Program im making in Delphi.

[Chesso]

What do you guys think of the look of this?

The screenshot was taken from desktop using good old print screen key and i just cut most of the desktop out to save on file size. It's an Instant Messaging program i building for LAN for me and my brother(mainly so i have something to do).

The left window is 25% transparent so you can see the desktop a little i thought that this looked pretty cool lol also my menu's are custom drawn so it blends in instead of plain old gray.

[Got EpOx]

Looks great, keep up the good work.

[Chesso]

Thanks Been working on it like crazy got nothing better to do

[Got EpOx]

Same here, i use visual basic but i might take a look at Delphi sometime in the near future, looks like a good programming language.

[Chesso]

Well yes in my opinion it does have a vast number of advantages over visual basic and seen as i came from around 1 year of experience from using visual basic over to delphi id say i know a little bit about it.

A few thing's i'll say you might find usefull and this first one is the main reason i seeked another language in the first place.

1. Delphi allows yout to compile stand alone Win32 executables or use a runtime package similar to visual basic's(not as widespread of course).

2. Win32 API's need not be declared before use though some like for the shell do require an addition to the Uses clause at the top of your program(ShellAPI) so it's alot easier then defining exact api's and params.

3. Something i found out last night, those still programming for Win32 who are most likely to go to the .NET platform will find it much easier with delphi due to borland's very hard work on newer version of delphi supporting both win32 and .net. Basically only if you don't use win32 specific functions in your app or some certain ones you can compile existing code straight to .net with next to no trouble at all. Visual basic and other developer's however will most likely have to start their applications from scratch.

[Got EpOx]

Thanks for the info Chesso.

[Chesso]

No problem

Hey don't suppose your'e good with debugging if then, else if, else statements?

I decided to add some commands triggered by // similar to mIRC just for quick access to change some settings or have a little fun but my command processing function is very if then etc nested to the max.

The problem is i can't add an additional Else If to it i get a compile error saying that it is expecting . which means end. that is the end of the unit(code). Iv'e gone through it many times and even asked for help on delphipages forum but no one can figure it out.

I managed to correct some problems but they didn't seem to affect anything....... Seen as your a VB developer i'll explain basiclly how conditionals work in delphi.

If (Condition) Then
Begin
//code two forward slashes at beggining means a comment { and } are used
//for multiple line comments or several lines beggining with two forward
//slashes.
End;

The semi colon ends the statement so if you were to add an else to this that semi colon would be removed and added to the end of the else statement because obviously you don't want it to end the statement half way.

Example:

If (Condition) Then
Begin
//code.
End    //Notice there isn't any semi colon here now.
Else
Begin
//code.
End;

Anyway i think iv'e rambled on enough pretty much im just asking if you have any general suggestions for troubleshooting problems with huge nested if then, else if, else statements. There's your first delphi tutorial on conditionals lol

[Got EpOx]

I haven't really got that much experience with VB, but i'm learning at the moment. One thing i have spotted is that it might be a statement nested inside the if thats wrong, check with some Delphi tutorial websites or something. Delphi developers forums are always a good place to start.

[beno-the-baron]

I've done some c++ and a little vb and it sounds as if you need to read your work through carefully until you see some simple mistakes. If you're unsure about a peice of code you used double check it with a manual or something. I know this is obvious but with bugs its the obvious things wich are the easiest to forget.

[Got EpOx]

Chesso what kind of system do you have?

Mine is the following:

Celeron D 2.4ghz Skt478
EPoX EP-4SGM8I
512mb Twinmos 200mhz PC3200 RAM
20GB Quantum Fireball 
Standard DVD-ROM Drive

[Chesso]

Yeah im thinking it's fairly obvious but the compiler shouldn't allow such a mistake to get through unoticed seen as it compiles without the additional else if statement or if i just add additional If statement.

I corrected a few things like statement terminate(semi colon) in places that seem it should have been but it made no difference or atleast not to the compiler heh.

[Got EpOx]

That's what compilers are for, checks your work and then executes it. In this case i don't understand why it let it through, as i mentioned earlier post your problem on a delphi forum.

[Chesso]

Celeron D 2.4ghz(478 Socket).
Asus P4S800-MX 478 all in one board.
768mb Kingston Value ram.(512 + 256).
256mb GF 5500.
20gig Fireball AS20.5.
2x CD-Rom 52x32x52, 52x24x52.
Some external dvd thing.....

Yes iv'e posted on delphi forums and no one can figure it out but they are very passionate about it not being a bug in delphi lol. That's why im so desperate to ask anyone who might have an understanding of the problem.

[Got EpOx]

Ok Chesso give me and Ben a while to think about this.

[beno-the-baron]

Yeah well with this type of thing its just a case of perceverance, so if you keep going you'll get a lightbulb moment, I find. You could try it without ending the original if ,like in VB. I don't have a good idea what'll work though!

Good luck!

[beno-the-baron]

How big is the if statement because I could have a look at it although i'd be unlikely to understand.

[Chesso]

Well once i get the self-motivation kicking in again i might just comment out the existing monster of conditional nest and re-write it a bit clearer and hopefully i'll pick up any problems on the way using this method.

EDIT: 202 Lines and that's just the actual big nested if then, else if, else on it's own.

[beno-the-baron]

Good plan! It always helps to get your programs in order when they get out of control.

202 lines must be chaotic! hope you added loads of comments!

[Chesso]

LOL nah no commenting necessary for me it's fairly straight forward it's just alot of conditionals were required so i could give sufficent and half decent description of error's to the user so they know what went wrong when a command failed.

Also other half is checking to make sure they dont put text where numbers should be for example otherwise(during a type conversion) a nice exception error will be thrown at them with a "Microsoft help like" description

The command //MASSVX is a good example of this:

Syntax: //MASSVX Number, Text
Example: //MASSVX 20,

VX stands for virtual xpression(or emoticon/smilie as most are accustomed to).

If they put text instead of a valid ranged integer(1 to 25) in place of that 20 if i don't go checking to make sure it's an integer value before a conversion into a string an exception will be thrown at them as described above.

[Chesso]

Sorry for the double post but i thought i should tell people that have been viewing the thread that the problem is solved(i don't think edited post activates instant email notification to a thread if selected).

The problem was the last Else statement which was for the very beggining of this nested bugger so basically i need to whack the new Else If between the last Else and Else If before the last Else.

I seriously don't know where my head has been lately im just not with it.