[Lazarus] Multi-framework (Embarcadero/Lazarus) property editor for TCollection: best practices?

[Gregory M. Turner]

----- Original Message ----- 

> "Gregory M. Turner" <gmt at malth.us> hat am 19. Oktober 2011 um 08:10
> geschrieben:

> > Wow, is that what I really sound like? tl;dr,ldo
> >
> > What I meant to say was:
> >
> > "I am developing a Delphi+Lazarus TCollection descendant that needs
> > a fancy designer window. What is the best approach to get one's
> > Designer into both IDE's?
> >
> > Thanks, and sorry for so many words.

> Thanks for summing up.

No problem -- sometimes I need to write the Great American Novel before I can figure out what I'm trying to say.  There are worse character flaws, but I sometimes wish I more often had the good sense not to press "Send" :S

> You need two design time packages, the Delphi dpk and the Lazarus
> lpk. Each one needs one unit for the IDE dependent part, for example
> registering a menu item and registering an event when the selected
> designer components changes.
> These two units access the shared unit, which implements your fancy
> designer window. You can safely put the Delphi and Lazarus package
> into one directory. The shared unit uses only the LCL/VCL, which are
> quite compatible, so you probably don't need any compiler directives
> at all.

That sounds perfectly reasonable.  I think I was afraid the Oracle would put a hex on me if I did this, but after trying it the other way, I think she's much more likely to condone this tiny sacrifice.  In fact, by encouraging me to limit the OTA's inevitably wicked and corrupting influence on my design(-er), your suggestion will probably result in a better outcome than if I had simply hacked up an IDE-specific implementation.

Thanks,

-gmt