Novell is now a part of Micro Focus

Borland Delphi 6 and Novell's ActiveX Controls

Articles and Tips: tip

Wolfgang Schreiber
Manager Developer Support
Novell, Inc.

01 Nov 2001


The first release of Borland's Delphi 6 has a problem with the type library import utility that is used to import third-party ActiveX controls into Delphi's IDE.

This Delphi bug incorrectly imports several third-party controls, or it completely fails to import a control. This problem affects controls like Formula One and Lead Tools, but also some of the Novell ActiveX controls.

Even if the control seems to be imported correctly (e.g., like NWDir), errors may occur at run-time.

Typical error messages during the ActiveX import are:

  • Errors about Get_ and Set_ methods

  • Syntax errors about "([..])" constructions

  • Warnings that no return value is specified

Borland US reportedly is aware of the problem and is working on it (as of July 2001), so keep an eye on upcoming updates at the http://www.inprise.com/ devsupport/delphi/.

Here are also some work-arounds that may resolve the issue:

  • If you have Delphi 5, import your ActiveX control with D5, copy the D5 TLB import files (NW*.TLB and NW*.DCR) from the "Delphi5\Imports" directory to the "Delphi6\Imports" directory.

  • Manually edit the generated TLB import files in the "Delphi6\Imports" directory by performing the following steps:

  • If the generated Get_ and Set_ don't match, remove the "Get_ " or "Set_ " If the generated function call is really an array index, change the ( ) pair to [ ] If there are warnings where no return value is specified, simply add "result :=" to the beginning of the line in the getter.

* Originally published in Novell AppNotes


Disclaimer

The origin of this information may be internal or external to Novell. While Novell makes all reasonable efforts to verify this information, Novell does not make explicit or implied claims to its validity.

© Copyright Micro Focus or one of its affiliates