Question:
I’m trying to teach myself Delphi 2 and have no programming experience. I’m stuck on a simple problem. How do you bring up the About box from the About menu item? When I click on About in the menu, nothing happens.
Answer:
You have to build the About box form. You see, creating an About menu itemdoesn’t really do anything. It just adds that TMenuItem instance to theTMenu.
I could answer this question and show you all the code that youneed to accomplish your task. But I won’t (don’t get all flustered on me? there’s a good reason for this).
When I’m asked a question like this, it means the person asking is not well-versed in thefundamentals of the language. Having the fundamentals down will help youimmensely, and the best way to learn them, save attending a $2,000 seminar, isto purchase a book. The one I recommend for novice programmers is the”Delphi 2 Programming Explorer” by Jeff Duntemann et al. This is a book thatnot only shows the novice programmer how to do many of the neat things inDelphi, but it also deals with programming concepts, philosophies andfundamentals.
Another book that you shouldconsider is “Delphi for Dummies” by Neil Rubenking. Though not asphilosophical as “Explorer,” it really deals with novice programmingtechniques.
Why am I telling you to go this route? Primarily because you’ll learn theenvironment so much better than if I just told you the answers. The analogyI picture is someone who’s out in the desert in need of food and water andcomes upon a man feasting under the shade of tent flap. Instead of givinghim food, the man gives him a bag of diamonds. Quite valuable yes, but withrespect to providing sustenance, they’re worthless. I guess what I’m tryingto say is that I could give you the answers, but I’d be throwing concepts atyou that will essentially bowl you over, or you’d spend more time looking upall the ancillary information I’d be giving you than solving your problem.
So I hope you’re not put off by this…
