Problem:
I ran into some problems when upgrading a work environment from Delphi 4 to Delphi 5, where the Formula 1 Spreadsheet ActiveX control (OCX) was involved.
Normal installation of an OCX:
- Menu 'Component | Import ActiveX Control'
- In the list of ActiveX controls, select 'VC Formula One'. If it is not in the list, use the 'Add' button to insert the OCX (\winnt\system32\vcf15.ocx)
- Option step: Hit button 'Create Unit'.
This will create an import unit 'VCF15_TLB.PAS', by default into this directory:
\Delphi5\Imports\
The 'TLB' means 'Type Library'.
- Hit Button 'Install'. If needed, this will create the import unit (see previous step).
Then this import unit will be added to a - selected - package.
- Open this package, compile and if necessary install it.
This procedure worked fine for Formula 1 with Delphi 4. However, when I had Delphi 5 create the import unit, I ran into these problems:
// ************************************************************************
// Errors:
// Hint: Member 'Type' of 'IF1FileSpec' changed to 'Type_'
// Hint: Member 'Type' of 'IF1NumberFormat' changed to 'Type_'
// Hint: Member 'Type' of 'IF1Book' changed to 'Type_'
// Hint: Parameter 'Array' of IF1Book.CopyDataFromArray changed to 'Array_'
// Hint: Parameter 'Array' of IF1Book.CopyDataToArray changed to 'Array_'
// Hint: Member 'Type' of 'IF1BookView' changed to 'Type_'
// Hint: Parameter 'Array' of IF1BookView.CopyDataFromArray changed to 'Array_'
// Hint: Parameter 'Array' of IF1BookView.CopyDataToArray changed to 'Array_'
// ************************************************************************
To make matters worse, when trying to compile the package file, I would get incompatible type errors in these lines:
property ColWidth[nCol: Integer]: Smallint read Get_ColWidth write Set_ColWidth;
property RowHeight[nRow: Integer]: Smallint read Get_RowHeight write Set_RowHeight;
Solution:
I found that the manufacturer puts an import file into the Formula One directory. The name of this file is 'VCF15.pas' (instead of 'VCF15_TLB.pas')
So I had to go through all my source codes and in the uses clauses replace VCF15_TLB with VCF15.
I also noticed that arguments of type 'WideString' had to be replaced with 'String' in Delphi 5.
After these steps, I can now compile applications under Delphi 5 that use Formula 1 and the deployed executables work.