In short – it does not “compile” your RC-file if it is placed in directory named starting with dot! I’m not sure you get the point because of my “broken english”, so I’ll show you an example: lets say you have directory D:\Source\.TEST\Project and my.rc file there. When you open command prompt, navigate to that folder and execute “brcc32 my.rc” you’ll get 32-byte (empty!) my.res file. No error messages!

I didn’t  found any QC reports/forum messages on this subject. Current version of brcc32 is 5.40 (Delphi7-2007) and it still has the bug. Be careful!

And tiny screenshot (yeah, I’m using FAR manager )

Just got some time for my own little crazy ideas. Like this one: make ugly Delphi toolbar look a bit better. Instead of black/white images I wanted to see gray-scaled ones. So, this is how it looked before:

…and this is how it looks now:

Feel the difference? Interested in how to do this – continue reading…

So, main trick – replace TCustomImageList.DoDraw with my own implementation and according to Enabled parameter draw normal or gray-scaled image. I created design-time package (you can download sources from Google Code Project) which patches vcl.bpl in memory after it loads.

Note – this works only if gradient toolbars are turned on! This may be helpful for D2010 users.

That’s all I wanted to do. If you are interested in development of this idea or need some help – feel free to comment this topic.

UPDATE #1:  Uploaded sources to Google Code: http://code.google.com/p/delphi-nice-toolbar/

There was a question,  something like “What would you like to see in further Delphi releases?”. And I want Generics-enabled VCL. Yeah, Generics are great, but when you are doomed to write TMyClass(ListView1.Items[0].Data).DoSomething you feel like in Stone Age.

I liked Delphi since the beginning of times. And it’s a big pleasure to read about it’s evolution. I hope it really isn’t dead.