TObjectList re-order - delphi-xe

Question

I need to re-order a TObjectList, according to some rules. How can I achieve this?
So I add panels to a ScrollBox dinamically.
When I add them, I also add them to the ObjectList in the order that they are added at runtime, for future use. Then I can re-organize the panels in the scrollBox by drag/drop.
I want the ObjectList to mirror the same order that is set at runtime by drag/drop.
Here is my code:
var
MainForm: TMainForm;
PanelList,PanelListTMP:TObjectList;
implementation
...
procedure TMainForm.FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
begin
PanelList:=TObjectList.Create;
PanelListTMP:=TObjectList.Create;
end;
procedure TMainForm.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
begin
AddPanel('0');
AddPanel('1');
AddPanel('2');
AddPanel('3');
AddPanel('4');
end;
procedure TMainForm.Addpanel(what:string);
var
pan:TPanel;
bv:TShape;
begin
pan:=TPanel.Create(self);
pan.Parent:=TheContainer;
pan.Height:=50;
pan.BevelOuter:=bvNone;
pan.BorderStyle:=bsNone;
pan.Ctl3D:=false;
pan.Name:='LayerPan'+what;
pan.Caption:=what;
pan.Align:=alBottom;
pan.OnMouseDown:=panMouseDown;
end;
procedure TMainForm.panMouseDown(Sender: TObject; Button: TMouseButton;Shift: TShiftState; X, Y: Integer);
var
i:integer;
idu:String;
panui:TPanel;
begin
panui:=Sender as TPanel;
panui.ParentColor:=false;
panui.BringToFront;
// DRAG DROP STUFF
ReleaseCapture;
panui.Perform(wm_nclbuttondown,HTCAPTION,0);
for i := 0 to MainForm.ComponentCount - 1 do
begin
if MainForm.Components[i] is TWinControl then
if TWinControl(MainForm.Components[i]) is TPanel then
if (TWinControl(MainForm.Components[i]) as TPanel).Parent=MainForm.TheContainer then
begin
(TWinControl(MainForm.Components[i]) as TPanel).Align:=alBottom;
end;
end;
TheContainer.ScrollInView(panui);
ReOrderPanels;
end;
Procedure TMainForm.ReOrderPanels;
begin
end;
What should I do in the ReOrderPanels procedure?
I was thinking about feeding the panels of the ScrollBox from bottom to top into a new TObjectList (PanelListTMP), clear the PanelList and re-add them from the PanelListTMP, but when I do that, I get an error: Access Violation, and EInvalidPointer - Invalid Pointer Operation
So this is what I thought:
procedure TMainForm.ReOrderPanels;
var
ctrl:TControl;
pos:TPoint;
pan:TPanel;
bad:boolean;
ord,i:integer;
begin
memo2.Lines.Add('*** new order START');
panelListTMP.Clear;
// scroll top
TheContainer.VertScrollBar.Position := 0;
// scroll down
TheContainer.VertScrollBar.Position := TheContainer.VertScrollBar.Range;
// get panel
Pos:=TheContainer.ClientOrigin;
Pos.Y:=Pos.Y+TheContainer.Height-5;
ctrl := FindVCLWindow(pos) ;
if ctrl is TPanel then
if TPanel(ctrl).Parent = TheContainer then
begin
pan:=(ctrl as TPanel);
panelListTMP.Add(pan);
end;
ord:=1;
bad:=false;
repeat
repeat
Pos.Y:=pos.Y-1;
until (FindVCLWindow(pos) is TPanel)and(FindVCLWindow(pos)<>pan);
if (FindVCLWindow(pos) is TPanel)and(FindVCLWindow(pos).Name<>'LayerPan') then
begin
pan:=FindVCLWindow(pos) as TPanel;
containeru.VertScrollBar.Position := 0;
containeru.ScrollInView(pan);
ord:=ord+1;
panelListTMP.Add(pan);
end
else
bad:=true;
until bad=true;
// and now I do the swap between the ObjectLists...
panelList.Clear;
for i:=0 to PanelListTMP.Count-1 do
begin
(PanelListTMP.Items[i] as TPanel).Parent:=containeru;
panelList.Add(PanelListTMP.Items[i]);
end;
end;
So I assume that because the ObjectList is storing pointers to the actual objects, then when I clear the initial ObjectList, the actual objects are freed, so the second ObjectList contains a list of pointers that are no longer viable...
But then how can I achieve what I want?
So on ButtonClick, I get a ObjectList that contains panels in the following order:
PanelList[0] - Panel0
PanelList[1] - Panel1
PanelList[2] - Panel2
PanelList[3] - Panel3
PanelList[4] - Panel4
After I drag - drop panels inside the ScrollBox, I can end up with an order like this (in the ScrollBox)
Panel3
panel1
Panel4
Panel2
Panel0
But in the ObjectList, the order is the same as before...
Again, I want to be able to have the ObjectList ordered according to the order of the panels from the scrollBox.
In the re-order procedure I actually get all the panels in the desired order.
I just need to have them in the same order in my ObjectList.
Is there any other way of doing this? Other that with me creating a new class that would hold an index beside a TPanel and use that in the ObjectList to maintain the order?

Answer 1

TObjectList has an OwnsObjects property that is True by default. Make sure to set it to False since you don't want the list to auto-free the objects as they are owned by the Form.
As for the actual sorting of the TObjectList, consider using its Sort() or SortList() method for that. After you have repositioned the Panels as desired within their container, call Sort() or SortList(). The sorting callback you provide will be given two object pointers at a time while the sorting is iterating the list. Use the current positions of the objects relative to each other to tell the list what order they should appear in.
Try something like this:
var
MainForm: TMainForm;
PanelList: TObjectList;
implementation
...
procedure TMainForm.FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
begin
PanelList := TObjectList.Create(False);
end;
procedure TMainForm.FormDestroy(Sender: TObject);
begin
PanelList.Free;
end;
procedure TMainForm.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
begin
AddPanel('0');
AddPanel('1');
AddPanel('2');
AddPanel('3');
AddPanel('4');
end;
procedure TMainForm.Addpanel(what: string);
var
pan: TPanel;
bv: TShape;
begin
pan := TPanel.Create(Self);
try
pan.Parent := TheContainer;
pan.Height := 50;
pan.BevelOuter := bvNone;
pan.BorderStyle := bsNone;
pan.Ctl3D := false;
pan.Name := 'LayerPan'+what;
pan.Caption := what;
pan.Align := alBottom;
pan.OnMouseDown := panMouseDown;
PanelList.Add(pan);
except
pan.Free;
raise;
end;
end;
procedure TMainForm.panMouseDown(Sender: TObject; Button: TMouseButton; Shift: TShiftState; X, Y: Integer);
var
i: integer;
idu: String;
panui, pan: TPanel;
tmpList: TObjectList;
begin
panui := Sender as TPanel;
panui.ParentColor := false;
panui.BringToFront;
// DRAG DROP STUFF
ReleaseCapture;
panui.Perform(WM_NCLBUTTONDOWN, HTCAPTION, 0);
tmpList := TObjectList.Create(False);
try
for i := 0 to TheContainer.ControlCount - 1 do
begin
if TheContainer.Controls[i] is TPanel then
tmpList.Add(TPanel(TheContainer.Controls[i]));
end;
for i := 0 to tmpList.Count - 1 do
TPanel(tmpList[i]).Align := alBottom;
finally
tmpList.Free;
end;
TheContainer.ScrollInView(panui);
ReOrderPanels;
end;
function SortPanels(Item1, Item2: Pointer): Integer;
begin
Result := TPanel(Item2).Top - TPanel(Item1).Top;
end;
procedure TMainForm.ReOrderPanels;
begin
PanelList.Sort(SortPanels);
// Alternatively:
{
PanelList.SortList(
function(Item1, Item2: Pointer): Integer;
begin
Result := TPanel(Item2).Top - TPanel(Item1).Top;
end
);
}
end;

Answer 2

I think I found my answer using a temporary ObjectList and Extract(Object)
My code that seems to work is:
procedure TMainForm.ReOrderPanels;
var
ctrl:TControl;
pos:TPoint;
pan,panx:TPanel;
bad:boolean;
ord,i:integer;
begin
panelListTMP.Clear;
panelList.OwnsObjects:=false;
// scroll top
TheContainer.VertScrollBar.Position := 0;
// scroll down
TheContainer.VertScrollBar.Position := TheContainer.VertScrollBar.Range;
// get panel
Pos:=TheContainer.ClientOrigin;
Pos.Y:=Pos.Y+TheContainer.Height-5;
ctrl := FindVCLWindow(pos) ;
if ctrl is TPanel then
if TPanel(ctrl).Parent = TheContainer then
begin
pan:=(ctrl as TPanel);
panelListTMP.Add(PanelList.Extract(pan) as TPanel);
end;
ord:=1;
bad:=false;
repeat
repeat
Pos.Y:=pos.Y-1;
until (FindVCLWindow(pos) is TPanel)and(FindVCLWindow(pos)<>pan);
if (FindVCLWindow(pos) is TPanel)and(FindVCLWindow(pos).Name<>'LayerPan') then
begin
pan:=FindVCLWindow(pos) as TPanel;
TheContainer.VertScrollBar.Position := 0;
TheContainer.ScrollInView(pan);
ord:=ord+1;
panelListTMP.Add(PanelList.Extract(pan) as TPanel);
end
else
bad:=true;
until bad=true;
panelList.Clear;
panelListTMP.OwnsObjects:=false;
i:=0;
while (PanelListTMP.Count<>0) do
panelList.Add(PanelListTMP.Extract(PanelListTMP.Items[i]) as TPanel);
panelList.OwnsObjects:=true;
panelListTmp.Clear;
end;