Obtaining Tools API Services

To do anything useful, a wizard needs access to the IDE: its editors, windows, menus, and so on. This is the role of the service interfaces. The Tools API includes many services, such as action services to perform file actions, editor services to access the source code editor, debugger services to access the debugger, and so on. The following table summarizes all the service interfaces.

Tools API service interfaces

Interface	Description
INTAServices	Provides access to native IDE objects: main menu, action list, image list, and tool bars.
IOTAActionServices	Performs basic file actions: open, close, save, and reload a file.
IOTACodeCompletionServices	Provides access to code completion, allowing a wizard to install a custom code completion manager.
IOTADebuggerServices	Provides access to debugger.
IOTAEditorServices	Provides access to source code editor and its internal buffers.
IOTAKeyBindingServices	Permits a wizard to register custom keyboard bindings.
IOTAKeyboardServices	Provides access to keyboard macros and bindings.
IOTAKeyboardDiagnostics	Toggle debugging of keystrokes.
IOTAMessageServices	Provides access to message view.
IOTAModuleServices	Provides access to open files.
IOTAPackageServices	Queries the names of all installed packages and their components.
IOTAServices	Miscellaneous services.
IOTAToDoServices	Provides access to the To-Do list, allowing a wizard to install a custom To-Do manager.
IOTAToolsFilter	Registers tools filter notifiers.
IOTAWizardServices	Registers and unregisters wizards.

To use a service interface, cast the BorlandIDEServices variable to the desired service using the global Supports function, which is defined in the SysUtils unit. For example,

Copy Code

procedure set_keystroke_debugging(debugging: Boolean);
var
  diag: IOTAKeyboardDiagnostics
begin
  if Supports(BorlandIDEServices, IOTAKeyboardDiagnostics, diag) then
    diag.KeyTracing := debugging;
end;

Copy Code

void set_keystroke_debugging(bool debugging)
{
_di_IOTAKeyboardDiagnostics diag;
if (BorlandIDEServices->Supports(diag))
diag->KeyTracing = debugging;
}

If your wizard needs to use a specific service often, you can keep a pointer to the service as a data member of your wizard class.

The following topics discuss special considerations when working with the Tools API service interfaces: