Propriety vs Proprietary

• Propriety: Behavior or actions that are socially acceptable, proper, or in line with established norms or standards.
  
  For example, “She always behaves with propriety in formal settings.”
  
  
• Proprietary: Commonly used in the context of ownership or rights to something, especially intellectual property. It refers to something that is privately owned or exclusive to a particular entity.
  
  For example, “The company has a proprietary software solution that they developed in-house.”

Delphi: Excel Row and Column Count

How to get correct row and column numbers of any Excel file (XLS or XLSX):

var
  Excel, Book, Sheet: OleVariant;
  RowNumber: integer;
  ColNumber: integer;
const
  xlCellTypeLastCell = $0000000B; // ExcelXP
begin
  ...

  Book := Excel.Workbooks.Open(ExcelFilename,
                               False,   // ConfirmConversions
                               True );  // ReadOnly

  Sheet := Book.Worksheets[1];

  //RowNumber := Sheet.UsedRange.EntireRow.Count;    // May be wrong!
  //ColNumber := Sheet.UsedRange.EntireColumn.Count; // May be wrong!
  RowNumber := Sheet.UsedRange.SpecialCells(xlCellTypeLastCell).Row;
  ColNumber := Sheet.UsedRange.SpecialCells(xlCellTypeLastCell).Column;
end;

Read more: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/11886284/usedrange-count-counting-wrong

Example software:
XLS to CSV Converter
CSV to VCF Converter

Delphi: TCamera Tips

How to get live cam without crash

• Use synchronized thread
• FMX app with Windows, Android, IOS support.

procedure TForm1.CameraSampleBufferReady(Sender: TObject; const ATime: TMediaTime);
begin
  TThread.Synchronize(TThread.CurrentThread, GetImage);
end;

procedure TForm1.GetImage;
begin
  Camera.SampleBufferToBitmap(Image1.Bitmap,True);
end;

Delphi: Pos Functions

Pos function (case-sensitive)

• The Pos function returns the position of a substring within a string. If the substring is found, Pos returns the 1-based index of the first occurrence of the substring; otherwise, it returns 0.
• PosEx is equivalent to System.Pos.
• You should ideally use AnsiPos instead of Pos since the former supports wide character sets!

var
  MainStr, SubStr: string;
  Position: Integer;
begin
  MainStr := 'Hello World';
  SubStr := 'World';
  Position := Pos(SubStr, MainStr);
  if Position > 0 then
    ShowMessage('Substring found at position: ' + IntToStr(Position))
  else
    ShowMessage('Substring not found');
end;

AnsiPos function (case-sensitive)

var
  MainStr, SubStr: string;
  Position: Integer;
begin
  MainStr := 'Hello World';
  SubStr := 'World';
  Position := AnsiPos(SubStr, MainStr);
  if Position > 0 then
    ShowMessage('Substring found at position: ' + IntToStr(Position))
  else
    ShowMessage('Substring not found');
end;

StrPos function (case-sensitive)

var
  MainStr, SubStr: string;
  Position: Integer;
begin
  MainStr := 'Hello World';
  SubStr := 'World';
  if StrPos(PChar(MainStr), PChar(SubStr)) <> nil then
    ShowMessage('Substring found')
  else
    ShowMessage('Substring not found');
end;

AnsiStrPos function (case-sensitive)

Unlike the StrPos function, AnsiStrPos works with multi-byte characters sets (MBCS).

var
  MainStr, SubStr: string;
  Position: Integer;
begin
  MainStr := 'Hello World';
  SubStr := 'World';
  if AnsiStrPos(PChar(MainStr), PChar(SubStr)) <> nil then
    ShowMessage('Substring found')
  else
    ShowMessage('Substring not found');
end;

TextPos function (case-insensitive)

var
  MainStr, SubStr: string;
  Position: Integer;
begin
  MainStr := 'Hello World';
  SubStr := 'World';
  if TextPos(PChar(MainStr), PChar(SubStr)) <> nil then
    ShowMessage('Substring found')
  else
    ShowMessage('Substring not found');
end;

Other Useful Functions

.Contains	Case-Sensitive
.StartsWith	Case-Sensitive
.EndsWith	Case-Sensitive
AnsiContainsStr	Case-Sensitive
AnsiStartsStr	Case-Sensitive
AnsiEndsStr	Case-Sensitive
AnsiContainsText	Case-Insensitive
AnsiStrings.ContainsText	Case-Insensitive
StrUtils.ContainsText	Case-Insensitive

Delphi: Run DOS Commands

ShellExecute

Results can’t be read easily!

https://engineertips.wordpress.com/2021/02/22/delphi-shellexecute-alternatives/

TDOSCommand Component

https://github.com/TurboPack/DOSCommand

Results can be read by using OnNewLine event!

https://engineertips.wordpress.com/2022/04/21/delphi-tdoscommand-eassertionfailed-error/

GetDosOutput Procedure

Results can be read by using a Memo or RichEdit!

procedure GetDosOutput(CommandLine, WorkDir: string; aMemo: TMemo);
var
  SA: TSecurityAttributes;
  SI: TStartupInfo;
  PI: TProcessInformation;
  StdOutPipeRead, StdOutPipeWrite: THandle;
  WasOK: Boolean;
  Buffer: array[0..255] of AnsiChar;
  BytesRead: Cardinal;
  Handle: Boolean;
begin
  //AMemo.Lines.Add('Commencing processing...');
  with SA do begin
    nLength := SizeOf(SA);
    bInheritHandle := True;
    lpSecurityDescriptor := nil;
  end;
  CreatePipe(StdOutPipeRead, StdOutPipeWrite, @SA, 0);
  try
    with SI do
    begin
      FillChar(SI, SizeOf(SI), 0);
      cb := SizeOf(SI);
      dwFlags := STARTF_USESHOWWINDOW or STARTF_USESTDHANDLES;
      wShowWindow := SW_HIDE;
      hStdInput := GetStdHandle(STD_INPUT_HANDLE); // don't redirect stdin
      hStdOutput := StdOutPipeWrite;
      hStdError := StdOutPipeWrite;
    end;
    Handle := CreateProcess(nil, PChar('cmd.exe /C ' + CommandLine),
                            nil, nil, True, 0, nil,
                            PChar(WorkDir), SI, PI);
    CloseHandle(StdOutPipeWrite);
    if Handle then
      try
        repeat
          WasOK := ReadFile(StdOutPipeRead, Buffer, 255, BytesRead, nil);
          if BytesRead > 0 then
          begin
            Buffer[BytesRead] := #0;
            AMemo.Text := AMemo.Text + String(Buffer);
          end;
        until not WasOK or (BytesRead = 0);
        WaitForSingleObject(PI.hProcess, INFINITE);
      finally
        CloseHandle(PI.hThread);
        CloseHandle(PI.hProcess);
      end;
  finally
    CloseHandle(StdOutPipeRead);
    //AMemo.Lines.Add('Processing completed successfully.');
    //AMemo.Lines.Add('**********************************');
    //AMemo.Lines.Add('');
  end;
end;

How to Fix HTTP 426 Error

HTTP 426 Upgrade Required

Solution 1

If you are using HTTP/1.0, use HTTP/1.1

Example: Delphi ICS component

SslHttpCli1.RequestVer := '1.1';

Solution 2

If you are using SSL3, use TLS

Delphi: TStringGrid Tips

Fix “horizontal scroll requires releasing mouse button”

StringGrid1.Options := StringGrid1.Options + [goThumbTracking];

Go to top and select first cell

StringGrid1.Selection := TGridRect(Rect(1, 1, 1, 1));
StringGrid1.TopRow := 1;
StringGrid1.LeftCol := 1;

Example Software: Container Loading Calculator

Other StringGrid Tips

• Convert StringGrid Cell to ComboBox

OpenSSL DLL Files

OpenSSL is a fork and successor project to SSLeay.

OpenSSL v1

• libeay32.dll
• ssleay32.dll
• libssl32.dll

ssleay32.dll and libeay32.dll are often used together.

OpenSSL v3

• libcrypto-3.dll
• libssl-3.dll

Delphi: How to clear focus

Focused objects may be annoying, especially when a VCL Theme is activated.

Here is the “anti-SetFocus”:

begin
  Form1.ActiveControl:=nil;
end;

Delphi: TrackBar MouseEnter and MouseLeave

TTrackBar doesn’t have built-in MouseEnter, MouseLeave, MouseMove, MouseDown events.

  private
    { Private declarations }
    FTrackEnter: Boolean;
    procedure CMMouseEnter( var Message : TMessage); message CM_MOUSEENTER;
    procedure CMMouseLeave( var Message : TMessage); message CM_MOUSELEAVE;

procedure TForm1.CMMouseEnter( var Message : TMessage);
var
  ptWork: TPoint;
begin
  GetCursorPos(ptWork);
  if WindowFromPoint(ptWork) = TrackBar1.Handle then //Mouse is over TrackBar1
  begin
    FTrackEnter := True;
  end;
end;

procedure TForm1.CMMouseLeave( var Message : TMessage);
var
  ptWork: TPoint;
begin
  GetCursorPos(ptWork);
  if (WindowFromPoint(ptWork) <> TrackBar1.Handle) and
     (FTrackEnter) then //Mouse leaves TrackBar1
  begin
    FTrackEnter := False;
  end;
end;