Is it possible to create TShape controls programmatically?

Question

I wonder if there is some way to create TShape controls programmatically during runtime. For example, insteed of putting 100 shapes, hide them and when the program runs, show them, 100 shapes could be created over some time (5 shapes created in 5 seconds, 10 in 10 seconds, 15 in 15 seconds, and so on).

Something like: procedure TForm.Timer1Timer(Sender: TObject); begin With Tshape.Create(self) do begin Parent := self; Left := xxx end; end; ?? — bummi, Apr 27 '13 at 10:38
GExperts and CnWizards have button to convert any visual component into code. Perhaps such questions "how make VCL components a code" are all be considered duplicate... — Arioch 'The, Apr 29 '13 at 13:28

score 3 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 10:25

You should not draw and animate by using controls. Instead, you should draw manually using plain GDI or some other API. For an example, see this example or this example from one of your questions.

Anyhow, a simple answer to your question: Put a TTimer on your form and set its Interval to 250, and write:

unit Unit1;

interface

uses
  Windows, Messages, SysUtils, Variants, Classes, Graphics, Controls, Forms,
  Dialogs, ExtCtrls;

type
  TForm1 = class(TForm)
    Timer1: TTimer;
    procedure Timer1Timer(Sender: TObject);
  private
    { Private declarations }
    FShapes: array of TShape;
  public
    { Public declarations }
  end;

var
  Form1: TForm1;

implementation

{$R *.dfm}

procedure TForm1.Timer1Timer(Sender: TObject);
begin
  SetLength(FShapes, Length(FShapes) + 1); // Ugly!
  FShapes[high(FShapes)] := TShape.Create(Self);
  FShapes[high(FShapes)].Parent := Self;
  FShapes[high(FShapes)].Width := Random(100);
  FShapes[high(FShapes)].Height := Random(100);
  FShapes[high(FShapes)].Left := Random(Width - FShapes[high(FShapes)].Width);
  FShapes[high(FShapes)].Top := Random(Height - FShapes[high(FShapes)].Height);
  FShapes[high(FShapes)].Brush.Color := RGB(Random(255), Random(255), Random(255));
  FShapes[high(FShapes)].Shape := TShapeType(random(ord(high(TShapeType))))
end;

end.

@user2296565: It's all there. It's a private field of the form class. — Andreas Rejbrand, Apr 27 '13 at 10:46

Is it possible to create TShape controls programmatically?

1 Answers1