Storing the Internal Date

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To store the date for the calendar, you need a private field to hold the date and a runtime-only property that provides access to that date.

Adding the internal date to the calendar requires three steps:

1. Declare a private field to hold the date: type

  TSampleCalendar = class(TCustomGrid)
  private
    FDate: TDateTime;
  .
  .
  . 

class PACKAGE TSampleCalendar : public TCustomGrid
{
public:
    __property TDateTime CalendarDate = {read=FDate, write=SetCalendarDate, nodefault};
    .
    .
    .
}; 
class PACKAGE TSampleCalendar : public TCustomGrid
{
private:
    TDateTime FDate;
    .
    .
    .
};

2. Initialize the date field in the constructor:

   constructor TSampleCalendar.Create(AOwner: TComponent);
   begin
     inherited Create(AOwner);         { this is already here }
     .                                  { other initializations here }
     .
     .
     FDate := Date;                    { get current date from RTL }
   end;
   

   
   

   __fastcall TSampleCalendar::TSampleCalendar(TComponent *Owner) : TCustomGrid(Owner)
   {
     .
     .
     .
     FDate = FDate.CurrentDate();
   }
   

3. Declare a runtime property to allow access to the encoded date.You'll need a method for setting the date, because setting the date requires updating the onscreen image of the control:

   type
     TSampleCalendar = class(TCustomGrid)
     private
       procedure SetCalendarDate(Value: TDateTime);
     public
       property CalendarDate: TDateTime read FDate write SetCalendarDate;
     .
     .
     .
   procedure TSampleCalendar.SetCalendarDate(Value: TDateTime);
   begin
     FDate := Value;                { set new date value }
     Refresh;                       { update the onscreen image }
   end; 
   

   class PACKAGE TSampleCalendar : public TCustomGrid
   {
   private:
       void __fastcall SetCalendarDate(TDateTime Value);
       .
       .
       .
   }; 
   void __fastcall TSampleCalendar::SetCalendarDate(TDateTime Value)
   {
     FDate = Value;                      // Set the new date value
     Refresh();                          // Update the onscreen image
   }
   

See Also

• Tracking the Date