GExperts adds copy and paste for Delphi Tool menu entries

In my last post I wrote about the export and import feature for custom Tools menu entries that GExperts adds to the Delphi IDE. I also mentioned that I was thinking about adding a custom clipboard format for copying and pasting these entries between multiple Delphi instances / versions.
OK, I did that. GExperts now also adds a popup menu to the Tool Properties dialog with two entries:

  • Copy entry to clipboard
  • Paste entry from clipboard

These entries use a custom clipboard format registered with Windows as "Delphi.ToolsEntry". It’s a binary format with the following structure:

  • Size: UInt32 -> the size of the structure
  • Title: array of WideChar, zero terminated
  • Path: array of WideChar, zero terminated
  • WorkingDir: array of WideChar, zero terminated
  • Params: array of WideChar, zero terminated

With this popup menu it is now possible to copy and paste Tools menu entries between multiple instances of the Delphi IDE. This works also between different Delphi versions, so you can copy the entries from Delphi 10.3 to Delphi 6 and vice versa.

There is no new GExperts release for now (I am waiting for the next Delphi point release which should be just around the corner. I’m just guessing, I have no internal knowledge about the release schedule.). In the meantime, if you’d like to get this feature, you will have to compile your own GExperts DLL.

If you would like to comment on this, go to this post in the international Delphi Praxis forum.