Delphi 7 Easter Eggs
The credit list Easter Eggs are invoked through the About box.
If you do not have OpenGL installed, the credit lists will be simple
scrollers, much like those from Delphi
4.
However, if OpenGL is installed, the appearance of the name
lists are much improved. They now look very much like the introductory
scrolling text scene in the Star Wars films. In fact, so much is it based
on Star Wars that the scrolling does not actually appear in the About box
itself, but in a separate form that is placed exactly over the About box
(notice that the screenshots below show a maximise icon on the caption
bars). According to WinSight, the form’s class name is TSWForm. There are
no prizes for guessing what SW stands for.
Whilst this OpenGL scrolling is in itself is quite nice, you
should find it more fun when you use the cursor keys to spin the text left
and right, or make the text angle more flat or straight up. Incidentally,
if you spin any of the scrolling lists so far around that you would expect
to be able to see the text backwards, you won't. Instead, you see the
text: Use the Source, Luke.
This is a play on the famous Obi-Wan Kenobi Star Wars quote,
suggesting that you gain much by exploring the VCL source code. Danny
Thorpe used this quote in the Introduction of his (sadly out of print)
book Delphi Component Design.
- Invoke the About box with Help
| About..., then hold down Alt whilst typing
DEVELOPERS. This gives a scrolling list of the R&D staff members
- Invoke the About box with Help
| About..., then hold down Alt whilst typing TEAM.
This gives all the Borland employees closely involved in the Delphi
project.
- Invoke the About box with Help
| About..., then hold down Alt whilst typing
QUALITY. This gives the list of Quality Assurance staff that worked on
the product.
- Invoke the About box with Help
| About..., then hold down Alt whilst typing JEDI.
This gives a tribute to the JEDI project (Joint Endeavour of Delphi
Innovators). Additionally, once this Easter Egg has been invoked, the
About box shows a previously hidden hyperlink to the JEDI home page
(http://www.delphi-jedi.org).
- If you hold down Ctrl+Shift whilst Delphi 7 starts, it
chooses the splash screen randomly from the normal one and an
alternative group photo shot.
The Delphi team
- In the Delphi
localisation tool, the Integrated Translation Environment (ITE),
available from View
| Translation Manager, where appropriate, another
credit list egg can be invoked. The steps and results are exactly the
as with Delphi
6.
Click here
to return to the Easter Eggs main page