I believe you can use packages much easier than you recognize. When you make
your projects you can have your classes stored in packages but you don't
necessarily have to make your instances in the context of the package
itself. If you are concerned about interoperating with languages other than
Delphi is the only time you need to make a DLL. Otherwise, packages are a
dream come true.

One thing I do with my forms is I use my IBF_Base class. On it there is a
connection and transaction source component. This allows me to make them
connection and transaction context aware. As a result, when I am
instantiating a form I use the special constructor of that form base class
called CreateWithContext. I also use it to pass in a registry key where the
form stores its user preference and other settings. It is common for my
applications to reuse the same form class in different ways. Being able to
shift them into existing transaction contexts or establish their own is a
very useful capability.

Regards,
Jason Wharton
CPS - Mesa AZ
http://www.ibobjects.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve Fields" <fields24@...>
Newsgroups: egroups.ibobjects
To: <IBObjects@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, November 10, 2001 8:35 PM
Subject: [IBO] DLL/BPL and app with lots of modules


> I have been trying to research the methods and recommendations
> for DLLs and BPLs but it always seems to me that the cons and the
> pros even out and I am left where I was in the decision of which
> to use. Perhaps someone or someones can recommend which:
> What is the best way to handle an application where there may or
> not be a Main module along with numerous other module that will need
> to be changed from time to time. I have noticed that in IBO components
> (connections, querys, etc) it is not recommended to put them in
> DLLs/BPLs
> but how would you handle it? Would it be feasable to place several
> querys/grids/datasources in a module and when calling it pass only the
> IBConnection, and maybe a keyfield value or other. I do not really wish
> to have one large program (5-10 meg) but would rather have several
> modules
> that can be installed. (It just does not seem economical in sending out
> 10-20 modules that are 3meg plus for every fix/update).
> In some cases I would need to distribute them on disk and sometimes
> over
> the internet. An initial install of several megs would be agreeable, but
> the updates would need to be small. The version of Delphi would be
> steady - D5E. And any updates would be exclusively by me.
> Any ideas? TIA
>
> Steve Fields