🚀 go-pugleaf

"Marshall" <infsoft@centurytel.net> wrote in message 
news:47dad19c$1@newsgroups.borland.com...

> I keep getting the error during compile time of
>
> "[BCC32 Error] misc100.cpp(11): E2147 'TStringGrid' cannot start a 
> parameter declaration"

That error means that TStringGrid has not been defined yet.  You do not have 
Grids.hpp included in the code, or have not made a forward declaration for 
it, before trying to use it in the function declaration.

> #include <vcl.h>

Including vcl.h by itself is not enough to pull in everything the VCL has to 
offer.  Many times, you still need to include other header files as well. 
In this case, you are trying to use types that are defined in Forms.hpp and 
Grids.hpp.  TForm works fine because vcl0.h always includes Forms.hpp. 
However, if you look at what vcl0.h actually does, you will see that 
Grids.hpp is included only if INC_VCLEXT_HEADERS is defined. 
INC_VCLEXT_HEADERS is defined by vcl4.h.  When you include vcl.h in your 
code, the compiler automatically substitutes it with either vcl1.h, vcl2.h, 
vcl3.h, or vcl4.h, based on the project settings.  Each one of those header 
files defines a different set of options for vcl0.h to use.

So, what is likely happening is that your BCB 5 project is configured in 
such a way that the compiler decides to use vcl4.h, but your BCB 2007 
project is configured in such a way that a different VCL header file is used 
instead, and thus Grids.hpp is not being included automatically.

It is for reasons like this that you should never rely on the compiler's 
internal behavior to do things for you.  If you need to use TStringGrid, 
then you should explicitally include Grids.hpp in your own code.  If vcl.h 
includes Grids.hpp on its own, then your inclusion will simply be ignored. 
But in both cases, TStringGrid will be a known type for your code to use. 
This logic applies to every other data type you ever want to use in any 
project.  Don't make assumptions about what the compiler may or may not 
define automatically.


Gambit

Remy:

Wow! All good info! I'm new to 2007 BUT not to BCB. I appreciate the 
detailed explanation which gives me a good sense of direction. Assuming will 
get me every time!

I haven't seen a good reference yet as to what includes are needed for the 
different VCL objects??? Is there a good reference under a specific section 
that I'm obviously missing???

BTW: I'm not real thrilled about the upgrade (because of these little 
oddities, not unique to Borland) but I needed to get current for support 
reasons.

Thank you

Marshall



"Remy Lebeau (TeamB)" <no.spam@no.spam.com> wrote in message 
news:47dadc3e$1@newsgroups.borland.com...
>
> "Marshall" <infsoft@centurytel.net> wrote in message 
> news:47dad19c$1@newsgroups.borland.com...
>
>> I keep getting the error during compile time of
>>
>> "[BCC32 Error] misc100.cpp(11): E2147 'TStringGrid' cannot start a 
>> parameter declaration"
>
> That error means that TStringGrid has not been defined yet.  You do not 
> have Grids.hpp included in the code, or have not made a forward 
> declaration for it, before trying to use it in the function declaration.
>
>> #include <vcl.h>
>
> Including vcl.h by itself is not enough to pull in everything the VCL has 
> to offer.  Many times, you still need to include other header files as 
> well. In this case, you are trying to use types that are defined in 
> Forms.hpp and Grids.hpp.  TForm works fine because vcl0.h always includes 
> Forms.hpp. However, if you look at what vcl0.h actually does, you will see 
> that Grids.hpp is included only if INC_VCLEXT_HEADERS is defined. 
> INC_VCLEXT_HEADERS is defined by vcl4.h.  When you include vcl.h in your 
> code, the compiler automatically substitutes it with either vcl1.h, 
> vcl2.h, vcl3.h, or vcl4.h, based on the project settings.  Each one of 
> those header files defines a different set of options for vcl0.h to use.
>
> So, what is likely happening is that your BCB 5 project is configured in 
> such a way that the compiler decides to use vcl4.h, but your BCB 2007 
> project is configured in such a way that a different VCL header file is 
> used instead, and thus Grids.hpp is not being included automatically.
>
> It is for reasons like this that you should never rely on the compiler's 
> internal behavior to do things for you.  If you need to use TStringGrid, 
> then you should explicitally include Grids.hpp in your own code.  If vcl.h 
> includes Grids.hpp on its own, then your inclusion will simply be ignored. 
> But in both cases, TStringGrid will be a known type for your code to use. 
> This logic applies to every other data type you ever want to use in any 
> project.  Don't make assumptions about what the compiler may or may not 
> define automatically.
>
>
> Gambit
>
> 

"Marshall" <infsoft@centurytel.net> wrote in message 
news:47daded3$1@newsgroups.borland.com...

> I haven't seen a good reference yet as to what includes
> are needed for the different VCL objects???

That is described in each class's documentation.  The "unit" is the header 
file to include.  If you look at TStringGrid's documentation, you will see 
that it is declared in the "Grids" unit, so you would include "Grids.hpp" 
(VCL units that are written in Pascal always use ".hpp" as the file 
extension in C++).

> BTW: I'm not real thrilled about the upgrade (because of
> these little oddities, not unique to Borland)

This time around, it was more of a bug in your own code than a quirk of BCB. 
You simply were not including Grids.hpp in your code when you should have 
been all along.  BCB 5 managed to hide that detail from you and work around 
it, whereas BCB 2007 was able to point it out to you.  So the upgrade 
actually helped you by pointing out a bug you needed to fix.


Gambit

Remy:

Dang! I was hoping I could blame something other than me :-)

Again, I appreciate the help!

Thank you

Marshall




"Remy Lebeau (TeamB)" <no.spam@no.spam.com> wrote in message 
news:47dae8eb$1@newsgroups.borland.com...
>
> "Marshall" <infsoft@centurytel.net> wrote in message 
> news:47daded3$1@newsgroups.borland.com...
>
>> I haven't seen a good reference yet as to what includes
>> are needed for the different VCL objects???
>
> That is described in each class's documentation.  The "unit" is the header 
> file to include.  If you look at TStringGrid's documentation, you will see 
> that it is declared in the "Grids" unit, so you would include "Grids.hpp" 
> (VCL units that are written in Pascal always use ".hpp" as the file 
> extension in C++).
>
>> BTW: I'm not real thrilled about the upgrade (because of
>> these little oddities, not unique to Borland)
>
> This time around, it was more of a bug in your own code than a quirk of 
> BCB. You simply were not including Grids.hpp in your code when you should 
> have been all along.  BCB 5 managed to hide that detail from you and work 
> around it, whereas BCB 2007 was able to point it out to you.  So the 
> upgrade actually helped you by pointing out a bug you needed to fix.
>
>
> Gambit
>
>