Hidden Features of the Delphi 5 IDE
by John Kaster, Inprise/Borland Developer Relations
This is a short article describing how to create some undocumented registry settings that
modify the behavior of the Delphi component palette in a manner you may like.
First, a word of caution
There are many "hidden" features in our products developers are often happy to discover
through various devious methods. These undocumented features may have been introduced too
late into the product to get documented, or they may not have made it in time to be quality
assured, or they may just have fallen off the documentation list because we weren't sure
they should be a feature that will remain in the product.
This simply means, use this information at your own risk. It is not tested or certified
by Inprise, and it is not guaranteed that it will be surfaced or even remain in future versions
of Delphi.
The Registry is the Key
These undocumented registry settings must be put in the registry location:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Borland\Delphi\5.0\Extras
You can create them by running
RegEdit.exe. After RegEdit is running, you need to go to the appropriate area of your
registry by navigating through the Registry tree.
You will need to create the "Extras" registry key. You can do this by clicking the right
mouse button in the registry key on the entry for
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Borland\Delphi\5.0
then selecting New|Key. Once this key is created, you can select it and create either or
both of the string values described below.
Automatically Selecting a Component Page
There are two registry values that control how the component palette reacts to the mouse.
Setting the value of AutoPaletteSelect to "1" (one) will
cause a tab on the component palette to be automatically selected when the mouse is hovering
over it. If the mouse is in the top two-thirds (2/3) of the tab, the palette for that tab will
automatically be displayed.
To create this entry, click the right mouse button and select New|String Value. Replace
"New Value #1" with "AutoPaletteSelect." Set its value to "1" by pressing the right mouse button
again and selecting Modify, and using the dialog that appears.
Automatically Scrolling in a Component Page
If you have a lower resolution display or a component page with many components on it,
you probably see arrows on the component page for scrolling left and right through the component
list. Setting the value of AutoPaletteScroll to "1" (one) will make you scroll
left and right automatically whenever the mouse is positioned over the relevant arrow.
To create this entry, click the right mouse button and select New|String Value. Replace
"New Value #1" with "AutoPaletteScroll." Set its value to "1" by pressing the right mouse button
again and selecting Modify, and using the dialog that appears.
I got used to both of these changes quite quickly, so for me, they're definitely a nice
tweak for the IDE. Try them out yourself and see if you like them.
By the way, I won't be revealing my source for this information. I might never get told these
juicy tidbits again if I do! There are more hidden features out there. Please comment on this
article and share your discoveries.
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