VCL Fix Pack 1.4

46 thoughts on “VCL Fix Pack 1.4”

1. Thomas Speck November 20, 2008

   Hello Andreas,

   with VCLFixPack, is there any need for TaskModalBugFix and AppDeActivateZOrderFix ? For Delphi 2007, do we need any longer ContextMenuBugFix and ControlResizeBugFix and MkObjInstLeakFix and RTLVCLOptimize ? For Delphi 2009, do we need HideStackTrashingFix ?

   Were all of these Fixes included in VCLFixPack ?
2. Andreas Hausladen Post authorNovember 20, 2008

   VCL Fix Pack contains all those units, except the RTLVCLOptimize unit which is not a bugfix unit.
3. Edwin Yip November 21, 2008

   Wow! Excellent! This is especially useful for users who are using the old versions of Delphi that will not be updated anymore.

   Edwin.
4. Laurent November 21, 2008

   Hi Andreas,

   Thank you very much for this great work. I don’t understand why CodeGear/Embarcadero has not yet implemented these code fix… It will stay a mystery.
5. Steve Faleiro November 23, 2008

   CodeGear should give you a big big reward!
6. stanleyxu2005 November 24, 2008

   Hi Andreas,

   could you please post the roadmap of it?

   I have made some patches for VCL as well.
   http://stanleyxu2005.blogspot.com/search/label/vcl%20patches

   Stanley
7. Andreas Hausladen Post authorNovember 24, 2008

   A roadmap? I don’t know if a roadmap for such a project makes sense because there is no aim to reach.
8. Ralf November 24, 2008

   Hi Andreas,
   I habe some additional fixes for your unit. The source can be found in QC!

   //http://qc.codegear.com/wc/qcmain.aspx?d=3199
   //http://qc.codegear.com/wc/qcmain.aspx?d=34049
   //http://qc.codegear.com/wc/qcmain.aspx?d=34089
   CodeRedirect(GetActualAddr(Getllmulo), @__llmulo);

   //http://qc.codegear.com/wc/qcmain.aspx?d=34058
   CodeRedirect(GetActualAddr(Getllushr), @__llushr);

   //http://qc.codegear.com/wc/qcmain.aspx?d=34057
   //CodeRedirect(GetActualAddr(Getllshr), @__llshr);

   //http://qc.codegear.com/wc/qcmain.aspx?d=34056
   CodeRedirect(GetActualAddr(Getllshl), @__llshl);

   //http://qc.codegear.com/wc/qcmain.aspx?d=34055
   CodeRedirect(GetActualAddr(Getllumod), @__llumod);

   //http://qc.codegear.com/wc/qcmain.aspx?d=34050
   CodeRedirect(GetActualAddr(Getlldiv), @__lldiv);

   //http://qc.codegear.com/wc/qcmain.aspx?d=34048
   CodeRedirect(GetActualAddr(Getllmul), @__llmul);

   //http://qc.codegear.com/wc/qcmain.aspx?d=34054
   //__llmodo replaced by __llmod
   CodeRedirect(GetActualAddr(Getllmodo), GetActualAddr(Getllmod));

   //http://qc.codegear.com/wc/qcmain.aspx?d=41866
   CodeRedirect(@StrUtils.StuffString, @StuffString);

   //http://qc.codegear.com/wc/qcmain.aspx?d=41553
   CodeRedirect(@StrUtils.DupeString, @DupeString);

   //http://qc.codegear.com/wc/qcmain.aspx?d=41288
   CodeRedirect(@SysUtils.DecodeDateFully, @DecodeDateFully);

   //http://qc.codegear.com/wc/qcmain.aspx?d=40715
   CodeRedirect(@SysUtils.IsLeapYear, @IsLeapYear);

   //http://qc.codegear.com/wc/qcmain.aspx?d=30231
   CodeRedirect(@Math.ArcCscH, @ArcCscH);
9. Ralf November 25, 2008

   What about a new name scheme?

   Fixes:

   IDE Fix Pack
   VCL Fix Pack

   Optimizations:

   IDE Speed Pack (a.k.a. DelphiSpeedUp)
   VCL Speed Pack (a.k.a. RtlVclOptimize)
10. Rich December 1, 2008

    Amazing work Andreas!!!

    I wonder if this bug might be a good candidate for the next VCL Fix Pack:

    “LowerCase() and UpperCase() functions in AnsiStrings unit do not set proper codepage”
    http://qc.codegear.com/wc/qcmain.aspx?d=67686

    I just got rid of a hard-to-find bug by not using UpperCase() in Delphi 2009 + BlackFish SQL–funny thing, I was using Unicode (the bug report is for AnsiString). Maybe the same problem exists for both AnsiString and Unicode.
11. Vladislav December 2, 2008

    Andy, do you can fix the bug DbNavigator paints incorrectly when flat=true in themed mode?
    http://qc.codegear.com/wc/qcmain.aspx?d=52439
12. Seefall December 14, 2008

    Hello Andreas,
    Thank you for your great work. But when I write programs with your VCL-Fix Pack, my programs became about 300k bigger than before. Why not providing the pas directly to fix it?
13. Andreas Hausladen Post authorDecember 14, 2008

    I provide the *.pas file. Or do you mean that I should violate the license and publish the fixed RTL and VCL units? This would also cause problems with future Delphi/C++Builder updates where the update tool will revert the update or doesn’t allow to install the update because the installed files do not match the CRC of the installed files.
14. Wessel December 15, 2008

    Hello Andreas,

    Thank you very much for this great work, please get a job at CodeGear !.
15. Wolf December 17, 2008

    @Seefall
    I had the same increase here.
    Disabled the following two defines what fixed this major increase in my case:

    {.$DEFINE VCLFIXPACK_DB_SUPPORT}
    {.$DEFINE GridFlickerFix}

    Works superb now!
16. stanleyxu2005 December 30, 2008

    Hi Andreas again,

    Your patch unit looks great.
    I (maybe other guys) would be glad to contribute something to fix VCL issues as well.
    Could you please write some technical articles about Delphi Patching?

    Best regards and happy new year ^^)
    stanley
17. MarkF December 31, 2008

    Hi Andreas,

    Thank you for making this available! This solved a problem in my code related to the control resizing bug that only seemed to happen in Vista 64. Great job!! Have a safe and happy New Year!

    -Mark
18. delphi January 29, 2009

    Cool
19. Ronald January 29, 2009

    The fix for “WH_CALLWNDPROC hook (6-2007)” have a problem with the DevExpress Bars Ribbons.
    When you minimize a maximized Application – with Ribbon on MDIForm and a maximized MDIChildrn – and restore it,
    the aligment doesn’t work correct. Without your patch, everything is Ok.

    Any ideas?
    Ronald
20. Andreas Hausladen Post authorJanuary 29, 2009

    I don’t have the DevExpress components so I can’t test this. But if a control is based on the assumption that an endless resizing recursion fixes the alignment, it will be broken because the new align control code aborts the (now) endless loop that isn’t catched by the kernel stack overflow.

    Delphi 2009 also uses the this code (even my comments are in the Controls.pas).
21. MarkF February 24, 2009

    Hi Andreas,

    I was wondering what the status of OPTIMIZED_RESIZE_REDRAW is. Has anyone run into any problems with it? I’ve enabled it in a few of my test programs and haven’t seen any problems yet. Is this the right place to ask? Thanks again for this! I recently noticed QC #59963 in one of my programs and the VCLFixPack solved my problem!

    -Mark
22. Stefan March 4, 2009

    Hi Andreas,

    Does the unit add around 400kB to the size of the compiled executable or am I doing something wrong?
    Thanks anyway for the fixes,
    Stefan
23. Andreas Hausladen Post authorMarch 4, 2009

    The unit itself doesn’t add the 400 KB to your project but the units that it patches are now part of your project. For example if your project doesn’t use database units (DBGrids, DBCtrls) then it now uses it. But you can tell VclFixPack to not patch those units by removing the “{$DEFINE VCLFIXPACK_DB_SUPPORT}” condition in the VclFixPack.pas.
24. Anthony Frazier March 4, 2009

    Thanks very much for these fixes!

    I don’t know if you’re considering any requests, but if you could generate patches for the various problems with 2009’s TDictionary (e.g. QCs 67620, 67558, 68234)
25. Andreas Hausladen Post authorMarch 4, 2009

    I can’t patch TDictionary. Everything that includes generics can’t be patched without altering the unit code itself what will cause interface changes and leads to the “unit xy was compiled with a different version of ab” compiler error.
26. IL March 10, 2009

    Andreas, strange thing happens while trying to open
    http://cc.embarcadero.com/Item/25239
    and
    http://cc.embarcadero.com/item/26282
    also for #59963 it is said “Sorry, you don’t have access to this submission.”
    My main reason was to read about bug #59963 more thoroughly, as I think I have the similar case of out-of-order modal windows not shown above all windows of my application.
    Could you give me advice how to apply more information about it. Thanks for attention.
27. Andreas Hausladen Post authorMarch 10, 2009

    The CodeCentral items 25239 and 26282 are superseded by the VCLFixPack and I have deleted them, especially because their implementation was overhauled in the VCLFixPack and I haven’t updated them.

    For the Quality Central report #59963 you can use this link:
    http://qc.embarcadero.com/wc/qcmain.aspx?d=59963
28. Mohamed Koker March 14, 2009

    Hi Andreas,

    Do these fixes work for applications that use run-time packages?

    Also, do they include a fix for the ValidateTimeStamp function that causes the dreaded ‘0.0 is not a valid timestamp’ error when querying certain tables using the BDE?
29. Andreas Hausladen Post authorMarch 15, 2009

    > Do these fixes work for applications that use run-time packages?

    Yes.

    > Also, do they include a fix for the ValidateTimeStamp function

    Not in the list, so it is not fixed.
30. Mohamed Koker March 15, 2009

    Thanks for the info.
31. Salvor Hardin March 17, 2009

    Hi Andy,

    Thanks for VCLFixPack! I use it in all my Delphi 2009 projects.

    I came across a post about a Delphi 2009 memory corruption bug in TDictionary.TPairEnumerator.MoveNext

    Just mentioning in case you were looking another challenge for the next VCLFixPack.

    The post and code snippet was found here (it turned out to have nothing to do with Eurekalog):

    http://news.eurekalog.com/showthread.php?t=2311
32. Andreas Hausladen Post authorMarch 17, 2009

    Copy&Paste from a comment by me:

    I can’t patch TDictionary. Everything that includes generics can’t be patched without altering the unit code itself what will cause interface changes and leads to the “unit xy was compiled with a different version of ab” compiler error.
33. Mike March 27, 2009

    First, thanks for your excellent work.
    Second, are you aware about this patch, based on your VCLFixPack: D7DoubleBufferedThemeFix? The patch solves the double-buffering problems at least for Delphi 7 and XP themes. I’ve found it here:
    http://www.delphi-forum.de/viewtopic.php?p=550121?&sid=d8208a89cd7356a39ed56e776ce7acd9
    (you have to register in order to download the file).

    I’ve tried it and it worked after I applied the following procedure to the form:

    procedure SetDoubleBufferedDeep(WinControl: TWinControl);
    var
    I: Integer;
    begin
    WinControl.DoubleBuffered := True;
    for I := 0 to WinControl.ControlCount – 1 do
    begin
    if WinControl.Controls[I] is TWinControl then
    SetDoubleBufferedDeep(TWinControl(WinControl.Controls[I]));
    end;
    end;

    Maybe you decide to include this fix to your VCLFixPack.
34. MarkF April 10, 2009

    Hi Andreas,

    I’m noticing that the new improved fix for the z-order issue seems to not work all the time for me. The situation is where my program puts up a modal form while the main form is behind another application. I click on the modal form, bringing it to the front, and close it. The main form is now (usually?) behind the other application instead of in front of it. I didn’t notice this issue with the 1.1 version. This is on my 32bit XP SP3 system by the way. I just thought I’d mention it and also how much I appreciate your fantastic work and the fact that you make this publicly available!

    -MarkF
35. Christian April 19, 2009

    Hi there,

    when I use your FixPack with Advantage Local Server v9.1, it somehow blocks the password property I set to its TAdsConnection and the user must manually enter it.
    That problem only exists as long as the VCLFIXPACK_DB_SUPPORT define is set.

    I just thought I’d mention it.
36. Andreas Hausladen Post authorApril 19, 2009

    Are you sure that it is the VCLFIXPACK_DB_SUPPORT define? Because this only patches the TDBGrid.WMEraseBkGnd method (flicker reduction) and the TDBNavigator.SetFlat method (ControlStyle:=ControlStyle+/-[csOpace]). So only visual things.
    It also adds DBGrids and DBCtrls to the uses clause and that may change the order of unit initialization.
37. Christian April 19, 2009

    Yes, I just reconfirmed it.
    Compiled with the define active – app asked for the password.
    Compiled without the define – worked without any problems.

    As I don’t need those changes in the FixPack, I don’t really care about that behaviour. Just thought every “bug” (on whichever side it is) should be reported. 🙂
38. Christian April 19, 2009

    Oh and I’m using D2009.
39. Richard Dufour: May 1, 2009

    Hi Andreas,

    First of all, thanks for releasing this.

    I noticed the following issue since we installed the VCLFixPack.

    I have a panel aligned alLeft, that is anchored [ akLeft, akTop, akBottom ]. It is beside a splitter and another panel.

    At run time, my panel (on the left) doesn’t respect the akBottom value.

    As soon as something gets resized (the splitter beside it or the form being resized) then my panel is repainted with the akBottom correctly .

    If I also include akRight at design time, the akBottom is respected but I do not want it anchored to the right. Somehow, the VCLFixPack gets rid of my akBottom value, when the program loads.
40. Richard Dufour: May 1, 2009

    Sorry, I should specify, the control I am having an issue here is not the panel but the TTreeView that’s on it.

    Thanks.
41. Richard Dufour: May 1, 2009

    Oh and I’m using Delphi 2007.

    When the panel it sits on has akRight, the TreeView (which is alClient [ akLeft, akTop, akRight, akBottom ] stretches as it should. So it seems to be the parent panel that is affecting the child treeview.
42. Richard Dufour: May 1, 2009

    By adding the following code on the form show, I get around the issue.

    procedure TMyForm.FormShow(Sender: TObject);
    begin
    // We need the combination of the following 2 lines:
    MyTreeView.Align := alLeft; // Should really be alClient as in design time but doesn’t work
    //if set to alClient
    MyTreeView.Anchors := [ akLeft, akTop, akRight, akBottom ];
    …
    end;
43. Nikolay May 22, 2009

    Can you fix this ?
    http://qc.embarcadero.com/wc/qcmain.aspx?d=69856
44. Brave Cobra May 26, 2009

    Are all of these included? http://www.automatedqa.com/support/leaks/leaksd7/
45. sip May 27, 2009

    I’ve fixed this one very annoying QC #67729: Converting Array of String to Variant fails

    *** C:\VCLFixPack.pas 2009-03-03 23:07:24.000000000 -0700
    — R:\VCLFixPack.pas 2009-05-26 19:32:02.000000000 -0700
    ***************
    *** 132,144 ****
    — 132,148 —-
    QC #69752: ToUpper and ToLower with NullString

    – [2009]
    QC #69875: StringBuilder.Replace is incorrect
    QC #67564: Error in TStringBuilder.Replace

    + – [2009]
    + QC #67729: Converting Array of String to Variant fails
    + (http://qc.embarcadero.com/wc/qcmain.aspx?d=67729)

    +
    Changlog:
    2009-03-03:
    Fixed: Rewritten patch for QC #59963 (AppDeActivateZOrderFix) to fix the cause instead of the symptom
    Added: QC #52439: DbNavigator paints incorrectly when flat=true in themed mode
    Added: QC #70441: ToUpper and ToLower modify a Const argument
    Added: QC #69752: ToUpper and ToLower with NullString
    ***************
    *** 236,247 ****
    — 240,255 —-
    {$IF (CompilerVersion >= 18.5) and (CompilerVersion = 20.0}
    Character,
    {$IFEND}
    {$IFDEF VCLFIXPACK_DB_SUPPORT}
    DBGrids, DBCtrls,
    {$ENDIF VCLFIXPACK_DB_SUPPORT}
    + {$IFDEF DynArrayVarTypeFix}
    + Variants,
    + {$ENDIF DynArrayVarTypeFix}
    Graphics, Controls, Forms, Dialogs, StdCtrls, Grids, ComCtrls, Buttons,
    CommCtrl;

    { —————————————————————————- }
    { Helper functions, shared }
    type
    ***************
    *** 2650,2661 ****
    — 2661,2748 —-
    VirtualFree(JumpTable, 0, MEM_RELEASE);
    JumpTable := nil;
    end;
    end;
    {$ENDIF VistaCompareStringFix}
    { —————————————————————————- }
    + { QC #67729: Converting Array of String to Variant fails }
    + {$IFDEF DynArrayVarTypeFix}
    + const
    + tkDynArray = 17;
    + var
    + DynArrayVarTypeHook: TXRedirCode;
    +
    + function VariantsDynArrayVarType(typeInfo: PDynArrayTypeInfo): Integer;
    + begin
    + Result := varNull;
    + if (typeInfo nil) and (typeInfo.Kind = tkDynArray) then
    + begin
    + Inc(PAnsiChar(typeInfo), Length(typeInfo.name));
    + Result := typeInfo.varType;
    +
    + { NOTE: DECL.H and SYSTEM.PAS have different values for varString }
    + if Result = $48 then
    + Result := varString;
    +
    + if Result = $4A then
    + Result := varUString;
    + end;
    +
    + { Validate the Result }
    + if (Result varInt64) and not ((Result = varString) or (Result = varUString))) then
    + VarCastError;
    + end;
    +
    + function GetDynArrayVarTypeAddr : pointer;
    + var
    + P: PAnsiChar;
    + Len: Integer;
    + begin
    + P := GetActualAddr(@Variants.DynArrayToVariant);
    + Dec(P);
    + Len := 0;
    + while Len <= 80 do begin
    + if (P[0] = #$53) and // push ebx
    + (P[1] = #$BB) and // mov ebx, $00000001
    + (P[2] = #$01) and
    + (P[3] = #$00) and
    + (P[4] = #$00) and
    + (P[5] = #$00) and
    + (P[6] = #$85) and // test eax, eax
    + (P[7] = #$C0)
    + then begin
    + Result:= P;
    + Exit;
    + end;
    + Dec(P);
    + Inc(Len);
    + end;
    + Result:= nil;
    + end;
    +
    + var
    + DynArrayVarTypeAddr : pointer;
    +
    + procedure InitDynArrayVarTypeFix;
    + begin
    + DebugLog(‘DynArrayVarTypeFix’);
    + DynArrayVarTypeAddr:= GetDynArrayVarTypeAddr;
    + if DynArrayVarTypeAddr nil then
    + HookProc(DynArrayVarTypeAddr, @VariantsDynArrayVarType, DynArrayVarTypeHook);
    + end;
    +
    + procedure FiniDynArrayVarTypeFix;
    + begin
    + if DynArrayVarTypeAddr nil then
    + UnhookProc(DynArrayVarTypeAddr, DynArrayVarTypeHook);
    + end;
    + {$ENDIF SysUtilsAbortFix}
    + { —————————————————————————- }

    initialization
    {$IFDEF GetNonToolWindowPopupParentFix}
    FixGetNonToolWindowPopupParent;
    {$ENDIF GetNonToolWindowPopupParentFix}

    ***************
    *** 2737,2750 ****
    — 2824,2845 —-
    {$ENDIF StringBuilderFix}

    {$IFDEF VistaCompareStringFix}
    InitCompareStringFix;
    {$ENDIF VistaCompareStringFix}

    + {$IFDEF DynArrayVarTypeFix}
    + InitDynArrayVarTypeFix;
    + {$ENDIF DynArrayVarTypeFix}
    +
    finalization
    // In revers order
    +
    + {$IFDEF DynArrayVarTypeFix}
    + FiniDynArrayVarTypeFix;
    + {$ENDIF DynArrayVarTypeFix}

    {$IFDEF VistaCompareStringFix}
    FiniCompareStringFix;
    {$ENDIF VistaCompareStringFix}

    {$IFDEF StringBuilderFix}
46. Anonymous June 1, 2009

    Looks like VistaProgressBarMarqueeFix
    QC #69294: TProgressBar fails with PBS_MARQUEE and disabled Themes (Vista)
    http://qc.codegear.com/wc/qcmain.aspx?d=69294
    was fixed in Update3 and should be disabled in VCL Fix Pack.

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