mshape.txt

能够显示多种图形效果的构件太好用了！！方便

WHAT'S A MULTISHAPE?
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TMultiShape is a simple but powerful VCL component which allows you to
create many graphic effects on your forms.
The basic idea is very simple: you can specify a base shape which
can be repeated horizontally, vertically or in both directions.
The basic shape can be a geometrical shape (rectangle, ellipse, triangle.
diamond or line) or a text label.
The text can be rotated and each shape can have a shadow effect.
Using a single char with the Wingdings font you can have a lot of
other base shapes: stars, arrows, checks and so on.
The repetition of the basic shape creates a texture and since TMultiShape
acts as a transparent layer you can use several layers to get very complex
textures.
However the best way to understand what you can do with it is to
have a look to the demo program which comes with the component.

HINTS
.....

TMultiShape is very easy to use and the best way to understand its
capabilities is to explore it with the object inspector.
I'll just give you some hints about the most important properties.

ShapeType: allows you to choose the base shape among msRectangle,
msDiamond, msTriangle, msElllipse, ms RoundRect, msLine, msText.

ShapeW and ShapeH: these two properties set the size of the base
shape.

XSpacing and YSpacing: these two properties allow you to set the
specing between the base shapes when repetition is enabled (see
RepeatMode).

XMargin and YMargin: you can shift the shape grid horizontally and
vertically with these properties.

RepeatMode: this property determines how the base shape is repeated
in the component area. Allowed values are : rpNone, rpHoriz, rpVert
and rpBoth (default). If you set RepeatMode to rpNone and ShapeType
to msText you have a Rotating Label component. Isf RepeatMode is
set to rpNone the component size and the base shape size are
synchronized. When you change ShapeW Width is changed accordingly
and so on.

Angle: sets the orientation of the base shape, the value range
goes from -179 to 180 degrees. You can set any value for msText but
only 45 degrees steps for msTriangle and msLine. Only TrueType
fonts can be rotated.

Filled: determines if the base shape is filled or it's just an outline.
The BorderWidth property sets the width of the outline. At the moment
msRoundRect can't  be an outline.

Border: if you set this property to true a border is drawn around
the base shape. This doesn't apply to msText and msLine. The color
of the border can be changed with BorderColor.

BorderWidth: sets the width of the border. For msLine this sets
the thickness of the line.

ShadowX and ShadowY allow you to move the shadow (if Shadow s set to
true, of course).

Align: it's a standard VCL property and works like the one in TPanel.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
..........................

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?

Nothing ... oh well, almost nothing.
MultiShape is distributed under the innovative ANYWARE concept.
If you are happy with it, but only if you are very happy,
you can send me anything you want:

postcards, e-mail messages (if you are lazy), photos of your cat,
cookies, donoughts, candies,
books, newspapers, magazines,
10$, 100$ or 1 million $ (if your name is Bill Gates),
coins, pins and stamps,
...
...

CAN I REALLY SEND ANYTHING?

Unfortunately we don't accept snakes, crocodiles and kangaroos,
we used to accept them but, quite surprisingly, this created some
problems with our neighbours...

AND IF I'M VERY HAPPY WITH MULTISHAPE AND I DON'T SEND YOU ANYTHING?

Well, let's speak about my hobbies: VOODOO for example...

LAST WORD
.........

Thamks to all the people who contributed to the discussion about Delphi with
their components and examples, I learned a lot from them.

Enjoy multishape and be happy!

Enrico


...............................
Enrico Lodolo
via F. Bolognese 27/3
40129 Bologna
E-mail: [e-mail]
CompuServe: 100275,1255
Fax: [phone]
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