hidden away. Even when your application wants to show a (bubble) hint, the user will not see it unless the user approved your application first. Now, since sometimes showing a state can be really important, Windows 7 introduced overlay icons in the Taskbar entry for running processes. This way the application can show some information without the need for more screen real estate - the application already has an entry in the Taskbar anyway - at least in most cases.

Click on images to view full size version.

Windows 7 automatically hides all notification icons unless the user wants them to show.

Showing the tasks state in the Windows 7 Taskbar.

Note the overlay icon in the second screen shot. Maybe the application is performing a search. A side effect of this is, that the designers should start creating application icons and overlay icons that work with each other well. Overlay icons are shown only if the user uses large icons in the Windows Taskbar (default setting).

For your Delphi application, simply drop a the TdwOverlayIcon component on your form, connect it to an image list (16 x 16 pixels for bitmap size) and set the image index used. Set it to -1 for displaying no overlay icon.

You have asked for it, so here are the first images for you. Today I want to show you a few screen shots of displaying the progress of a rather lengthy task in the Windows 7 Taskbar. You should not that Microsoft does not encourage you to use this for shorter tasks which usually finish within a few seconds. But this is up to you in the end ;-)

For all of you Delphi 7 users, the first screen shot shows Delphi 7 running on Windows 7 using those components. So, this works as well.

Click on images to view full size version.

Delphi 7 running on Windows 7. The demo application is loaded in the IDE, the components are shown in the tool palette.

The marquee shows a task in progress with undeterminable end - like connecting to a server.

The progress is coming along just fine.

The application may be waiting for some user interaction, the current task is paused.

Further, you can cancel a task, coloring the progressbar red as well.

For those of you not knowing Windows 7 just yet and wondering why some application icons have a border in the taskbar and some do not: Windows 7 allows you to pin applications to the taskbar. This way, they will always be in the same order/place. The framed ones are actually running, others are just waiting to be started.

Well, as written here before, I have toyed around with Windows 7 and created a few Controls that you can simply place on your Form to support some of the most obvious Windows 7 features. Currently available are:

• Jump Lists - right click your application entry on the taskbar to see those
• Overlay Icon - show the state of your application right in the taskbar (notification icons are hidden by Windows 7 by default, finally)
• Progress indicator in the taskbar button
• Taskbar Thumbnails - you application can be controlled directly from the taskbar preview window

Please note, that if you have Aero turned of, or your Windows 7 is running in a VM, most of the features are not supported by Windows 7 (atm?).

The installer provides packages for Delphi 7, Delphi 2006, Delphi 2007, and Delphi 2009.

Further, those are just the first version in early Alpha State, but they are for free ;-) If you want to use them to create your own controls, those MUST be placed under GPL. For use in your applications you can choose freely between GPL, LPGL and MPL, whatever suits your needs.

In the coming days I'll post a few screen shots and/or short videos demonstrating those controls in action.

If you have suggestions, improvements, or anything else regarding those controls, do not hesitate to contact me ;-)

Download the installer (1,5 MB)

Note: the installer only copies the files to your local hard drive (default folder: User Documents\Delphi Win7 Support). You must open the corresponding project group/package and install it into your Delphi IDE.

Have fun,
Daniel

Probably tomorrow, I will publish my first attempt to create controls tailored towards Windows 7. Naturally, those controls will run on older Systems (tested on XP and Vista), but the new Windows 7 functionality will be available on Windows 7 only, silently failing on older systems.

Currently, I am setting up a VM with Windows XP and Delphi 2006 to test them. Wait a little more and enjoy ;-)

The packages for Delphi 2006, 2007, and 2009 will be included.   

During the last days I have taken the time to get familar with Windows 7, at least a little. So far, I do like it, though it is far from stable on my machine at the moment - at least, Windows Vista was better in that respect.

The new Taskbar and the start menu are pretty amazing. I like the feature to show progress and states on it, as well as add buttons to the window preview panes. Also, the Jump Lists are quiet nice, so I started importing those features into Delphi, all available as a small component set. Those will be available soon, with more details about what and how they will work.

However, so far I have seen many sample videos, read quiet a few blog entries on how to program those jump list, but they all habe one thing in common: they are missing the code samples. If you are looking for those samples, download the Windows 7 SDK Beta and look into the installation folder. For me, those are at C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0\Samples\winui\Shell\JumpList.