Turbo C++ 3.0 is no doubt a great IDE but it can’t produce 32bit apps for you.Also it has 64kb memory limitation.But you need to extend your skills with C++,all you need is Borland C++.Borland C++ Builder is the most powerful rapid application tool created by borland.With BCB you can create Win32 console applications or Win32 GUI (graphical user interface) programs.BCB makes use of drag & drop technique to add components onto the form,and you can create application like text editor or browser in few minutes.At the end you have to write code for your components to make it work.Also BCB makes use of C++ that means you have all the benefits of C++ with you.So it’s great journey with BCB when you design application with it.
But learning BCB is not that easy task,there is very limited documentation available on grass-root level.On the internet you can have the components & packages available for it,but very few documentation exist for installing & using them.As a result, I will be starting series that will discuss various topics regarding writing your own windows programs with BCB.But first I’m covering the IDE part for newcomers in BCB 4.x onwards.
Who is this Series For?
This series is for any new user/programmer who is curious about or wants to learn how to write their own windows program using borland c++ builder.Readers of this series are supposed to have an intermediate knowledge of C/C++ or any other programming language.If you are completely new user then i suggest you to read few C++ tutorials before beginning with BCB.
Code & Techniques
The code & technique presented in this series is my perspective to use BCB IDE.You might come up with better technique or know much better than me,in such case please apologize me.Everybody has a different coding style.If there is any better way to do it,please let me know.
Series Publication Schedule
A post from this series is planned to be published every month. To stay up to speed on the series, I suggest you to [subscribe to the onecore feed]
Borland C++Builder ?
Borland C++ builder IDE is a borland product.There are three editions available for it : personal,professional & enterprise.You can learn more about these three editions & download them from [Codegear] or [Borland] . As you are trying to learn windows programming,so i assume that you know how to download & install.
Overview of IDE
When you open the program for the first time,you can see the blank form & other dialogs.You can test the form presented to you by pressing F9 key,this will open up blank window on screen.It has nothing on it,except standard buttons to minimize,maximize and close.
BCB is mainly divided into three parts: Form,object inspector and main window.Form is blank,we have to add components onto it to make them visible on screen.Form has blank “.cpp” file with few lines of code written already so that when you press “RUN”,it shows at least blank window on screen.
Next part is object inspector,it lets you edit or add the properties related to the form or the component dropped onto it.It has two tabs “Properties” & “Events”,with Properties you can adjust color,font,height of any component while Event lets you add control over the response of the component.Object inspector also has object tree view for the components or events added in program.Object inspector is very important as it makes the RAD concept of BCB much easier.
Finally the Main window,it has Standard Menus for IDE operations,Speedbar toolbar that performs quick operations like cut,paste,run,help etc. along with Components toolbar that allows you to add custom window controls so that with few lines of code you can perform much complex task with user interface.
What is component?
Component is the part of IDE that performs dedicated & predefined task for the form.e.g Button or check box.There are variety of component written for BCB & are available in free of cost or commercially.I’ll try to cover most of the free components like scintilla or zip forge in next few articles.
There are many to list here,you can search for more of the components from the resources mentioned above.These sites links to various other component sites.We’ll wrap up things with BCB,in next article we’ll learn more about creating hello world application for console & win32.
Thank you for reading the series introduction. My hope is that this series will prove beneficial to other programmers/readers. Any feedback is welcome.Thank you.