UnitOOPS Software products: Why is our web site so plain?


Delphi and C++Builder Components and Tools

UnitOOPS Software markets a small but growing number of high-quality software components and tools for Delphi and C++Builder developers. Currently, our offerings include:


The UnitOOPS OLE Drag and Drop Components
Now available as DropMaster from Raize Software    [Buy here]

Since mid-2001, the Components, now branded as DropMaster, have been available exclusively from Raize Software.

Read the press release. DropMaster is priced at US$99 per user license.


   FREE!   DelphiDrop for CodeRush    FREE!   [modification history]

Drag and drop form design with DelphiDrop

(i) Dragging cells from Excel:

(ii) Dragging a URL from Internet Explorer:

Download your free copy:
Version 1.00 for CodeRush 4 (July 5, 1999) delphidrop402r.zip (104kb approx)
Version 1.01 for CodeRush 5 (December 1, 1999) delphidrop503e.zip (105kb approx)

DelphiDrop requires CodeRush version 4.02k (released April 30, 1999) or a more recent version of CodeRush 4 (including the final release, version 4.02r), or CodeRush version 5.03e or a more recent version of CodeRush 5.

DelphiDrop is a set of IDE enhancements for Borland Delphi's integrated development environment (IDE). It requires that you have CodeRush by Eagle Software installed on your computer. We are making DelphiDrop available free to the Delphi community both as a useful tool and a demonstration of the kind of things you can do with DropMaster.

Features:

  • Enhanced text editor drag and drop   DelphiDrop enhances text drag and drop in the Delphi editor by overriding the standard drag and drop and replacing it with OLE drag and drop. This means you can drag text from the IDE to other applications, and to the IDE from other applications, as well as within the IDE.
  • Enhanced file dropping   The Delphi IDE will attempt to open ANY file dropped on it, even binaries it cannot possibly read. DelphiDrop allows you the option of selecting exactly which kinds of file will be accepted by the IDE.
  • Snippet drag and drop   You can drag text from the IDE and drop it on an Explorer folder or the Windows desktop, making a DelphiDrop Snippet (.snp) file. Snippet files can be dragged to the IDE and either opened or (the default) inserted at the current cursor location. This means that DelphiDrop Snippet files allow you to use the desktop or an Explorer folder (or set of folders) as a simple drag and drop code snippet repository.
  • Form design by drag and drop   Arguably the coolest feature of DelphiDrop. Drag text or other content from any application onto a form you're designing in the IDE, and you get a pop-up menu (see the pictures immediately to the left) that allows you to choose how to interpret the dropped content. The dropped content is used to construct an appropriate component, which is inserted for you into the form, or into a container control (TCustomPanel, TCustomGroupBox, TTabSheet, TScrollBox) if you drop on one.

    When you drop......you can insert
    Rich Text Format (RTF), e.g., from Microsoft Word
    • A TUORichEdit containing that formatted content.
    • A TUORichEdit formatted to look like a label, containing that formatted content (i.e., no text cursor or input, no border, transparent background).
    Since the design-time RTF would otherwise be converted to plaintext at runtime for a standard TRichEdit, we provide the source code for TUORichEdit, a TRichEdit descendant that can persist its RTF even through changes in the window handle.
    A device-independent bitmap (DIB), a device-dependent bitmap (DDB) or an enhanced metafile (i.e., just about any graphical content)
    • A TImage containing the dropped graphic.
    A URL from Internet Explorer or Netscape
    • A blue, underlined TLabel with default cursor set to a pointing hand.
    DelphiDrop also inserts an OnClick handler for the TLabel that calls ShellExecute to open the URL in your default browser (or e-mail client, for mailto: URLs, etc). In other words, drop a URL, and you get a fully-functional hyperlink label on your form!
    Text (one or more lines)
    • One or more TLabels, arranged vertically
    • A TEdit (for one line) or a TMemo (for multiple lines)
    • One or more TRadioButtons, arranged vertically
    • One or more TCheckBoxes, arranged vertically
    • One or more TButtons, arranged vertically
    • A TListBox containing each of the dropped lines
    • A dropdown list style TComboBox containing each of the dropped lines
    • A TRadioGroup with a button for each of the dropped lines
    • A TPageControl with a tab pages named for each of the dropped lines
    • A TListView with column headers made from the first line, and list items for all other dropped lines. Tabs within dropped lines are assumed to designate columns
    • A TTreeView. Each of the dropped lines is assumed to designate a path representation for a tree branch, with levels delimited by tabs (thanks to Mike Orriss for the path-to-tree code).


Chemical Engineering Software

UnitOOPS Software produces the chemical equilibrium calculation software REACT!, which is in use both in industry and in the classroom at over 25 Chemical Engineering college programs in the USA and overseas. The program was originally authored at Yale University by Professor James A. O'Brien, principal of UnitOOPS Software, for his own use in teaching Junior-level Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics. REACT! is now available for free by contacting UnitOOPS Software at the address below.

Trivia: UnitOOPS Software gets its name from its origins in Chemical Engineering software. The core "Unit Operations" of Chemical Engineering are often referred to as "unit ops", while "OOPS" was adopted to emphasise our commitment to the use of Object-Oriented Programming Systems as a means of improving our development strategies.


Contact information:

UnitOOPS Software
832 Rail Fence Road
Orange, CT 06477-1032
USA

E-mail: info@unitoops.com
Phone: +1 (203) 672-6600


Copyright © 2003 by UnitOOPS Software. All Rights Reserved.
Last modified: Saturday, September 20, 2003