Delphi - how to customize IDE layout

Question

Delphi 2010 - all patches, Win 8.1 64 bit. Reinstalled EVERYTHING... windows,etc, so functionally a new machine. Installed D2010, then installed GExperts and CnPack Wizards, as I had used them both before a really liked them.

I have 2 monitors, so I changed my layout to Classic Undocked. The default is to have the component palette at the top right of the Delphi main window.

In my previous release, I was able to change the HEIGHT of this window to double whatever it is now, and drag the palette UNDERNEATH the glyphs from the File / Edit / Search area, so that way my component palette went across the whole screen. For whatever reason, I cannot do this now. When I move my mouse to the BOTTOM of the delphi window area, I get the "expand window up and down" cursor, like I should, but the window refuses to increase in height. There is some setting preventing me from increasing this windows height, but I can't find it. What setting am I looking for in order to be able to increase the height, so I can drag/drop my palette to the bottom LEFT corner of this window?

Thanks

Answer 1

The size of the main undocked window cannot be modified by resizing it manually. It is sized so that it is exactly large enough to contain its children. So, you can do what you want by moving the component palette to the desired location. When you do so the main window will increase in size so that the component palette fits.

Judging by your screenshot, your toolbars are drawn in a way to indicate that they are locked and cannot be dragged. That's not functionality that is present in the plain vanilla Delphi IDE, so I suspect that you have used functionality from either GExperts or CnPack to lock your toolbars. Obviously you'll need to unlock them in order to move them.

Finally, I should point out that the inability to resize the main window vertically is not new. Classic Delphi versions (e.g. Delphi 7) behaved in exactly the same way. So I think that the fundamental issue is not related to a Delphi version upgrade, but rather is related to you having locked your toolbars.