Among many other features and improvements already discussed in other blog posts, RAD Studio 12.3 release offers enhancement in many areas of the VCL library. While the primary focus was on quality improvements, the team also implemented a few small and focused features.
ImageCollection Editor Improvements
The ImageCollection component was introduced a few years ago to help build HighDPI enabled VCL applications. It offers the ability to have multiple versions of the same image at different resolutions, so that the application can use the specific image rather than stretching and scaling it, often with poor results at the UI level.
You can read about this component and its usage at https://docwiki.embarcadero.com/RADStudio/en/Supporting_high-DPI_images_with_the_Image_Collection_and_Virtual_ImageList_components
Fast forward to 12.3, there are some small enhancements to the fairly complex editor for the images in this list, the editor displayed in the image above
- The ImageCollection editor remembers the character selected as the file name and size separator, from the previous use of the dialog. This is particularly handy if you need to add multiple groups of images from the same location.
- The ImageCollection editor supports .ico files, in addition to the other file formats already available.
Also, related to the graphic support in the VCL:
- TPngImage works better when loading images with transparency, when rendered on a scaled palette or loaded in an ImageList
- Displaying popup menus with images should work better
- TGIFImage AnimationSpeed works better
More VCL Quality
Other notable improvements in the VCL include:
- The use of a styled StatusBar on a frame
- Displaying a Checkbox on a Toolbar
- The HeaderControl drawing of CheckBoxes
- ImageMargins for a Button with an image
- The call of OnMeasureItem for an OwnerDraw menu item.
This is just the tip of an iceberg, as the team addressed a large number of customers’ tickets (over 100!) for the VCL library in 12.3, and many other issues in other RAD Studio libraries. However, given the importance of the VCL for our customers, we felt it was worth underlying this work.