README

NimbusForms - Pre-Alpha

Pre-Alpha software. Intended for development, testing and evaluation. APIs and behavior may change, features may be incomplete, and bugs are expected. Not intended for production use.

NimbusForms is a Windows component library for Delphi 12 / VCL, developed from the NimbusForms C# reference. It includes themed controls, editors, charts, renderers and programmatic demos. Implementation and validation status varies by component.

Repository layout

Directory	Purpose
NimbusForms.Controls/src	VCL controls, chart models and renderers
NimbusForms.Controls/packages	Runtime and design-time packages
NimbusForms.Controls/tests	Regression sources and source checks
NimbusForms.Controls/renderers/skia	Optional Skia CodeEditor renderer library
NimbusForms.Theming	Shared theme, palette and form support
NimbusForms.Grid	Grid subsystem
NimbusForms.HexEditor	Hex editor subsystem
NativePattern/src	NativePattern search library
NimbusForms.Demo/Projects	Separate demo projects and shared demo units
NimbusForms.Demo/NimbusFormsDemo.dpr	Combined demo
NimbusFormsC#	Local C# functional reference (excluded from Git)
LICENSES	Third-party license texts

Getting started

Use RAD Studio / Delphi 12 on Windows. Open NimbusForms.groupproj in the repository root and use Build All with the Win32 target to compile packages, demos and the existing Grid/theming test applications. The optional Skia renderer requires System.Skia in your Delphi installation; its runtime DLL must be supplied separately.

For demos only, open NimbusForms.Demo/Projects/NimbusFormsDemos.groupproj. See the demo guide for project descriptions, search paths and output locations.

For component palette installation, follow the package guide. The demos can also compile the library sources directly.

For split-container child controls and DFM compatibility, see the split-container guide.

For caption sizing, wrapping and ellipsis behavior, see the text layout guide.

Build and source-check scripts locate the checkout relative to themselves; no fixed drive or checkout folder is required. CodeEditor and LogViewer regression executables locate fixtures relative to the checkout and must run inside it.

In the CodeEditor, double-click a word to select it. Double-click inside an existing selection to expand it to the nearest enclosing code structure; repeat to select its parent. Delphi and C# selection includes loop headers, method signatures, class declarations and array initializers. Shift+double-click selects only the clicked logical line. Strings and comments do not define code boundaries. See the selection guide for supported syntax and regression commands, and the piece table stress tests for the separate document-storage regression runner.

For chart appearance presets, independent custom palettes, mathematical functions and their demos, see the chart guide. It also covers independent country/state colors and GitHub, red and thermal heatmap palettes. The dedicated financial business chart adds the C# financial palettes, technical indicator workspace, per-panel/global row events and interactive panel demo.

NimbusForms does not distribute Skia binaries. To use the optional CodeEditor Skia backend, build NimbusCodeEditorSkia.dll yourself and obtain a matching sk4d.dll separately. Both must have the same target architecture. See the renderer guide and third-party notices. Other consumers do not need to link System.Skia merely to use the renderer DLL interface.

Official sk4d.dll runtime directories:

• Win32 (32-bit)
• Win64 (64-bit)

Choose the architecture of your application and select the Skia4Delphi release matching your System.Skia; the main branch may change.

Generated binaries, compiler output, IDE caches and local settings are ignored. A source checkout therefore requires building the selected demos/packages and obtaining any optional runtime dependencies separately. The local C# reference directory and root maintenance tools directory are also excluded from Git; neither is required to open the existing Delphi projects.

Verification

Source checks are documented beside the demos and tests. They do not replace Delphi compilation or GUI tests. Use RAD Studio for build and runtime verification; command-line builds require a Delphi edition and license that support them.

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Selahattin Erkoc. NimbusForms code is released under the MIT License. Third-party software and assets retain their own terms; see THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.md.