Re: [DUG]: My gripe for the week - 3rd party components

[Nicholas Sherlock]

It's semi-bearable when the component writer gives out the source code with their component (So you can debug, update, and use with different versions of Delphi). Components without source code are just not worth the effort.   Cheers, Nicholas Sherlock ----- Original Message ----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Multiple recipients of list delphi Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2003 12:07 PM Subject: [DUG]: My gripe for the week - 3rd party components Hi all   3rd party Components are great - they save a heap of work writing something from scratch (no need to re-invent the wheel). And usually the writers of the components are fairly helpful when it comes to queries.   My gripe is that often these components don't come with much help. I end up spending a lot of time trying various properties on the Object Inspector, trying to get the effect I want.  Instead of spending my time programming (which I enjoy), I can end up spending hours being a "tweaker of properties" on a component which has little instructions!   Mostly components don't come with any electronic manual, only help. Usually the help gives a hint, but doesn't quite give me the scenario I'm looking at. I end up needing to contact the writer and plead for help.   Sometimes it comes down to a bug in the component, which I have to fix or do a work-around for.   Oh well, that's life - but it sure annoys the hell out of me when I have buggy or undocumented components, and have to become a "tweaker of component properties" (a lot of guess work) versus writing some real code.   Dave Jollie Tower NZ IT 09 368 4259