How can I create a most recently used file list in Delphi 2009?

Question

I have an TActionManager, and a TActionMainMenuBar, and I know how to add an TActionClientItem for each MRU file to the main menu bar. But do I have to create a separate action for each MRU file in the list? Or is there a way to create just one action, and somehow pass a tag or something to the action's OnExecute event based on which MRU file was clicked?

Delphi's help says: "For more information about MRU lists, sample code, and methods for finding actions in lists, see FindItemByAction and FindItemByCaption in the online Help." But I can't find anything in those subjects that is helpful, and certainly not sample code. I'd really like to avoid using a 3rd party component to get this done.

Answer 1

I use code as follows, but you may need to knock it around some. The only thing very obviously missing is IAbbreviatedFileName which essentially wraps up the Windows API function PathCompactPath. You'll want some way to abbreviate very long file names and that's my preferred choice. Sorry for such a huge dump of code, but somebody may find something of use within!

type
  TFileAwareMenuItem = class(TMenuItem)
  private
    FFileName: string;
  public
    property FileName: string read FFileName write FFilename;
  end;

  TMRU = class
  private
    FParent: array of TMenuItem;
    FMenuItemStart: array of TMenuItem;
    FMenuItemFinish: array of TMenuItem;
    FMenuCount: Integer;
    FRegistryKey: string;
    FOwner: TCustomForm;
    FMRUFileNames: TStringList;
    FAction: TAction;
    function GetCount: Integer;
    function GetItem(Index: Integer): string;
    procedure SetAction(Value: TAction);
    procedure Read;
    procedure Write;
    procedure UpdateMenu;
  public
    constructor Create(const RegistrySubKey: string; const Owner: TCustomForm);
    destructor Destroy; override;
    procedure RegisterBoundingMenuItems(Start, Finish: TMenuItem);
    procedure Add(const FileName: string);
    procedure Delete(ItemNum: Integer);
    property Count: Integer read GetCount;
    property Action: TAction read FAction write SetAction;
    property Items[Index: Integer]: string read GetItem; default;
  end;

const
  MRUSize=9;
  AppRegistryKey='??put your apps registry key here??';

var
  Registry: TRegistry;

constructor TMRU.Create(const RegistrySubKey: string; const Owner: TCustomForm);
begin
  inherited Create;
  FRegistryKey := Format('%s\%s', [AppRegistryKey, RegistrySubKey]);
  FOwner := Owner;
  FMRUFileNames := TStringList.Create;
  Read;
end;

destructor TMRU.Destroy;
begin
  Write;
  FreeAndNil(FMRUFileNames);
  inherited;
end;

procedure TMRU.RegisterBoundingMenuItems(Start, Finish: TMenuItem);
begin
  inc(FMenuCount);
  SetLength(FParent, FMenuCount);
  SetLength(FMenuItemStart, FMenuCount);
  SetLength(FMenuItemFinish, FMenuCount);

  FMenuItemStart[FMenuCount-1] := Start;
  FMenuItemFinish[FMenuCount-1] := Finish;
  Assert(Start.Parent=Finish.Parent);
  FParent[FMenuCount-1] := Start.Parent;

  UpdateMenu;
end;

procedure TMRU.UpdateMenu;
var
  Intf: IAbbreviatedFileName;
  i, j: Integer;
  FileName: string;
  NewMenuItem: TFileAwareMenuItem;
begin
  Intf := FOwner as IAbbreviatedFileName;
  for i := 0 to FMenuCount-1 do begin
    j := FMenuItemStart[i].MenuIndex+1;
    while j<FMenuItemFinish[i].MenuIndex do begin
      FParent[i][j].Free;
    end;
    for j := 0 to Count-1 do begin
      NewMenuItem := TFileAwareMenuItem.Create(FMenuItemStart[i].Owner);
      NewMenuItem.Action := Action;
      NewMenuItem.FileName := FMRUFileNames[j];
      FileName := ReplaceString(Intf.AbbreviatedFileName(NewMenuItem.FileName, False), '&', '&&');
      NewMenuItem.Caption := Format('&%d. %s', [j+1, FileName]);
      FParent[i].Insert(FMenuItemFinish[i].MenuIndex, NewMenuItem);
    end;
    FMenuItemStart[i].Visible := (Count>0) and (FMenuItemStart[i].MenuIndex>0);
    FMenuItemFinish[i].Visible := (FMenuItemFinish[i].MenuIndex<FParent[i].Count-1);
  end;
end;

procedure TMRU.Read;
var
  i: Integer;
  s: string;
begin
  if Registry.OpenKey(HKEY_CURRENT_USER, FRegistryKey) then begin
    FMRUFileNames.Clear;
    for i := 0 to MRUSize-1 do begin
      s := Registry.ReadString(IntToStr(i+1), '');
      if s<>'' then begin
        FMRUFileNames.Add(s);
      end;
    end;
    UpdateMenu;
    Registry.CloseKey;
  end;
end;

procedure TMRU.Write;
var
  i: Integer;
  ValueName: string;
begin
  if Registry.OpenKey(HKEY_CURRENT_USER, FRegistryKey, KEY_ALL_ACCESS, True) then begin
    Registry.WriteInteger('Size', MRUSize);
    for i := 0 to MRUSize-1 do begin
      ValueName := IntToStr(i+1);
      if i<Count then begin
        Registry.WriteString(ValueName, FMRUFileNames.Strings[i]);
      end else begin
        if Registry.ValueExists(ValueName) then begin
          Registry.DeleteValue(ValueName);
        end;
      end;
    end;
    Registry.CloseKey;
  end;
end;

function TMRU.GetCount: Integer;
begin
  Result := Min(FMRUFileNames.Count, MRUSize);
end;

function TMRU.GetItem(Index: Integer): string;
begin
  Result := FMRUFileNames[Index];
end;

procedure TMRU.SetAction(Value: TAction);
begin
  if Value<>FAction then begin
    FAction := Value;
    UpdateMenu;
  end;
end;

procedure TMRU.Add(const FileName: string);
var
  i, Index: Integer;
begin
  Index := -1;
  for i := 0 to FMRUFileNames.Count-1 do begin
    if FileNamesEqual(FileName, FMRUFileNames[i]) then begin
      Index := i;
      break;
    end;
  end;

  if Index<>-1 then begin
    FMRUFileNames.Move(Index, 0);
  end else begin
    FMRUFileNames.Insert(0, FileName);
    if FMRUFileNames.Count>MRUSize then begin
      FMRUFileNames.Delete(FMRUFileNames.Count-1);
    end;
  end;

  UpdateMenu;
  Write;
end;

procedure TMRU.Delete(ItemNum: Integer);
begin
  FMRUFileNames.Delete(ItemNum);
  UpdateMenu;
end;

initialization
  Registry := TRegistry.Create;
  if not Registry.KeyExists(AppRegistryKey) then begin
    Registry.CreateKey(AppRegistryKey);
  end;

finalization
  FreeAndNil(Registry);

Answer 2

You'll have a separate TAction for each menu item anyway so that they can have distinct Caption values. But you don't have to have separate OnExecute event handlers. The event handler will receive a reference to the action in its Sender parameter. Use the sender's Tag property to refer to a list where your file names are kept. (Don't use the Caption property to discover which file to open; that restricts you from doing nice things like adding accelerators or abbreviating unwieldy paths.)

That's what the documentation assumes you'd do, too. FindItemByAction returns the first item that the given action is attached to. If you attach a single action to all your MRU menu items, then you won't be able to use that function to tell you which menu was selected. On the other hand, the menu item wouldn't hold any more information than the associated action would, so I see no reason to look for the menu item anyway. Just use the information from the action directly.