True free heap not what it should be after ShellExecute - lazarus

I have a simple Application that reads data from an .ini file into a record, and then does a ShellExecute. However, when I run it in debug mode,it tells me that the True free heap isn't what it should be:
"True heap size: 688128, True free heap: 688016, Should be: 688128"
This only happens if I actually run the ShellExecute (however even if I don't run the ShellExecute, I get a True free heap of 688016, but no complaint that it should be 688128), so I wonder if I either need to free the PChar() conversion (which shouldn't be the case from all that I've read), or the handle returned by ShellExecute (though CloseHandle(ShellHandle); doesn't change the message), or if it's intended behavior?
The IniSettings.SetupCommand in question is an .msi file that triggers a UAC prompt, but I really just want to make this a Fire & Forget thing since my Lazarus app doesn't care what it launches.
For reference, here's my whole Unit. I'm using Lazarus 1.6.2, FPC 3.0.0, i386-win32, and I'm targeting Windows only with this. My Debug Settings are at the very bottom, after the code.
unit MainUnit;
{$mode objfpc}{$H+}
interface
uses
Classes, SysUtils, FileUtil, Forms, Controls,
Graphics, Dialogs, StdCtrls, IniFiles, Windows;
type
{ IniSettings }
TAutorunIniSettings = record
AutorunTitle: AnsiString;
SetupCommand: AnsiString;
end;
{ TMainForm }
TMainForm = class(TForm)
btnSetup: TButton;
lblTitle: TLabel;
procedure btnSetupClick(Sender: TObject);
procedure FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
procedure FormDestroy(Sender: TObject);
private
{ private declarations }
IniSettings: TAutorunIniSettings;
public
{ public declarations }
end;
var
MainForm: TMainForm;
implementation
{$R *.lfm}
{ TMainForm }
procedure TMainForm.FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
var
AutorunIni: TIniFile;
begin
try
AutorunIni := TIniFile.Create('Autorun.ini');
IniSettings.AutorunTitle := AutorunIni.ReadString('Autorun', 'Title', 'Autorun');
IniSettings.SetupCommand := AutorunIni.ReadString('Autorun', 'Setup', '');
self.Caption := IniSettings.AutorunTitle;
finally
if(AutorunIni <> nil) then AutorunIni.Free;
end;
end;
procedure TMainForm.FormDestroy(Sender: TObject);
begin
end;
procedure TMainForm.btnSetupClick(Sender: TObject);
begin
ShellExecute(0, 'open', PChar(IniSettings.SetupCommand), nil, nil, SW_SHOWNORMAL);
end;
end.

Related

Display directory from delphi

I would like to display the contents of a directory using DOS commands from Delphi(7). Using Win10 - 64
The following program displays the DOS shell but does not display the directory contents. What is wrong with my code ?
unit Unit1;
interface
uses
Windows, Messages, SysUtils, Variants, Classes, Graphics, Controls, Forms,
Dialogs, StdCtrls, shellapi;
type
TForm1 = class(TForm)
procedure FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
private
{ Private declarations }
public
{ Public declarations }
end;
var
Form1: TForm1;
implementation
{$R *.dfm}
procedure TForm1.FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
var i : integer;
begin
i := ShellExecute(Handle, nil, 'cmd.exe', PChar(' dir'), nil, SW_SHOW);
caption := inttostr(i);
end;
end.
Running your code on Windows 10 returns 2, which is ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND.
I got it to work, on both 32- and 64-bit target platforms, by changing it to
this:
var
ComSpec: string;
retval: HINSTANCE;
begin
ComSpec := GetEnvironmentVariable('comspec');
retval := ShellExecute(Handle, nil, PChar(comspec), '/k dir', nil, SW_SHOW);
if retval <= 32 then
Caption := Format('Error, return value = %d', [retval])
else
Caption := 'Success';
end;
The /k says to run a new instance of cmd.exe and keep the window open. For more details, run cmd /? from a command prompt.
Note that the error handling of ShellExecute is very limited. If you wish to check for errors comprehensively then you must use ShellExecuteEx instead.

Loading an array of records back into a program from a file?

I am creating a program that moves through an array of records and save these student records to a file.
However I now wish to reload the data (StudentName,Class,Grade) back into the array and subsequently display them in a list box on another form.
I have tried a few methods but with no success.
This is the code that wrote the file:
unit NewStudent;
{$mode objfpc}{$H+}
interface
uses
Classes, SysUtils, FileUtil, Forms, Controls, Graphics, Dialogs, StdCtrls,
ExtCtrls, studentdata;
{ TFormNewStudent }
Type
TFormNewStudent = class(TForm)
Button1: TButton;
ButtonAddStudent: TButton;
Button3: TButton;
ComboBoxPredictedGrade: TComboBox;
EditClass: TEdit;
EditName: TEdit;
procedure Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
procedure Button3Click(Sender: TObject);
procedure ButtonAddStudentClick(Sender: TObject);
procedure FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
private
{ private declarations }
public
{ public declarations }
end;
Type
TPupil = Record
Name:String[30];
ClassGroup:String;
ComboBoxPredictedGrade:Integer;
end;
var
FormNewStudent: TFormNewStudent;
StudentRecArray : Array[1..30] of TPupil;
StudentNo:integer;
studentFile:TextFile;
implementation
{$R *.lfm}
{ TFormNewStudent }
procedure TFormNewStudent.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
begin
FormStudentData.visible:=true;
FormNewStudent.visible:=false;
end;
procedure TFormNewStudent.Button3Click(Sender: TObject);
begin
FormStudentData.visible:=False;
FormNewStudent.visible:=True;
end;
procedure TFormNewStudent.ButtonAddStudentClick(Sender: TObject);
var
newStudent:string;
Begin
assignfile(studentFile,'G:\ExamGen\studentfile.txt');
StudentRecArray[StudentNo].Name:=EditName.text;
StudentRecArray[StudentNo].ClassGroup:=EditClass.text;
StudentRecArray[StudentNo].ComboBoxPredictedGrade:=ComboBoxPredictedGrade.ItemIndex;
append(studentFile);
newStudent:=(StudentRecArray[StudentNo].Name)+','+(StudentRecArray[StudentNo].ClassGroup)+','+(IntToStr(StudentRecArray[StudentNo].ComboBoxPredictedGrade));
writeln(studentFile,newStudent);
closefile(StudentFile);
StudentNo := StudentNo + 1;
end;
procedure TFormNewStudent.FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
begin
ComboBoxPredictedGrade.Items.Add('A');
ComboBoxPredictedGrade.Items.Add('B');
ComboBoxPredictedGrade.Items.Add('C');
ComboBoxPredictedGrade.Items.Add('D');
ComboBoxPredictedGrade.Items.Add('E');
ComboBoxPredictedGrade.Items.Add('U');
end;
end.
ScreenShot 1: StudentFile
ScreenShot 2: AddStudent Form
Answer given by Zamrony P. Juhara is correct, but your approach here may be not the most convenient. You define record which contains information about each student, then you write procedures to write this record to file and another one to read it. If you'll eventually change format of your record, you'll have to rewrite this code also. There are better ways, in my opinion.
You can define record containing only simplest members, like Ken White suggested:
TPupil = Record
Name:String[30];
ClassGroup:String[20]; //some convenient value
ComboBoxPredictedGrade:Integer;
end;
Such a record have fixed size and contains all needed information in itself (version with ClassGroup:String actually stores pointer to another area in memory where your string is), and then you can save and load it extremely easy:
var
myFile : File of TPupil;
procedure TFormNewStudent.ButtonAddStudentClick(Sender: TObject);
Begin
assignfile(studentFile,'G:\ExamGen\studentfile.txt');
StudentRecArray[StudentNo].Name:=EditName.text;
StudentRecArray[StudentNo].ClassGroup:=EditClass.text;
StudentRecArray[StudentNo].ComboBoxPredictedGrade:=ComboBoxPredictedGrade.ItemIndex;
append(studentFile);
Write(studentFile,StudentRecArray[StudentNo]); //THAT'S IT!
closefile(StudentFile);
inc(StudentNo);
end;
procedure TFormNewStudent.ReadFromFile;
begin
AssignFile(myFile,'G:\ExamGen\studentfile.txt');
Reset(studentFile);
StudentNo:=1;
while not Eof(studentFile) do begin
Read(studentFile,StudentRecArray[i]);
inc(StudentNo);
end;
end;
There is little drawback: file is not so readable as it was before, because Integer is saved exactly as 4-byte value, not its decimal representation.
There is much more interesting possibilities if you move from record to class, in that case you can use streaming system in a way as IDE saves forms to disc, in .dfm or .lfm files, so you'll be able to automatically save complex ierarchies of objects and load them back.
var
myFile : TextFile;
text : string;
lines : TStringList;
i : integer;
...
lines := TStringList.Create();
AssignFile(studentFile,'G:\ExamGen\studentfile.txt');
Reset(studentFile);
i:=1;
while not Eof(studentFile) do
begin
ReadLn(studentFile, text);
lines.CommaText := text;
studentRecArray[i].Name := lines[0];
studentRecArray[i].ClassGroup := lines[1];
studentRecArray[i].ComboBoxPredictedGrade := StrToInt(lines[2]);
inc(i);
end;
CloseFile(studentFile);
lines.Free();

Access Violation ShellExecute in delphi7

I am using ShellExecute the same way given below, to open a txt file in Delphi7, it gives me access violation in module BORdbk70.dll.
Not sure what this issue is? I have added ShellApi in uses list.
//sAddr := 'www.google.com';
Above line does not gives any error but also not redirect to browser and
ShellExecute returns result as "5 = Windows 95 only: The operating system denied access to the specified file"
sAddr := 'c:\text\info.txt';
res := ShellExecute(Handle, nil, PChar(sAddr), nil, nil, SW_SHOW);
showmessage(inttostr(res));
This example that I wrote for you, working good (without error). I tested with Delphi7 on Windows 8.1
You must know what is default application to open *.txt files in your Operation System. That application will try open your file. On my system for *.txt default application is Notepad++ and this example opened file info.txt in Notepad++
Full source (pas) code:
unit Unit1;
interface
uses
Windows, Messages, SysUtils, Variants, Classes, Graphics, Controls, Forms,
Dialogs, StdCtrls, ShellApi;
type
TForm1 = class(TForm)
Button1: TButton;
procedure Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
private
{ Private declarations }
public
{ Public declarations }
end;
var
Form1: TForm1;
implementation
{$R *.dfm}
procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
var
sAddr : String;
res : Integer;
begin
sAddr := 'c:\text\info.txt';
res := ShellExecute(Handle, 'open', PChar(sAddr), nil, nil, SW_SHOW);
showmessage(inttostr(res));
end;
end.
This example working good with admin and normal user rights.
var
file:string;
exe_start_map:string;
begin
exe_start_map:=(ExtractFileDir(Application.ExeName));
file:=exe_start_map+'\samplefile.txt';
ShellExecute(handle,'open',pchar(file),'','',SW_SHOWnormal);
end;
you must add ShellApi in uses list

Why do I get multiple windows messages of same kind?

I'm trying to respond to some windows and application messages, but I get them multiple times.
For example, I write the following code to show a message box when the date of system is changed using WM_TIMECHANGE. WMTimeChange is executed more than once, and I see multiples (most times two or three) messageboxes one behind another. Maybe, I am missing something?
unit Unit1;
interface
uses
Windows, Messages, SysUtils, Variants, Classes, Graphics, Controls, Forms,
Dialogs;
type
TForm1 = class(TForm)
protected
procedure WMTimeChange(var Msg: TMessage) ; message WM_TIMECHANGE;
end;
var
Form1: TForm1;
implementation
{$R *.dfm}
{ TForm1 }
procedure TForm1.WMTimeChange(var Msg: TMessage);
begin
showmessage('Date/Time has changed!');
end;
end.
Testing in Windows XP.
EDIT: Just to clarify, my intention is understand WHY that happen and not how to get around the multiple calls. Anyway, if an answer to that is not possible, I will probably accept one answer to the later.
EDIT2: Removed Delphi Tag as it seems not a Delphi issue.
Your code is correct. It sounds like that Windows is sending the WM_TIMECHANGE message several times.
So you can just add a small time-hysteresis comparison to let your message be triggered only once per a 1% of day, i.e. more or less 15 minutes:
type
TForm1 = class(TForm)
protected
FWMTimeChangeTimeStamp: TDateTime;
procedure WMTimeChange(var Msg: TMessage) ; message WM_TIMECHANGE;
end;
var
Form1: TForm1;
implementation
{$R *.dfm}
{ TForm1 }
procedure TForm1.WMTimeChange(var Msg: TMessage);
begin
if Now-FWMTimeChangeTimeStamp>0.01 then
begin
showmessage('Date/Time has changed!');
FWMTimeChangeTimeStamp := Now;
end;
end;
This is kind of what I've used in my case to be resilient to this behavior. But as said in comments, will only work if the user take time to answer the application. So, Arnaud Bounchez is a better approach to general use. Only don't forget to initialize the FWMTimeChangeStamp to something that is different from current computer clock.
unit Unit1;
interface
uses
Windows, Messages, SysUtils, Variants, Classes, Graphics, Controls, Forms,
Dialogs;
type
TForm1 = class(TForm)
procedure FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
protected
procedure WMTimeChange(var Msg: TMessage) ; message WM_TIMECHANGE;
private
isTimeChangeEventShowing: Boolean;
end;
var
Form1: TForm1;
implementation
{$R *.dfm}
{ TForm1 }
procedure TForm1.FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
begin
isTimeChangeEventShowing := false
end;
procedure TForm1.WMTimeChange(var Msg: TMessage);
begin
if not isTimeChangeEventShowing then
begin
isTimeChangeEventShowing := true;
showmessage('Date/Time has changed!');
isTimeChangeEventShowing := false;
end;
end;
end.

Delphi: Minimize application to systray

I want to minimize a Delphi application to the systray instead of the task bar.
The necessary steps seem to be the following:
Create icon which should then be displayed in the systray.
When the user clicks the [-] to minimize the application, do the following:
Hide the form.
Add the icon (step #1) to the systray.
Hide/delete the application's entry in the task bar.
When the user double-clicks the application's icon in the systray, do the following:
Show the form.
Un-minimize the application again and bring it to the front.
If "WindowState" is "WS_Minimized" set to "WS_Normal".
Hide/delete the application's icon in the systray.
When the user terminates the application, do the following:
Hide/delete the application's icon in the systray.
That's it. Right?
How could one implement this in Delphi?
I've found the following code but I don't know why it works. It doesn't follow my steps described above ...
unit uMinimizeToTray;
interface
uses
Windows, Messages, SysUtils, Variants, Classes, Graphics, Controls, Forms,
Dialogs, StdCtrls, ShellApi;
const WM_NOTIFYICON = WM_USER+333;
type
TMinimizeToTray = class(TForm)
procedure FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
procedure FormClose(Sender: TObject; var Action: TCloseAction);
procedure CMClickIcon(var msg: TMessage); message WM_NOTIFYICON;
private
{ Private-Deklarationen }
public
{ Public-Deklarationen }
end;
var
MinimizeToTray: TMinimizeToTray;
implementation
{$R *.dfm}
procedure TMinimizeToTray.CMClickIcon(var msg: TMessage);
begin
if msg.lparam = WM_LBUTTONDBLCLK then Show;
end;
procedure TMinimizeToTray.FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
VAR tnid: TNotifyIconData;
HMainIcon: HICON;
begin
HMainIcon := LoadIcon(MainInstance, 'MAINICON');
Shell_NotifyIcon(NIM_DELETE, #tnid);
tnid.cbSize := sizeof(TNotifyIconData);
tnid.Wnd := handle;
tnid.uID := 123;
tnid.uFlags := NIF_MESSAGE or NIF_ICON or NIF_TIP;
tnid.uCallbackMessage := WM_NOTIFYICON;
tnid.hIcon := HMainIcon;
tnid.szTip := 'Tooltip';
Shell_NotifyIcon(NIM_ADD, #tnid);
end;
procedure TMinimizeToTray.FormClose(Sender: TObject; var Action: TCloseAction);
begin
Action := caNone;
Hide;
end;
end.
If it still works, it's probably easiest to use JVCL's TJvTrayIcon to handle it automatically.
I would recommend using CoolTrayIcon. The author has already worked out all the issues involved with tray icons. Its free with source and examples and very debugged.
http://subsimple.com/delphi.asp
Instead of Application.BringToFront; use SetforegroundWindow(Application.Handle);
In the following text I'll be referring to the step numbers mentioned in the question:
The following solution is without any additional components. It's very easy to implement.
Step #1:
Just use the application's main icon (see following code).
Step #2:
procedure TForm1.ApplicationEvents1Minimize(Sender: TObject);
begin
Shell_NotifyIcon(NIM_ADD, #TrayIconData);
Form1.Hide;
end;
Step #3:
procedure TForm1.TrayMessage(var Msg: TMessage);
begin
if Msg.lParam = WM_LBUTTONDOWN then begin
Form1.Show;
Form1.WindowState := wsNormal;
Application.BringToFront;
Shell_NotifyIcon(NIM_DELETE, #TrayIconData);
end;
end;
Step #4:
procedure TForm1.FormDestroy(Sender: TObject);
begin
Shell_NotifyIcon(NIM_DELETE, #TrayIconData);
end;
Necessary code in interface part:
uses
[...], ShellApi;
const
WM_ICONTRAY = WM_USER + 1;
type
TForm1 = class(TForm)
[...]
procedure TrayMessage(var Msg: TMessage); message WM_ICONTRAY;
end;
The only problem: The application can be minimized to the systray only once. The next time you want to minimize it, nothing will happen. Why?
Source: delphi.about.com

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