Open Tools API

This website will go offline in April 2024 and will no longer exist – there will be no further updates to this website from now onwards (Jun 2022). Most of the content including the blog articles and code have been moved to https://GitHub.com/DGH2112.

I will still continue to develop but in a much-reduced capacity so if you want to know what has been updated, get a GitHub account (free) and subscribe to the various repositories to get notifications.

Overview

This is the main page for all my Open Tools API information.

Note: All of these solutions no longer have a page here on the website as their details, source code and binaries are now available on GitHub.

The Delphi Open Tools API Book

My book on the Delphi Open Tools API can now be found on GitHub.

Open Tools API Projects

Below is a list of the current Open Tools API (OTA) Projects that are available. You can select them from their hyperlinks below, from their page above or from the menu on the right. You will also be able to download the up to date source code from https://github.com/DGH2112/.

3rd Party Help This expert/wizard provides you with the ability to configure additional 3rd party CHM files to be available in the IDE. The source code, binaries and wiki can be found on GitHub here.
AutoSave This expert/wizard provides a simple autosave functionality for the IDE. The source code, binaries and wiki for this can be found on GitHub here.
Browse and Doc It This expert/wizard provides a replacement source code browser for the IDE along with documentation capabilities, profile instrumentation functionality and the ability to create DUnit projects and modules from your code. The source code, binaries and wiki for this can be found on GitHub here.
C++ OTA Template This is a C++ Builder implementation of the Delphi OTA Template. At the moment it just shows you how to create both package and DLL plug-ins for the IDE in C++ Builder however it will eventually allow you to specify and create C++ OTA plug-ins by creating the basic code for you. The source code, binaries and wiki for this can be found on GitHub here.
Debugging Tools A RAD Studio IDE plug-in to add CodeSite.Send() messages to a breakpoint for debugging. Useful for code you cannot alter like the RTL/VCL. The source code, binaries and wiki for this can be found on GitHub here.
IDE Explorer This expert/wizard provides you with the ability to view the published internals in the IDE through a tree view structure of the forms/components alongside a list view of their properties, methods and events. The source code, binaries and wiki for this can be found on GitHub here.
IDE Fonts This expert/wizard provides you with the ability to change the size of the fonts in the IDE. The source code, binaries and wiki for this can be found on GitHub here.
IDE Help Helper This is a new IDE expert/wizard to provide F1 context help when the IDE cannot find any context information in its help system. If this is the case then the wizard options a browser window in the IDE with a web search for the context word. This can be found on GitHub here.
IDE Notifications This plug-in provides a log of many of the IDE notifications and how to implement them. The source code, binaries and wiki for this can be found on GitHub here.
Integrated Testing Helper This expert/wizard provides the ability to run external command-line statements before and after the compilation of a project and the ability to zip all the source/executables into a single zip file. The source code, binaries and wiki for this can be found on GitHub here.
Message View Helper This plug-in provides a configurable shortcut that allows you to display and hide the Message View and the docked area in which it’s hosted. It also can hide the message view after a period of time after a successful compilation. The code for this can be found on GitHub here.
Package Viewer This expert/wizard provides you with the ability to view the packages installed into the IDE and examine details about the packages including the components in the package. The source code, binaries and wiki for this can be found on GitHub here.
OTA Template This project contains the code which is associated with a number of blog posts and the Open Tools API book. The source code, binaries and wiki for this can be found on GitHub here.

The Open Tools API Index

An index of the Open Tools API interfaces (from the ToolsAPI.pas file) can be found here where they are cross-referenced to the blog articles.

Compiling and Installation

For information on installing any of my experts/wizards please read Compiling and Installing my RAD Studio IDE plug-ins.