“Cannot create a method for an unnamed component”

Question

The following code (when registered in a package) gives us a component called TParentComponent registered in the pallet Test.

However, when you

Answer 1

Design time requirement summary

• You want or need a custom component that is capable of holding multiple child components.
• Those child components are to be created by that custom component.
• The child components need to be able to be referenced in code by their name as any normal component that is placed design time; thus not Form.CustomComponent.Children[0], but Form.Child1 instead.
• Therefore, the child components need to be declared in - and thus added to - the source file of the module (a Form, Frame or DataModule).
• The child components are to be managed by the default IDE collection editor.
• Therefore, a child needs to completely be wrapped into a TCollectionItem.

Evaluation of current code

You are going quite well already, but besides your question, the code has a few points for improvement:

• The collections you create are never freed.
• A new collection is created every time you show the collection editor.
• If you delete a child from the TreeView, then the old corresponding CollectionItem stays, resulting in an AV.
• The design time and run time code is not split.

Solution

Here is a rewritten, working version of your code, with the following changes:

• The special component is called Master, because Parent confuses too much with Delphi's Parent (there are two kind already). Therefore a child is called Slave.
• Slaves are held in a TComponentList (unit Contnrs) to automatically update the list in case of individual slave destruction. The ComponentList owns the slaves.
• For every single Master, only one Collection is created. These Master-Collection-combinations are held in a separate TStockItems ObjectList. The List owns the stock items, and the list is freed in the Finalization section.
• GetNamePath is implemented so that a slave is shown as Slave1 in the Object Inspector, instead of as SlaveWrappers(0).
• An extra property editor is added for the event of the TSlaveWrapper class. Somehow GetFormMethodName of the default TMethodProperty results in the error you are getting. The cause will ly in Designer.GetObjectName, but I do not know exactly why. Now GetFormMethodName is overriden, which solves the problem from your question.

Remarks

Changes made in the order of the items in the collection (with the arrow buttons of the collection editor) are not preserved yet. Try yourself to get that implemented.

In the TreeView, each Slave is now an immediate child of the Master, instead of being child of the Slaves property, as normally seen with collections:

For this to happen, I think TSlaves should descend from TPersistent, and the ComponentList would be wrapped inside it. That sure is another nice tryout.

Component code

unit MasterSlave;

interface

uses
  Classes, Contnrs;

type
  TMaster = class;

  TSlave = class(TComponent)
  private
    FMaster: TMaster;
    FOnTest: TNotifyEvent;
    procedure SetMaster(Value: TMaster);
  protected
    procedure SetParentComponent(AParent: TComponent); override;
  public
    function GetParentComponent: TComponent; override;
    function HasParent: Boolean; override;
    property Master: TMaster read FMaster write SetMaster;
  published
    property OnTest: TNotifyEvent read FOnTest write FOnTest;
  end;

  TSlaves = class(TComponentList)
  private
    function GetItem(Index: Integer): TSlave;
    procedure SetItem(Index: Integer; Value: TSlave);
  public
    property Items[Index: Integer]: TSlave read GetItem write SetItem; default;
  end;

  TMaster = class(TComponent)
  private
    FSlaves: TSlaves;
  protected
    procedure GetChildren(Proc: TGetChildProc; Root: TComponent); override;
  public
    constructor Create(AOwner: TComponent); override;
    destructor Destroy; override;
  published
    property Slaves: TSlaves read FSlaves;
  end;

implementation

{ TSlave }

function TSlave.GetParentComponent: TComponent;
begin
  Result := FMaster;
end;

function TSlave.HasParent: Boolean;
begin
  Result := FMaster <> nil;
end;

procedure TSlave.SetMaster(Value: TMaster);
begin
  if FMaster <> Value then
  begin
    if FMaster <> nil then
      FMaster.FSlaves.Remove(Self);
    FMaster := Value;
    if FMaster <> nil then
      FMaster.FSlaves.Add(Self);
  end;
end;

procedure TSlave.SetParentComponent(AParent: TComponent);
begin
  if AParent is TMaster then
    SetMaster(TMaster(AParent));
end;

{ TSlaves }

function TSlaves.GetItem(Index: Integer): TSlave;
begin
  Result := TSlave(inherited Items[Index]);
end;

procedure TSlaves.SetItem(Index: Integer; Value: TSlave);
begin
  inherited Items[Index] := Value;
end;

{ TMaster }

constructor TMaster.Create(AOwner: TComponent);
begin
  inherited Create(AOwner);
  FSlaves := TSlaves.Create(True);
end;

destructor TMaster.Destroy;
begin
  FSlaves.Free;
  inherited Destroy;
end;

procedure TMaster.GetChildren(Proc: TGetChildProc; Root: TComponent);
var
  I: Integer;
begin
  for I := 0 to FSlaves.Count - 1 do
    Proc(FSlaves[I]);
end;

end.

Editor code

unit MasterSlaveEdit;

interface

uses
  Classes, SysUtils, MasterSlave, Contnrs, DesignEditors, DesignIntf, ColnEdit;

type
  TMasterEditor = class(TComponentEditor)
  private
    function Master: TMaster;
  public
    procedure ExecuteVerb(Index: Integer); override;
    function GetVerb(Index: Integer): String; override;
    function GetVerbCount: Integer; override;
  end;

  TMasterProperty = class(TPropertyEditor)
  private
    function Master: TMaster;
  public
    procedure Edit; override;
    function GetAttributes: TPropertyAttributes; override;
    function GetValue: String; override;
  end;

  TOnTestProperty = class(TMethodProperty)
  private
    function Slave: TSlave;
  public
    function GetFormMethodName: String; override;
  end;

  TSlaveWrapper = class(TCollectionItem)
  private
    FSlave: TSlave;
    function GetName: String;
    function GetOnTest: TNotifyEvent;
    procedure SetName(const Value: String);
    procedure SetOnTest(Value: TNotifyEvent);
  protected
    function GetDisplayName: String; override;
  public
    constructor Create(Collection: TCollection); override;
    constructor CreateSlave(Collection: TCollection; ASlave: TSlave);
    destructor Destroy; override;
    function GetNamePath: String; override;
  published
    property Name: String read GetName write SetName;
    property OnTest: TNotifyEvent read GetOnTest write SetOnTest;
  end;

  TSlaveWrappers = class(TOwnedCollection)
  private
    function GetItem(Index: Integer): TSlaveWrapper;
  public
    property Items[Index: Integer]: TSlaveWrapper read GetItem; default;
  end;

implementation

type
  TStockItem = class(TComponent)
  protected
    Collection: TSlaveWrappers;
    Designer: IDesigner;
    Master: TMaster;
    procedure Notification(AComponent: TComponent; Operation: TOperation);
      override;
  public
    destructor Destroy; override;
  end;

  TStockItems = class(TObjectList)
  private
    function GetItem(Index: Integer): TStockItem;
  protected
    function CollectionOf(AMaster: TMaster; Designer: IDesigner): TCollection;
    function Find(ACollection: TCollection): TStockItem;
    property Items[Index: Integer]: TStockItem read GetItem;
      default;
  end;

var
  FStock: TStockItems = nil;

function Stock: TStockItems;
begin
  if FStock = nil then
    FStock := TStockItems.Create(True);
  Result := FStock;
end;

{ TStockItem }

destructor TStockItem.Destroy;
begin
  Collection.Free;
  inherited Destroy;
end;

procedure TStockItem.Notification(AComponent: TComponent;
  Operation: TOperation);
var
  I: Integer;
begin
  inherited Notification(AComponent, Operation);
  if Operation = opRemove then
    for I := 0 to Collection.Count - 1 do
      if Collection[I].FSlave = AComponent then
      begin
        Collection[I].FSlave := nil;
        Collection.Delete(I);
        Break;
      end;
end;

{ TStockItems }

function TStockItems.CollectionOf(AMaster: TMaster;
  Designer: IDesigner): TCollection;
var
  I: Integer;
  Item: TStockItem;
begin
  Result := nil;
  for I := 0 to Count - 1 do
    if Items[I].Master = AMaster then
    begin
      Result := Items[I].Collection;
      Break;
    end;
  if Result = nil then
  begin
    Item := TStockItem.Create(nil);
    Item.Master := AMaster;
    Item.Designer := Designer;
    Item.Collection := TSlaveWrappers.Create(AMaster, TSlaveWrapper);
    for I := 0 to AMaster.Slaves.Count - 1 do
    begin
      TSlaveWrapper.CreateSlave(Item.Collection, AMaster.Slaves[I]);
      Item.FreeNotification(AMaster.Slaves[I]);
    end;
    Add(Item);
    Result := Item.Collection;
  end;
end;

function TStockItems.GetItem(Index: Integer): TStockItem;
begin
  Result := TStockItem(inherited Items[Index]);
end;

function TStockItems.Find(ACollection: TCollection): TStockItem;
var
  I: Integer;
begin
  Result := nil;
  for I := 0 to Count - 1 do
    if Items[I].Collection = ACollection then
    begin
      Result := Items[I];
      Break;
    end;
end;

{ TMasterEditor }

procedure TMasterEditor.ExecuteVerb(Index: Integer);
begin
  case Index of
    0: ShowCollectionEditor(Designer, Master,
      Stock.CollectionOf(Master, Designer), 'Slaves');
  end;
end;

function TMasterEditor.GetVerb(Index: Integer): String;
begin
  case Index of
    0: Result := 'Edit slaves...';
  else
    Result := '';
  end;
end;

function TMasterEditor.GetVerbCount: Integer;
begin
  Result := 1;
end;

function TMasterEditor.Master: TMaster;
begin
  Result := TMaster(Component);
end;

{ TMasterProperty }

procedure TMasterProperty.Edit;
begin
  ShowCollectionEditor(Designer, Master,
    Stock.CollectionOf(Master, Designer), 'Slaves');
end;

function TMasterProperty.GetAttributes: TPropertyAttributes;
begin
  Result := [paDialog];
end;

function TMasterProperty.GetValue: String;
begin
  Result := Format('(%s)', [Master.Slaves.ClassName]);
end;

function TMasterProperty.Master: TMaster;
begin
  Result := TMaster(GetComponent(0));
end;

{ TOnTestProperty }

function TOnTestProperty.GetFormMethodName: String;
begin
  Result := Slave.Name + GetTrimmedEventName;
end;

function TOnTestProperty.Slave: TSlave;
begin
  Result := TSlaveWrapper(GetComponent(0)).FSlave;
end;

{ TSlaveWrapper }

constructor TSlaveWrapper.Create(Collection: TCollection);
begin
  CreateSlave(Collection, nil);
end;

constructor TSlaveWrapper.CreateSlave(Collection: TCollection; ASlave: TSlave);
var
  Item: TStockItem;
begin
  inherited Create(Collection);
  if ASlave = nil then
  begin
    Item := Stock.Find(Collection);
    FSlave := TSlave.Create(Item.Master.Owner);
    FSlave.Name := Item.Designer.UniqueName(TSlave.ClassName);
    FSlave.Master := Item.Master;
    FSlave.FreeNotification(Item);
  end
  else
    FSlave := ASlave;
end;

destructor TSlaveWrapper.Destroy;
begin
  FSlave.Free;
  inherited Destroy;
end;

function TSlaveWrapper.GetDisplayName: String;
begin
  Result := Name;
end;

function TSlaveWrapper.GetName: String;
begin
  Result := FSlave.Name;
end;

function TSlaveWrapper.GetNamePath: String;
begin
  Result := FSlave.GetNamePath;
end;

function TSlaveWrapper.GetOnTest: TNotifyEvent;
begin
  Result := FSlave.OnTest;
end;

procedure TSlaveWrapper.SetName(const Value: String);
begin
  FSlave.Name := Value;
end;

procedure TSlaveWrapper.SetOnTest(Value: TNotifyEvent);
begin
  FSlave.OnTest := Value;
end;

{ TSlaveWrappers }

function TSlaveWrappers.GetItem(Index: Integer): TSlaveWrapper;
begin
  Result := TSlaveWrapper(inherited Items[Index]);
end;

initialization

finalization
  FStock.Free;

end.

Registration code

unit MasterSlaveReg;

interface

uses
  Classes, MasterSlave, MasterSlaveEdit, DesignIntf;

procedure Register;

implementation

procedure Register;
begin
  RegisterClass(TSlave);
  RegisterNoIcon([TSlave]);
  RegisterComponents('Samples', [TMaster]);
  RegisterComponentEditor(TMaster, TMasterEditor);
  RegisterPropertyEditor(TypeInfo(TSlaves), TMaster, 'Slaves',
    TMasterProperty);
  RegisterPropertyEditor(TypeInfo(TNotifyEvent), TSlaveWrapper, 'OnTest',
    TOnTestProperty);
end;

end.

Package code

requires
  rtl,
  DesignIDE;

contains
  MasterSlave in 'MasterSlave.pas',
  MasterSlaveEdit in 'MasterSlaveEdit.pas',
  MasterSlaveReg in 'MasterSlaveReg.pas';

Answer 2

A sufficient "workaround" was found on About.com's "Creating Custom Delphi Components, Part 2, Page 4 of 5" article.

Full sample source is on their article, and works (seemingly) with all versions of Delphi.

However, it should be noted that this solution isn't perfect as it doesn't allow you to separate the Collection Editor from the Parent and Child components (meaning you have to produce the source for both components to enable the Collection Editor to work, and place that in your runtime package).

For my needs right now, this will do... but if anyone can find a better solution based directly on the example code posted in my question, that'd be great (and I'll mark that answer as Correct should anyone provide it).