ABC Frequently Asked Questions

Design:

• Can't load package ... The specified module could not be found

• Cannot find .dcu file when compiling with the Companion Edition

• Component palette icons corrupted or Delphi fails to load

• Other package version or interface mismatch problems

• How to add ADO support into Delphi 5 Professional

Runtime:

• Access Violation using one of the Form Container components

Can't load package ... The specified module could not be found

This can happen if all of the ABC design packages have been disabled (unchecked) or removed in the Component | Install Packages dialog and you try to activate or add one of the packages. SOLUTION: Add the Shared Property Editors package first (dclABCxx).

Cannot find .dcu file when compiling with the Companion Edition

The "Lite" versions of ABC do not contain any dcu files.  So you must compile all projects with the Project|Options|Packages - Build with Runtime Packages checkbox checked.  The package names list should also include the appropriate runtime package - ABCC for Delphi6 and up, ABCC50, ABCC40, etc. The Library Path must also point to the abc directory containing the relevant .dcp or .bpi file.

Component palette icons corrupted or Delphi fails to load

This problem has been reported to us on a few occasions, where it started to occur just after installing ABC.  Borland has identified this as a known problem with the Microsoft ImageList common control and some video drivers: 

"Some older video drivers (S3 Virge GX, Diamond Viper, Riva TNT, Matrox Millenium, and others) have trouble handling the quantity of images that the Delphi IDE's component palette places in its internal ImageList control. This can cause the component icons to appear shifted or corrupted in the IDE component palette. The solution is to contact your video card vendor for an updated video driver. At the time of this writing, all the video drivers known to exhibit problems with the Microsoft ImageList control have been updated with fixes by the video card vendors.   You can also work around this ImageList problem by reducing or disabling video hardware acceleration in your Windows configuration settings. For instructions, consult your operating system and video hardware documentation." (from Delphi 5 readme.txt)

Other package version or interface mismatch problems

A frequent cause of errors is trying to load incompatible package versions.  This might be reported as a missing function entry point not found in a required package, or as "a device attached to the system is not functioning". 

This could have two common causes:

• Installing a new ABC version into a different directory while an older ABC version is still installed in Delphi.
• Version updates or patches from Borland that are not installed on your machine.

In the first case, just answer No to all the version errors when Delphi asks if you want to load the package next time.  After all the errors, the new installed ABC packages should work properly.

In the second case, you may need to check versions and install additional Update Packs.  We always endeavour to ship our software built for the latest shipping release of each version of Delphi or C++ Builder, with all Update Packs applied. 

Our current Build versions can be checked against the details in your About Box:

• Delphi3 Version 3.02 Build 5.83; 

• Delphi 4 Version 4.0 Build 5.104, Update Pack 2 or 3;

• Delphi 5 Version 5.0 Build 5.62;

• Delphi 6 Version 6.0 Build 6.163;  

• C++ Builder 3 Version 3 Build 3.70; 

• C++ Builder 4 Version 4.0 Build 14.11 Update Pack 1.

If you do not have a corresponding version and update packs where required, please check the latest updates available from http://www.borland.com/devsupport. 

If you have a higher version than these, please check our Release Notes for updates and then contact us at support@obsof.com. 

How to add ADO support into Delphi 5 Professional

The ABC ADO adapter package is only automatically installed to the component palette with the Enterprise edition of Delphi.  If you have purchased the ADO add-on for Delphi 5 Pro, you can add the ABC ADO Adapter class to the IDE. Choose Component | Install Packages | Add and then choose the \abc5\Delphi5\dclABCad.bpl file.

Access Violation when using one of the Form Container components

These problems may occur at runtime using TabcFormPanel, TabcAnimationFrame or one of the abcNotebook components with embedded forms.

The most frequent cause is a coding issue, referencing the Delphi unit variable (var Form1: TForm1) in your code when the ABC container component has created its own different instance of the form.

If embedded forms are not autocreated by Delphi in the project options, or by your code using Application.CreateForm then it's most likely this variable is unassigned.

If the form you want to embed has been autocreated by Delphi and you want to assign it to the container, use the public Form property of TabcFormPanel or TabcPage (in the AnimationFrame).