Introducing The Delphi Dev. Shell Tools

August 19, 2013 by Rodrigo 11 Comments

Logof Update : This project now is hosted on Github.

I just started a new Delphi Project called Delphi Dev. Shell Tools the aim of this shell extension is facilitate some common tasks like open, build and edit a Delphi project , as always the project is hosted in the Code Google site and you can checkout the full source code using any Subversion client. Let me know any comment or suggestion via this blog, to report any issue or suggest a new feature please use the issue page of the project.

Installer

Download the installer from here

Common Tasks for .pas, .dpr, .inc, .pp, .dpk, . dproj, .frm, .fmx, .rc extensions

Copy file path to the clipboard : Copy the path of the selected file to the clipboard.
Copy full file-name to the clipboard : Copy the full file-name (Path + Name) of the selected file to the clipboard.
Open In Notepad : Open the selected file in the notepad editor.
Open In associated text editor : Open the selected file in the associated text editor.
Open cmd here : Open the cmd.exe application in the folder of the selected file
Open RAD Studio Command prompt here : Open the RAD Studio Command prompt (of any installed Delphi version) in the folder of the selected file

Format Source Code : Format the source code using the formatter.exe tool (included since Delphi 2010)
Run Touch : Executes the touch.exe tool
Open with Delphi(N) : Open the selected file with any version of Delphi or Rad Studio installed

Compile resource file : Compile the selected file (.rc) with BRCC32.exe tool

Specific Tasks for .dpr, .dproj files (Rad Studio Projects), .groupproj (Group Projects)

Run MSBuild (Default Settings) : Execute MSBuild using the default settings of the selected .dproj file
Run MSBuild With .. : Execute MSBuild using any of the platforms and targets detected in the selected .dproj file
MSBuild: Allow to select and execute the MSBuild tool (associated to any version of the RAD Studio installed) using the default configuration of the project

Author: Rodrigo

Just another Delphi guy.

11 thoughts on “Introducing The Delphi Dev. Shell Tools”

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Robert
August 19, 2013 at 7:12 pm

Really useful – thanks

Edwin Yip | dev of LIVEditor
August 20, 2013 at 1:32 am

Hi Rodrigo, great tool! Thanks!

To me the most useful feature is the option to choose between ‘debug’ and ‘release’ when running with MSBuild, that’ll make the process of deploying new versions of my live web code editor easier :)

One question tough – will the ‘Run MS Build with…’ commands do full rebuilds or just compile?

- Rodrigo
  August 20, 2013 at 1:49 am
  
  Hi Edwin, the option ‘Run MS Build with…’ makes a full rebuild (use the /target:build parameter), anyway in a the future version you will able edit the settings of the MSBuild too :)
  
  - Edwin Yip | dev of LIVEditor
    August 20, 2013 at 3:28 am
    
    @Rodrigo, thanks for the info. I tried compiling the project, It seems that VersionInfo.res is missing?
    
    - Rodrigo
      August 20, 2013 at 10:54 am
      
      This file is generated by the build script, try running the Build_x64Debug.bat file.
      
Thomas Mueller
August 22, 2013 at 11:42 am

This sounds a lot like what I was trying to achieve with my project dzPopupMenu
(https://sourceforge.net/projects/dzcontextmenu/), but dzPopupMenu is less Delphi specific. Have a look, it might give you some ideas.

EMB
September 2, 2013 at 2:18 pm

Hi Rodrigo,

I don’t think that “copy full file-name to clipboard” and “open CMD here” is necessary.
You can accomplish this with holding SHIFT + Left Click
I would like that someone pointed why they use BRCC32, MSBuild in daily work. Not a simple comment, but an useful blog post.
Thanks for your continuous work. I will try to do some tests next week.
Thank you! (:

- Rodrigo
  September 4, 2013 at 6:02 pm
  
  This kind of option will useful depending if you uses the Delphi IDE or a script to Build and Deploy your projects. For example the advantage of use the BRCC32 tool from this shell extension is that you can compile a resource file (.rc) directly without open the Delphi IDE or a cmd window to execute the BRCC32.exe, and the same goes for the MSBuild options, in this case you can create your release and debug versions of your project directly without open the Delphi IDE. Anyway thanks for your feedback.
  
  - EMB
    September 13, 2013 at 8:39 pm
    
    But there are no many info on using them (BRCC32 and MSBuild) in daily work. Well, at least, not by Delphi programmers.
    
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