<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!--

Documentation for LCL (Lazarus Component Library) and LazUtils (Lazarus 
Utilities) are published under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 
International public license.

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https://gitlab.com/freepascal.org/lazarus/lazarus/-/blob/main/docs/cc-by-sa-4-0.txt

Copyright (c) 1997-2025, by the Lazarus Development Team.

-->
<fpdoc-descriptions>
<package name="lcl">
<!--
====================================================================
IniPropStorage
====================================================================
-->
<module name="IniPropStorage">
<short>
Contains a component that stores Form Session Properties in INI format.
</short>
<descr>
<p>
In this unit you can find an implementation of a name/value pair storage 
container in INI format. This container will get the Form's Session Properties 
that you setup in <link id="#LCL.Forms.TForm">TForm.SessionProperties</link> 
and read/write them on the file you specify in 
<link id="#lcl.inipropstorage.TIniPropStorage.IniFileName">
TIniPropStorage.IniFileName</link>.
</p>
<p>
<file>inipropstorage.pas</file> is part of the Lazarus Component Library 
(<b>LCL</b>).
</p>
</descr>

<!-- unresolved type references -->
<element name="Classes"/>
<element name="SysUtils"/>
<element name="IniFiles"/>
<element name="LazUTF8"/>
<element name="Forms"/>

<element name="TIniFileClass">
<short>
Class of <link id="#fcl.IniFiles.TCustomIniFile">TCustomIniFile</link>.
</short>
<descr/>
<seealso/>
</element>

<element name="TCustomIniPropStorage">
<short>
Implements the base class for storage of form session properties in an INI file.
</short>
<descr>
<p>
<var>TCustomIniPropStorage</var> is a TFormPropertyStorage descendant 
which defines a class used to store form session properties to a file 
using the INI format. It introduces properties and methods needed to access the 
INI file used as the storage mechanism for the class.
</p>
<p>
Use the SessionPropperties property in the TForm or a TFrame instance which 
owns the class to define the components and property names stored using the 
storage mechanism.
</p>
<p>
Use IniFileName to specify the path and file name where session properties are 
stored in IniFile.
</p>
<p>
Use IniSection to specify the name for a section where session properties are 
stored. When omitted, session properties stored at the root level in IniFile.
</p>
<p>
Use Active to enable or disable read/write access to the INI file storage for 
the class instance.
</p>
<p>
Use the event handlers in the class to perform actions needed before or during 
save and restore operations using the session properties.
</p>
</descr>
<seealso>
<link id="TIniPropStorage"/>
<link id="#lcl.forms.TForm">TForm.SessionProperties</link>
<link id="#lcl.forms.TFormPropertyStorage">TFormPropertyStorage</link>
<link id="#lcl.jsonpropstorage.TJSONPropStorage">TJSONPropStorage</link>
<link id="#lcl.xmlpropstorage.TXMLPropStorage">TXMLPropStorage</link>
</seealso>
</element>

<!-- private -->
<element name="TCustomIniPropStorage.FCount"/>
<element name="TCustomIniPropStorage.FReadOnly"/>
<element name="TCustomIniPropStorage.FIniFile"/>
<element name="TCustomIniPropStorage.FIniFileName"/>
<element name="TCustomIniPropStorage.FIniSection"/>

<!-- protected -->
<element name="TCustomIniPropStorage.IniFileClass">
<short>
Returns the <link id="#fcl.IniFiles.TIniFile">TIniFile</link> class type.
</short>
<descr/>
<errors/>
<seealso/>
</element>
<element name="TCustomIniPropStorage.IniFileClass.Result">
<short>The class <link id="#fcl.IniFiles.TIniFile">TIniFile</link>.</short>
</element>

<element name="TCustomIniPropStorage.GetIniFileName">
<short>
Gets the value for the IniFileName property.
</short>
<descr/>
<seealso>
<link id="TCustomIniPropStorage.IniFileName"/>
</seealso>
</element>
<element name="TCustomIniPropStorage.GetIniFileName.Result">
<short>
Value for the IniFileName property.
</short>
</element>

<element name="TCustomIniPropStorage.RootSection">
<short>
Returns the name of the INI section where values are stored.
</short>
<descr>
<p>
<var>RootSection</var> is an overridden <var>String</var> function in 
TCustomIniPropStorage. It ensures that the value in IniSection property is used 
as the root section (when assigned). If IniSection has not been assigned, the 
inherited method is called to build the section name using the Name or Class 
name for the Root component in the class instance.
</p>
</descr>
<seealso>
<link id="TCustomIniPropStorage.IniSection"/>
<link id="#lcl.propertystorage.TCustomPropertyStorage.RootSection">TCustomPropertyStorage.RootSection</link>
<link id="#lcl.propertystorage.TCustomPropertyStorage.Root">TCustomPropertyStorage.Root</link>
</seealso>
</element>
<element name="TCustomIniPropStorage.RootSection.Result">
<short>
The value for the RootSection identifier.
</short>
</element>

<element name="TCustomIniPropStorage.IniFile">
<short>
Provides access to the TCustomIniFile instance for the class.
</short>
<descr>
<p>
<var>IniFile</var> is a read-only <var>TCustomIniFile</var> property which 
provides access to properties and methods in the underlying INI file used to 
store values for session properties. The property is used in the implementation 
of methods which read or write values using the section, identifier, and value 
for the session properties.
</p>
<p>
IniFile is (re)allocated (as needed) at run-time in the StorageNeeded method. 
It is not (re)created at design-time. IniFile is freed (when needed) in the 
FreeStorage method.
</p>
<p>
Use IniFileName to specify the qualified path including file name for the INI 
file.
</p>
</descr>
<seealso>
<link id="TCustomIniPropStorage.DoReadString"/>
<link id="TCustomIniPropStorage.DoWriteString"/>
<link id="TIniFileClass"/>
<link id="#fcl.inifiles.TCustomIniFile">TCustomIniFile</link>
</seealso>
</element>

<!-- public -->
<element name="TCustomIniPropStorage.StorageNeeded">
<short>
Creates or recreates the underlying INI file storage for the class instance.
</short>
<descr>
<p>
<var>StorageNeeded</var> is an overridden <var>Boolean</var> function in 
<var>TCustomIniPropStorage</var>. It ensures that the IniFile property is 
created or recreated when the method is called. The value in the ReadOnly 
argument is assigned to an internal member in the class instance; IniFile is 
recreated if the value in the member has been changed since the class was 
created.
</p>
<remark>
IniFile is not created or stored in the class instance at design-time.
</remark>
<p>
StorageNeeded is called from methods in ancestor classes when the Active 
property is enabled, including: Save, Restore, SaveProperties, 
RestoreProperties, ReadString, WriteString, ReadInteger, WriteInteger, and 
EraseSection.
</p>
<p>
See FreeStorage for the actions performed when the storage for the class 
instance is no longer needed.
</p>
<p>
Use Active to control whether access using the INI file storage is enabled.
</p>
<p>
Use IniFileName to specify the qualified path including file name for the INI 
file storage.
</p>
</descr>
<seealso/>
<link id="TCustomIniPropStorage.IniFileName"/>
<link id="#lcl.propertystorage.TCustomPropertyStorage.Active">TCustomPropertyStorage.Active</link>
</element>
<element name="TCustomIniPropStorage.StorageNeeded.ReadOnly">
<short>
<b>True</b> if the INI file allows read-only access.
</short>
</element>

<element name="TCustomIniPropStorage.FreeStorage">
<short>
Frees the underlying INI file storage object for the class instance.
</short>
<descr>
<p>
<var>FreeStorage</var> is an overridden method in 
<var>TCustomIniPropStorage</var>. It reimplements the virtual method from the 
TCustomPropertyStorage ancestor. FreeStorage ensures that resources allocated 
to the IniFile property (in StorageNeeded) are freed when the storage object is 
no longer needed.
</p>
<p>
FreeStorage is called from methods that include: Save, Restore, SaveProperties, 
RestoreProperties, ReadString, WriteString, ReadInteger, WriteInteger, and 
EraseSection.
</p>
<p>
Use IniFile to access properties and methods in the INI storage mechanism.
</p>
<p>
Use IniFileName to specify the qualified path including file name for the INI 
file storage.
</p>
<p>
Use Active to control whether access using the IniFile storage object is 
enabled.
</p>
</descr>
<seealso>
<link id="TCustomIniPropStorage.StorageNeeded"/>
<link id="TCustomIniPropStorage.IniFile"/>
<link id="TCustomIniPropStorage.IniFileName"/>
<link id="#lcl.propertystorage.TCustomPropertyStorage.Active">TCustomPropertyStorage.Active</link>
<link id="#lcl.propertystorage.TCustomPropertyStorage.FreeStorage">TCustomPropertyStorage.FreeStorage</link>
</seealso>
</element>

<element name="TCustomIniPropStorage.DoReadString">
<short>
Performs actions needed to reading the specified value from the INI storage as 
a string type.
</short>
<descr>
<p>
<var>DoReadString</var> is an overridden <var>String</var> function in 
<var>TCustomIniPropStorage</var>. It implements the abstract virtual method 
defined in the TCustomPropertyStorage ancestor.
</p>
<p>
<var>Section</var> contains the name for the section where the requested value 
is stored in IniFile.
</p>
<p>
<var>Ident</var> contains the name for the identifier read from the specified 
Section.
</p>
<p>
<var>Default</var> contains the default value returned in the method if the 
section or identifier is not found in IniFile.
</p>
<p>
DoReadString calls the ReadString method in IniFile to get the return value for 
the method.
</p>
</descr>
<seealso>
<link id="#lcl.propertystorage.TCustomPropertyStorage.DoReadString">TCustomPropertyStorage.DoReadString</link>
<link id="#fcl.inifiles.TIniFile.ReadString">TIniFile.ReadString</link>
</seealso>
</element>
<element name="TCustomIniPropStorage.DoReadString.Result">
<short>The value for the requested section and identifier.</short>
</element>
<element name="TCustomIniPropStorage.DoReadString.Section">
<short>The section name with the value read in the method.</short>
</element>
<element name="TCustomIniPropStorage.DoReadString.Ident">
<short>The name for the identifier with the value read in the method.</short>
</element>
<element name="TCustomIniPropStorage.DoReadString.Default">
<short>
Default value returned if the section or identifier is not found in the INI 
storage.
</short>
</element>

<element name="TCustomIniPropStorage.DoWriteString">
<short>
Performs actions needed to write the specified value to the INI storage using a 
string type.
</short>
<descr>
<p>
<var>DoWriteString</var> is an overridden method in 
<var>TCustomIniPropStorage</var>. It implements the abstract virtual method 
defined in the TCustomPropertyStorage ancestor.
</p>
<p>
<var>Section</var> contains the name for the section where the specified value 
is stored in IniFile.
</p>
<p>
<var>Ident</var> contains the name for the identifier written to the specified 
Section.
</p>
<p>
<var>Value</var> contains the string value stored in IniFile in the method.
</p>
<p>
DoWriteString calls the WriteString method in IniFile using the arguments 
passed to the method.
</p>
</descr>
<seealso>
<link id="#lcl.propertystorage.TCustomPropertyStorage.DoWriteString">TCustomPropertyStorage.DoWriteString</link>
<link id="#fcl.inifiles.TIniFile.WriteString">TIniFile.WriteString</link>
</seealso>
</element>
<element name="TCustomIniPropStorage.DoWriteString.Section">
<short>
The section name where the specified value is stored in the method.
</short>
</element>
<element name="TCustomIniPropStorage.DoWriteString.Ident">
<short>
The name for the identifier where the specified value is stored in the method.
</short>
</element>
<element name="TCustomIniPropStorage.DoWriteString.Value">
<short>
Contains the value for the identifier stored in the specified section.
</short>
</element>

<element name="TCustomIniPropStorage.DoEraseSections">
<short>
Performs actions needed to remove the section section and its subsections from 
the underlying INI storage.
</short>
<descr>
<p>
<var>DoEraseSections</var> is an overridden <var>String</var> function in 
<var>TCustomIniPropStorage</var>. It implements the abstract virtual method 
defined in the TCustomPropertyStorage ancestor.
</p>
<p>
<var>ARootSection</var> contains the name of the section in IniFile removed in 
the method.
</p>
<p>
DoEraseSections gets a list of section names found in the INI file, and calls 
IniFile.EraseSection to remove the section along with its identifiers and 
values. Other child sections which have ARootSection as a prefix are removed as 
well.
</p>
<p>
DoEraseSections is used in the SaveProperties method, and is assigned as the 
OnEraseSetion event handler for the RTTI TPropsStorage instance used in the 
method.
</p>
</descr>
<seealso>
<link id="#lcl.propertystorage.TCustomPropertyStorage.DoEraseSections">TCustomPropertyStorage.DoEraseSections</link>
<link id="#lcl.propertystorage.TCustomPropertyStorage.OnSaveProperties">TCustomPropertyStorage.OnSaveProperties</link>
<link id="#lcl.propertystorage.TCustomPropertyStorage.SaveProperties">TCustomPropertyStorage.SaveProperties</link>
</seealso>
</element>
<element name="TCustomIniPropStorage.DoEraseSections.ARootSection">
<short>The path to the section that will be erased.</short>
</element>

<element name="TCustomIniPropStorage.IniFileName">
<short>
Name of the INI file where the session properties are saved in INI format.
</short>
<descr>
<p>
<var>IniFileName</var> is a <var>String</var> property with the qualified path 
and file name for the IniFile where session properties are stored in the class 
instance. Its value is used in the StorageNeeded method to determine the file 
name used when the TIniFile class instance is created and assigned to the 
IniFile property.
</p>
<p>
When omitted, a default value is assigned to the property which uses the path 
and base name for the application executable. For the Windows platform, the 
generated value in IniFileName has a '.INI' file extension. For UNIX-like 
platforms, the file is created as a config file in the home directory for the 
current user with a '.' prefix and no file extension.
</p>
</descr>
<seealso>
<link id="TCustomIniPropStorage.IniFile"/>
<link id="TCustomIniPropStorage.StorageNeeded"/>
</seealso>
</element>

<element name="TCustomIniPropStorage.IniSection">
<short>
Name of the section in the INI file where values for session properties are 
stored.
</short>
<descr>
<p>
<var>IniSection</var> is a <var>String</var> property which contains the name 
of the section in IniFile where the form session properties are stored. The 
property value is used in the overridden RootSection function to set section 
name used when an IniSection property value has not been assigned. When 
omitted, the value from the inherited method is used; this is normally the full 
path to the Root component name or class name and any preceding owner 
components.
</p>
</descr>
<seealso>
<link id="TCustomIniPropStorage.RootSection"/>
<link id="#lcl.propertystorage.TCustomPropertyStorage.Root">TCustomPropertyStorage.Root</link>
</seealso>
</element>

<element name="TIniPropStorage">
<short>
Implements a class used to store session properties in an INI file.
</short>
<descr>
<p>
<var>TIniPropStorage</var> is a <var>TCustomIniPropStorage</var> descendant 
which implements the class used to store form session properties to a file 
using the INI format. It sets the visibility for properties and methods 
introduced in ancestor classes.
</p>
<p>
Use the SessionPropperties property in the TForm or a TFrame instance which 
owns the class to define the components and property names stored using the 
storage mechanism.
</p>
<p>
Use IniFileName to specify the path and file name where session properties are 
stored in IniFile.
</p>
<p>
Use IniSection to specify the name for a section where session properties are 
stored. When omitted, session properties are stored at the root section level 
in IniFile.
</p>
<p>
Use Active to enable or disable read/write access to the INI file storage for 
the class instance.
</p>
<p>
Use the event handlers in the class to perform actions needed before or during 
save and restore operations using the session properties.
</p>
</descr>
<seealso>
<link id="#lcl.forms.TForm">TForm.SessionProperties</link>
<link id="#lcl.jsonpropstorage.TJSONPropStorage">TJSONPropStorage</link>
<link id="#lcl.xmlpropstorage.TXMLPropStorage">TXMLPropStorage</link>
</seealso>
</element>

<element name="TIniPropStorage.StoredValues" link="#lcl.propertystorage.TCustomPropertyStorage.StoredValues"/>
<element name="TIniPropStorage.IniFileName" link="#lcl.inipropstorage.TCustomIniPropStorage.IniFileName"/>
<element name="TIniPropStorage.IniSection" link="#lcl.inipropstorage.TCustomIniPropStorage.IniSection"/>
<element name="TIniPropStorage.Active" link="#lcl.propertystorage.TCustomPropertyStorage.Active"/>
<element name="TIniPropStorage.OnSavingProperties" link="#lcl.propertystorage.TCustomPropertyStorage.OnSavingProperties"/>
<element name="TIniPropStorage.OnSaveProperties" link="#lcl.propertystorage.TCustomPropertyStorage.OnSaveProperties"/>
<element name="TIniPropStorage.OnRestoringProperties" link="#lcl.propertystorage.TCustomPropertyStorage.OnRestoringProperties"/>
<element name="TIniPropStorage.OnRestoreProperties" link="#lcl.propertystorage.TCustomPropertyStorage.OnRestoreProperties"/>

<element name="Register">
<short>
Registers the 
<link id="#LCL.IniPropStorage.TIniPropStorage">TIniPropStorage</link> component 
on the 'Misc' tab for the component palette.
</short>
<descr/>
<seealso/>
</element>

</module>
<!-- IniPropStorage -->
</package>
</fpdoc-descriptions>
