TMlSkinAnimateButton

A button that plays a frame-by-frame animation, for busy indicators or blinking prompts.

Category
Buttons & toolbars
Unit
uMlSkinButton.pas
Inherits from
TMlSkinCustomButtonTMlSkinCustomControl

Notes

  • Animate holds the animation image and its frame count — one picture with the frames laid out in a strip.
  • AnimateSpeed sets the playback speed; smaller is faster.

Example

From the demo MlSkin.MainDemo.v3.0 (.dfm form file)

object btn9: TMlSkinAnimateButton
  Left = 60
  Top = 34
  Width = 30
  Height = 30
  AutoInvalidate = True
  Down = False
  HotFont.Charset = DEFAULT_CHARSET
  HotFont.Color = clWindowText
  HotFont.Height = -11
  HotFont.Name = 'Tahoma'
  HotFont.Style = []
  DropdownMenuOffset.X = -4
  DropdownMenuOffset.Y = -4
  Caption = 'btn3'
  TabOrder = 1
  TabStop = True
  CaptionVisible = False
  Animate.Picture = '.\Res\a2.png'
  Animate.Count = 6

Properties 4

NameTypeDefaultDescription
CaptionOffsetTMlBtnItemOffsetOffset (X, Y) of the caption inside the control, for fine positioning.
CaptionVisibleBooleanWhether the caption is drawn. Turn it off for icon-only buttons.
AnimateTMlAnimatePictureThe animation: Picture is the strip of frames and Count is how many there are.
AnimateSpeedCardinal80Playback speed as the interval between frames in milliseconds; smaller is faster.
Properties of TMlSkinCustomButton 15
NameTypeDefaultDescription
AboutTMlAboutInfoA design-time property: double-clicking it in the Object Inspector opens the MLSkin about box with the component version. It has no effect at run time and is not stored in the .dfm.
AllowAllUpBooleanFalseWhether all buttons in the group may be up at once. With it off, one button in the group always stays down.
IgnoreMouseBooleanFalseIgnores the mouse: the control stops responding and events pass through to whatever is underneath.
CycleDownClickBooleanFalseRepeats the click while the button is held down — useful for spin-style buttons. It fires OnCycleDownClick.
WordWrapBooleanFalseWhether long captions wrap to the next line.
DownBooleanWhether the button is in the pressed state; combined with GroupIndex it behaves like a toggle or a tab.
HotFontTFontFont used while the mouse is over the control, typically a different color or an underline for the hover effect.
GroupIndexInteger0Group number: buttons sharing a number are mutually exclusive, so only one stays down. 0 means no grouping.
DropdownMenuOffsetTMlBtnItemOffsetOffset (X, Y) applied to where the dropdown menu pops up.
PressedOffsetInteger1How many pixels the content shifts down-right while pressed, giving the push-in effect; 0 means no shift.
CanFocusedBooleanTrueWhether the control can take focus. With it off, clicking does not steal focus and Tab skips it.
DefaultBooleanFalseMarks the default button: pressing Enter on the form clicks it.
CancelBooleanFalseMarks the cancel button: pressing Esc on the form clicks it.
ModalResultTModalResult0The result returned to a modal form when the button is clicked, exactly as on the stock button.
ShowFocusFrameBooleanFalseWhether the dotted focus rectangle is drawn.
Events of TMlSkinCustomButton 2
NameTypeDefaultDescription
OnCustomPaintTCustomPaintEventCustom paint event: take over drawing here when you want to paint the button yourself.
OnCycleDownClickTNotifyEventFires repeatedly while the button is held down; requires CycleDownClick.
Properties of TMlSkinCustomControl 5
NameTypeDefaultDescription
AboutTMlAboutInfoA design-time property: double-clicking it in the Object Inspector opens the MLSkin about box with the component version. It has no effect at run time and is not stored in the .dfm.
TransparentBooleanTrueTransparent background: the control skips its own fill and shows the form background (image or color) instead.
ColorTColorclWhiteBackground color of the control; ignored while Transparent is on.
AutoInvalidateBooleanFalseRepaints automatically when the content changes. Turn it on if property changes do not show up.
EraseBackgroundBooleanFalseWhether the background is erased before painting; worth toggling if the control flickers.
Events of TMlSkinCustomControl 4
NameTypeDefaultDescription
OnDPIChangedTMlDPIChangedEventFires when the screen DPI changes, for example when the window moves to a monitor with a different scaling — a good place to re-adjust anything you draw yourself.
OnBackgroundChangingTMlBackgroundEventFires just before the background changes, giving you a chance to adjust what is drawn.
OnBackgroundChangedTMlCustomDrawEventFires after the background has been drawn, so you can paint on top of it.
OnVisibleChangedTNotifyEventFires when the control is shown or hidden.

Only the properties and events MLSkin adds are listed here. Standard VCL properties such as Align, Anchors, Font and OnClick are available too and behave exactly as on the stock controls.

Offline helpA PDF / CHM version is available for offline reading.