[lazarus] Add lcl component

[Marc Weustink]

+ From: Mattias Gaertner [mailto:nc-gaertnma at netcologne.de]
+
+ On Mon, 11 Nov 2002 10:54:28 +0300
+ Àíäðåé Âåëèêîðåä÷àíèí <andrew at rodtext.indi.ru> wrote:
+
+ > Hi, All!
+ >
+ > I download lcl component "TCheckbook" as "checkbook.pas" file. What I
+ > mast be do for include this component in component tool bar?
+
+ There is no easy way to do it.
+ Lazarus has still no package system, because the freepascal compiler does
+ not yet fully support dynamic libraries.
+ So, the only possibility is to change the IDE source and compile your
+ component in.
+
+ Probably the package system will not be available in the next few
+ months, so
+ perhaps we should make it more easy to add components:
+ - adding a new directory 'components/custom' where the pp/pas
+   files of the extra components should be placed.
+ - When the flag CustomIDEComps is defined, the IDE uses a unit
+   'CustomIDEComponents' and calls 'RegisterCustomIDEComponents'.
+   We will provide a template file for this unit, but the unit itself
+   will not be in the cvs sources. So users can create it and update
+   cvs without overwriting their changes.
+
+ By adding the new directory to the lazarus search paths, all makefiles and
+ rebuilding mechanism will work as if the units are part of the normal
+ sources. For example: 'Build Lazarus' will rebuild everything
+ including the
+ new custom components and will jump to errors in the sources if any.
+
+ So, for instance, Tony can add a new section to his page: How to use
+ TCheckBook in the lazarus component palette. Users will copy the
+ checkbook.pas and customidecomponents.pas to the components/custom
+ directory, add -dCustomIDEComps to the 'Configure Build Lazarus' dialog,
+ then do a clean rebuild, restart the IDE and voila: TCheckBook is
+ available in the form editor.
+
+ Comments?!

Seems OK to me.

Marc