GExperts 1.3.27

Released: 2026-03-21

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Changes since 1.3.28

Changes since version 1.3.26 (released 2026-02-07)

New Features

• Configuration dialog: Real-time warning when two enabled experts share the same keyboard shortcut, showing the shortcut and the conflicting expert names; updates immediately when shortcuts or enabled state change
• Configuration dialog: Fixed shortcut warning label being partially hidden behind button panel
• Code Formatter: Added option to use identifiers from Uses Clause Manager for capitalization (feature #218)
• Code Proofreader: Added option to use identifiers from Uses Clause Manager for case correction (feature #218)
• Code Formatter: Added option to align assignment operators (:=) at a fixed column position
• Code Formatter: Added options for enum indentation: one member per line, leading/trailing commas, break after opening parenthesis (feature #198)
• Code Formatter: Grouped line break checkboxes by construct type in config dialog
• Reverse Statement: Replaced simple function name pairs with configurable regex-based reversal rules (feature #14)
• Reverse Statement: Default rules now correctly handle Read/Write method transformations (e.g. ReadString/WriteString)
• Reverse Statement: Added configuration dialog with interactive Test button
• Reverse Statement: Redesigned configuration dialog with two-column grid (match/replacement) replacing raw text editor (feature #14)
• Reverse Statement: Added edit sub-dialog for adding/editing individual reversal rules with real-time regex validation and test (feature #14)
• Reverse Statement: Moved source files to dedicated Source/ReverseStatement/ directory (feature #14)
• DfmFilter: New standalone command-line tool to detect and remove Delphi 2006+ Margins/AlignWithMargins properties from DFM files
• Uses Clause Manager: Added core sorting/grouping logic for uses clauses by namespace prefix (feature #181, feature #128)
• Uses Clause Manager: Added Sort button and Auto Sort checkbox to the dialog (feature #181)
• Uses Clause Manager: Made prefix groups and separator style configurable in the options dialog (feature #181)
• ShowGxMessageBox: Added optional owner parameter for centering on parent forms
• GxInspect: Added TCP-based UI inspection server for debugging GExperts forms (disabled by default, enable with --enable-gxinspect build flag)
• GxInspect: Added action commands: EXPERTS, EXECUTE, CONFIGURE, SETBOUNDS, CLOSE, CLICK, GETPROP, SETPROP, QUIT
• GxInspect: Added OPENFILE, SHOWDESIGNER and DESIGNSCREENSHOT commands for form designer screenshots
• GxInspect: Added -t timeout option with retry logic for waiting until the server becomes available
• GxInspect: Added GXCONFIG command to open the main GExperts configuration dialog
• GxInspect: GETPROP and SETPROP now support dotted property paths (e.g. Font.Size, Font.Name)
• GxInspect: Control name now supports [Index] syntax for accessing unnamed children (e.g. rg_FilterIdentifiers[0] for TGroupButton inside TRadioGroup)
• Configuration: Added option to disable IDE theming for GExperts forms (Delphi 11+, requires IDE restart)
• Class Browser: Added toolbar toggle to show/hide implementation-section classes, with greyed icons to distinguish them from interface-section classes (bug #24)
• Rename Identifier: New scope-aware editor expert (Ctrl+Alt+R) that renames identifiers within a single unit, supporting local, class, and unit-level scopes with shadowing protection (feature #182)
• Rename Components: Shift+F2 now forwards to Rename Identifier when the code editor is focused, so the same shortcut works in both the form designer and code editor
• Rename Identifier: Renaming a component field in source now also renames the component in the form designer (with warning label in dialog)
• Rename Identifier: Dialog now shows identifier kind (variable, constant, type, parameter, field, property, method), declared type, and scope with interface/implementation distinction (feature #182)
• Rename Identifier: Conflict detection warns when the new name clashes with a visible identifier (200ms debounce, informational only) (feature #182)
• Rename Components: After renaming a component, source code references are also renamed (optional, controlled by new checkbox in config)
• Declare Variable: New editor expert that declares an undeclared identifier as a local variable, class field, or property with type inference and configurable insertion point
• Declare Variable: Type inference from literals, booleans, nil, constructors, existing variable types, function return types, and parameter types of locally declared functions/methods
• Declare Variable: Type inference from compiler intrinsic functions (Length, High, Low, Ord, Chr, Copy, Pos, Assigned, etc.)
• Declare Variable: Type inference from external units via Uses Clause Manager — resolves function return types, parameter types, enum value types, and typed constant types from units in the current uses clause
• Declare Variable: Type inference for overloaded intrinsics (Abs, Sqr, Pred, Succ) based on argument type analysis, with alternative type suggestions shown in a dropdown
• Declare Variable: Type field changed to combobox with dropdown for selecting alternative types when multiple are possible (e.g. Integer/Cardinal/Int64/UInt64/Extended for Abs)
• Declare Variable: External overloaded functions now collect all distinct return types as alternatives
• Declare Variable: Added accelerator hotkeys (Alt+T, Alt+I, Alt+R, Alt+W) for Type, Insert at, Read specifier, and Write specifier fields
• Declare Variable: Type inference now resolves inherited methods — covers inherited Method, Self.Method, Obj.Method on ancestors, and unqualified method calls inside class method bodies (e.g. s := ClassName resolving to ShortString via TObject)
• Duplicate Line: New editor expert that duplicates the current line, inserting a copy immediately below and placing the cursor at the same column on the new line
• Duplicate Instance dialog: Added option to close the second IDE instance (feature #179) (by Achim Kalwa)

Bug Fixes

• Code Formatter: Fixed wrong indentation for comment at start of unit (bug #479)
• Declare Variable: Field declarations no longer add an F prefix — the identifier is used as-is
• Declare Variable: Fixed field insertion landing after method declarations — function return types and method parameters were falsely detected as fields
• Declare Variable: All visibility sections (private, strict private, protected, strict protected, public, published) are now offered for field/property insertion in fixed order, with the option to create new sections
• Declare Variable: Default insertion point for fields and properties is now the private section
• Declare Variable: Cursor now stays on the identifier after inserting a declaration above the current line

• Declare Variable: Fixed existing-variable warning label overlapping controls below when the message wraps to multiple lines
• Uses Clause Manager: Fixed anonymous enum values in set of (...) declarations not being indexed in the UCM cache (bug #478)
• Rename Identifier: Fixed renaming method parameters not propagating between class declaration and implementation (feature #182)
• Rename Identifier: Result is now correctly scoped to its enclosing function instead of being treated as a unit-level identifier; nested procedures refer to the enclosing function's Result, nested functions shadow it (feature #182)
• Rename Components: Shift+F2 only forwards to Rename Identifier when Rename Identifier has no shortcut of its own
• Rename Identifier: Fixed identifier not detected when cursor is right after it (e.g. after selecting text or on semicolon/paren following an identifier)

• Uses Clause Manager: Line wrapping now respects IDE Right Margin setting instead of hardcoded 80 columns

• PasteAs / Convert Raw Strings: Renamed configuration dialog to "String Conversion Options" and added a note that these settings are shared between Paste Strings As, Convert Raw Strings and Clipboard History experts (bug #362)
• PasteAs / Convert Raw Strings: Fixed "List index out of bounds (0)" error when selected lines contain no quoted strings
• ToDo List / Bookmarks: Fixed non-ASCII ANSI characters (e.g. Chinese, Polish) being corrupted in Delphi 6/7 by skipping the unnecessary UTF-8 conversion for pre-Delphi 8 builds (bug #176)
• Reverse Statement: Fixed regex matching bare-dot expressions like .ReadInteger() which produced invalid code (feature #14)
• Backup Project: Show actual matched files instead of wildcard patterns in file list (bug #19)
• Backup Project: Added ListView with Path, File Name, Size, and Last Modified columns
• Backup Project: Added {#+BACKUP} directive for recursive folder search
• Backup Project: Added {#-BACKUP} directive for exclude patterns
• Code Proofreader: AutoCorrect now triggers when pressing Enter after typing a word (bug #21)
• Code Formatter: "Never indent var declaration" no longer affects "and"/"or" in if conditions (bug #468)
• Code Formatter: Generic detection now handles dot-qualified type names like System.TJSONObject (bug #471)
• Instant Grep: Fixed wrong colors when form is restored by IDE docked desktop (bug #470)
• DPI Scaling: bsDialog forms now correctly scale their size at non-100% DPI (was disabled for all forms since 2024-05-18)
• DPI Scaling: Fixed form font not scaling back down when moving a form from a higher-DPI monitor to a lower-DPI monitor, without reintroducing bug #439 (double-scaled fonts when all monitors use the same >100% scaling)
• Uses Clause Manager: Replaced TRadioGroup with TGroupBox + TRadioButton in configuration dialog
• Uses Clause Manager: Fixed radio button spacing in configuration dialog and improved DPI-aware layout (anchoring, ArrangeControls, Help button anchoring)
• Rename Components: Improved DFM layout to prevent button clipping at non-100% DPI
• Edit Search Path: Dialog no longer grows on each open with mixed-DPI monitor setups (bug #472)
• Replace Components: Replacing components with sub-components now works again in Delphi 13 (Embarcadero fixed the underlying OTA bug)
• Code Formatter: Fixed wrong indentation of continuation lines in multiline repeat-until conditions (bug #473)
• Code Formatter: Fixed wrong indentation of begin/end in anonymous functions/procedures after := assignment (wronly filed as feature request #165)
• Procedure List: Fixed (* inside Delphi 12+ triple-quoted multi-line strings being misinterpreted as ANSI comment start, causing methods below the string to disappear (bug #475)
• Code Formatter: Fixed missing space before at in raise ... at P statements (bug #476)
• Code Formatter: Fixed missing indent for continuation lines in mid-line multiline block comments when IndentComments is active (bug #367)
• Expert Manager: Fixed duplicate entries and wrong DLL path shown when the same expert name exists in both enabled and disabled registries (bug #447)
• Procedure List: Anonymous methods (procedure/function without a name) no longer create bogus entries and no longer break the body range of the enclosing procedure (bug #63)
• Class Browser: Fixed inheritance panel hint showing form title instead of class name
• Class Browser: Fixed ClassHierarchyFont setting always saving as 'Arial' instead of the user's chosen font
• Class Browser: Fixed SetInfoViewMode clearing treeview selection even when mode didn't change
• Class Browser: Fixed potential crash when parsing empty source files (nil dereference on empty FileContent)
• Class Browser: Fixed potential crash from dangling pointers when removing projects or files (OnChange firing during node deletion)
• Class Browser: Added nil check for empty treeview in GetInheritedList
• Class Browser: Removed Application.ProcessMessages from print loop to prevent re-entrant UI interactions
• Class Browser: Added circular inheritance detection to prevent infinite loop from corrupt cache files
• Class Browser: Fixed line number always 0 for generic class/interface declarations like TList<T> or TFoo<T: IBar> (bug #36)
• Class Browser: Fixed TClassBrowswerFilters typo (renamed to TClassBrowserFilters)
• Class Browser: Fixed nested type declarations (class/record inside class) having their members attributed to the outer class instead of being skipped (bug #248)
• Class Browser: Nested classes now show with fully qualified names (e.g. TOuterClass.TInnerClass) in tree and list views (bug #248)
• Class Browser: Fixed Print Class Hierarchy printing duplicate nodes for deep inheritance trees (bug #355)
• Source Export: Replaced 16-color grid with full color dialog for highlighting colors (bug #119)
• Uses Clause Manager: Fixed nested $IFNDEF/$ELSE not being handled correctly by the unit exports parser — SkipToEndif now recurses into nested $IFNDEF blocks, matching the existing $IFDEF handling (bug #232)
• Build: Added __BuildEverything.cmd — master release build script that builds all DLLs, standalone tools, and installers in sequence
• Build: Fixed MakeInstallers.cmd to propagate exit codes — each iscc.exe call is now checked and the script stops on first failure
• Build: Added _BuildNoPause.cmd as a no-pause wrapper for __build.cmd; __build.cmd now accepts --nowait and forwards it to each __Build_Project.cmd; on build failure in interactive mode a prompt is shown with Abort/Retry (default, press Enter)/Continue options
• Build: Fixed doBuildProject.cmd :dcc32 silently succeeding when no .dpr file is found (dcc32.exe with no project returns 0); now fails with an explicit error
• Build: Fixed doBuildProject.cmd error paths (wrong .NET Framework for Rio, missing Borland.Delphi.Targets for Delphi 2007) to use exit /b 1 instead of goto :done/goto :eof
• Build: Fixed doBuildStandAlone.cmd to propagate exit codes — all precondition failures now use exit /b 1, both msbuild calls now check errorlevel, success paths use exit /b 0
• Unit Tests: Fixed _BuildProject.cmd failure paths in all unit test projects (including UnitTestsFormatter) using exit /b 1 instead of goto :done so build failures are correctly propagated to the bash wrapper
• Unit Tests: Fixed I/O error 105 in TestDeclareVariable and TestRenameIdentifier console mode by calling AttachConsole/AllocConsole before any WriteLn

Contributors

• Thomas Mueller (twm)
• Achim Kalwa
• freeman35