Action on button click only works after the second click [SOLVED]

[AlphaInc.]

Hello everybody,

I have written a little tool which acts as a Launcher for a game. The tool itself just executes batch files which do the actual work like change a config of my project.
At every start, the tool checks a config and sets Button.Captions accordingly (it checks an entry in my config and either sets the language to german or english - I've done this with an if-else-condition). This setup works fi$

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]

1. procedure TForm1.confCheck();
2. var
3.    MyFile:Text;
4.    Line1:String;
5. begin
6.    AssignFile(MyFile,'../Binaries/conf.ini');
7.    Reset(MyFile);
8.    ReadLn(MyFile,Line1);
9.    CloseFile(MyFile)
10.  
11.    if Line2='lang=deu' then
12.       begin
13.          Button1.Caption:='German'; //just an example line, I've done this for a lot of Captions
14.       end
15.    else
16.       begin
17.          Button1.Caption:='English';
18.       end;
19.    end;
20. end;

Now i also want to be able to change the language during runtime. Therefore I have setup a Button, which changes the entry in my conf-file and then calls the procedure I just mentioned to check the conf-file and set the Capti$

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]

1. procedure TForm1.Button5Click(Sender: TObject);
2. begin
3.    ShellExecute(0,nil,PChar('cmd'),PChar('/c cd  ../Binaries && start changeLang.bat'),nil,1);
4.    logCheck();
5. end;

The only problem I run into, is that when I start my tool, I need to click two times on my button for it to act and change the language (But only the first time, afterwards one click is enough to change the language). The scr$

Now my question is, how to I resolve this? Meaning that with the first click, the language will change.

Edit: Through a previous thread I found a workaround where i set a delay of half a second to avoid this but I want to know why this occurs and maybe there is a way to do this without a delay.

[dseligo]

I am not sure what do you mean when you say you have to click two times on a button.
I made a small test project which changes the language as you described and it changes language on first click.

Maybe you have some sort of focus issue.

[AlphaInc.]

I am not sure what do you mean when you say you have to click two times on a button.
I made a small test project which changes the language as you described and it changes language on first click.

Maybe you have some sort of focus issue.

I will try this tomorrow when I'm back home.
But what I mean is this:

When I click on the button I notice that the batch script starts but the Captions don't change. When I click on that button the second time it changes the Captions. If I click on the Button a third time, it changes the Captions again. The strange thing is, that on first click no change will be executed. I hope this makes it clear what i mean.

[Bart]

You read a variable Line1, but you compare to a variable Line2.

Without some real code, it's hard to tell what you are doing wrong.

Bart

[AlphaInc.]

I am not sure what do you mean when you say you have to click two times on a button.
I made a small test project which changes the language as you described and it changes language on first click.

Maybe you have some sort of focus issue.

I tried your project and that worked fine. Now I've implenetend it into my code but changed it alittle since I don't have croatian langauge in it:

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]

1. procedure TForm1.Button5Click(Sender: TObject);
2. var slMyFileStrings:TStringList;
3. begin
4.    case sLanguageLine of
5.     'lang=deu':sLanguageLine:='lang=eng';
6.     'lang=eng':sLanguageLine:='lang=deu';
7.    else
8.     sLanguageLine:='lang=eng';
9.    end;
10.  
11.    slMyFileStrings:=TStringList.Create;
12.    try
13.       slMyFileStrings.LoadFromFile(cMyFileName);
14.       If slMyFileStrings.Count>1 then
15.       slMyFileStrings[1]:=sLanguageLine;
16.       slMyFileStrings.SaveToFile(cMyFileName);
17.    finally
18.       slMyFileStrings.Free;
19.    end;
20.    confCheck();
21. end;

Now, when the ini-Line is set to lang=deu it changes the langauge perfectly (on first click) but when it's set to lang=eng it totally ignores the first click (no langauge change and also no change in the ini file) I assume I have made a mistake by implementing your code so it would be nice if you could help me one more time   

[dseligo]

Insert ShowMessage in the beginning of click method.
What does it say when ini is set to 'lang=eng' and you click a button?

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]

1. procedure TForm1.Button5Click(Sender: TObject);
2. var slMyFileStrings:TStringList;
3. begin
4.   ShowMessage(sLanguageLine); // insert this line
5.    case sLanguageLine of

[AlphaInc.]

Insert ShowMessage in the beginning of click method.
What does it say when ini is set to 'lang=eng' and you click a button?

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]

1. procedure TForm1.Button5Click(Sender: TObject);
2. var slMyFileStrings:TStringList;
3. begin
4.   ShowMessage(sLanguageLine); // insert this line
5.    case sLanguageLine of

It gives me an empy message-box. After I click another time it says lang=eng.

[Bart]

B.t.w: why don't you use TIniFile to handle Ini-files?
For starters it does not care on which (hardcoded) line the information you need is.

And again, don't show only code snippets. Without contect it's almost impossible to say what you did wrong.

Bart

[AlphaInc.]

B.t.w: why don't you use TIniFile to handle Ini-files?
For starters it does not care on which (hardcoded) line the information you need is.

And again, don't show only code snippets. Without contect it's almost impossible to say what you did wrong.

Bart

To be honest, AssignMyFile was fromt the time when i thought I watend to use text-file, I only switched to .ini since someone told me to.

This is my whole code:

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]

1. {
2. unit Unit1;
3.  
4. {$mode objfpc}{$H+}
5.  
6. interface
7.  
8. uses
9.   Classes, SysUtils, Forms, Controls, Graphics, Dialogs, ComCtrls,
10.   ShellAPI, Buttons, ExtCtrls, StdCtrls, MMSystem;
11.  
12. type
13.  
14.   { TForm1 }
15.  
16.   TForm1 = class(TForm)
17.     Button1: TButton;
18.     Button2: TButton;
19.     Button3: TButton;
20.     Button4: TButton;
21.     Button5: TButton;
22.     Button6: TButton;
23.     Button7: TButton;
24.     Button8: TButton;
25.     Button9: TButton;
26.     Image1: TImage;
27.     Image2: TImage;
28.     Image3: TImage;
29.     PageControl1: TPageControl;
30.     TabSheet1: TTabSheet;
31.     TabSheet2: TTabSheet;
32.     procedure Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
33.     procedure Button2Click(Sender: TObject);
34.     procedure Button3Click(Sender: TObject);
35.     procedure Button4Click(Sender: TObject);
36.     procedure Button5Click(Sender: TObject);
37.     procedure Button6Click(Sender: TObject);
38.     procedure Button7Click(Sender: TObject);
39.     procedure Button8Click(Sender: TObject);
40.     procedure Button9Click(Sender: TObject);
41.     procedure music();
42.     procedure confCheck();
43.   private
44.     sLanguageLine:String;
45.   public
46.  
47.   end;
48.  
49. var
50.   Form1: TForm1;
51.  
52. implementation
53.  
54. {$R *.lfm}
55.  
56. { TForm1 }
57.  
58. const cMyFileName='conf.ini';
59.  
60. procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
61. begin
62.    ShellExecute(0,nil,PChar('cmd'),PChar('/c cd ../Binaries && start.bat'),nil,1);
63.    Close;
64. end;
65.  
66. procedure TForm1.Button2Click(Sender: TObject);
67. begin
68.    PageControl1.ActivePageIndex:=1;
69. end;
70.  
71. procedure TForm1.Button3Click(Sender: TObject);
72. begin
73.    ShellExecute(0,nil,PChar('cmd'),PChar('/c cd ../Binaries && start init.bat'),nil,1);
74.    Button3.Enabled:=false
75. end;
76.  
77. procedure TForm1.Button4Click(Sender: TObject);
78. begin
79.    Close;
80. end;
81.  
82. procedure TForm1.Button5Click(Sender: TObject);
83. var slMyFileStrings:TStringList;
84. begin
85.    ShowMessage(sLanguageLine);
86.    case sLanguageLine of
87.     'lang=deu':sLanguageLine:='lang=eng';
88.     'lang=eng':sLanguageLine:='lang=deu';
89.    else
90.     sLanguageLine:='lang=eng';
91.    end;
92.  
93.    slMyFileStrings:=TStringList.Create;
94.    try
95.       slMyFileStrings.LoadFromFile(cMyFileName);
96.       If slMyFileStrings.Count>1 then
97.       slMyFileStrings[1]:=sLanguageLine;
98.       slMyFileStrings.SaveToFile(cMyFileName);
99.    finally
100.       slMyFileStrings.Free;
101.    end;
102.    confCheck();
103. end;
104.  
105. procedure TForm1.Button6Click(Sender: TObject);
106. begin
107.    ShellExecute(0,nil,PChar('cmd'),PChar('/c cd ../Binaries && start changeVers.bat'),nil,1);
108. end;
109.  
110. procedure TForm1.Button7Click(Sender: TObject);
111. begin
112.    ShellExecute(0,nil,PChar('cmd'),PChar('/c cd ../Binaries && start changeEnhancements.bat'),nil,1);
113. end;
114.  
115. procedure TForm1.Button8Click(Sender: TObject);
116. begin
117.    ShellExecute(0,nil,PChar('cmd'),PChar('/c cd ../Binaries && start changeMods.bat'),nil,1);
118. end;
119.  
120. procedure TForm1.Button9Click(Sender: TObject);
121. begin
122.    PageControl1.ActivePageIndex:=0;
123. end;
124.  
125. //Systemjunk
126.  
127. procedure TForm1.music();
128. begin
129.   PlaySound('../Binaries/theme.wav',0,SND_ASYNC or SND_LOOP);
130. end;
131.  
132. procedure TForm1.confCheck();
133. var
134.    MyFile:Text;
135.    Line1,Line2,Line3,Line4,Line5:String;
136. begin
137.    AssignFile(MyFile,cMyFileName);
138.    Reset(MyFile);
139.    ReadLn(MyFile,Line1);
140.    ReadLn(MyFile,Line2);
141.    ReadLn(MyFile,Line3);
142.    ReadLn(MyFile,Line4);
143.    ReadLn(MyFile,Line5);
144.    CloseFile(MyFile);
145.  
146.    if Line1='init=1' then
147.       Button3.Enabled:=false
148.    else
149.       Button3.Enabled:=true;
150.  
151.    if Line2='lang=deu' then
152.       begin
153.          Button1.Caption:='Starten';
154.          Button2.Caption:='Eintellungen';
155.          Button3.Caption:='Initialisieren';
156.          Button4.Caption:='Beenden';
157.          Button5.Caption:='Sprache ändern';
158.          Button9.Caption:='Zurück';
159.             if Line3='vers=rem' then
160.                if Line4='enhancements=0' then
161.                   if Line5='mods=0' then
162.                      begin
163.                         Button6.Caption:='Original laden';
164.                         Button7.Caption:='Enhancements aktivieren';
165.                         Button8.Caption:='Mods aktivieren';
166.                      end
167.                   else
168.                      begin
169.                         Button6.Caption:='Original laden';
170.                         Button7.Caption:='Enhancements aktivieren';
171.                         Button8.Caption:='Mods deaktivieren';
172.                      end
173.                else
174.                   if Line5='mods=0' then
175.                      begin
176.                         Button6.Caption:='Original laden';
177.                         Button7.Caption:='Enhancements deaktivieren';
178.                         Button8.Caption:='Mods aktivieren';
179.                      end
180.                   else
181.                      begin
182.                         Button6.Caption:='Original laden';
183.                         Button7.Caption:='Enhancements deaktivieren';
184.                         Button8.Caption:='Mods deaktivieren';
185.                      end
186.  
187.             else
188.                if Line4='enhancements=0' then
189.                   if Line5='mods=0' then
190.                      begin
191.                         Button6.Caption:='Remastered laden';
192.                         Button7.Caption:='Enhancements aktivieren';
193.                         Button8.Caption:='Mods aktivieren';
194.                      end
195.                   else
196.                      begin
197.                         Button6.Caption:='Remastered laden';
198.                         Button7.Caption:='Enhancements aktivieren';
199.                         Button8.Caption:='Mods deaktivieren';
200.                      end
201.                else
202.                   if Line5='mods=0' then
203.                      begin
204.                         Button6.Caption:='Remastered laden';
205.                         Button7.Caption:='Enhancements dekativieren';
206.                         Button8.Caption:='Mods aktiveren';
207.                      end
208.                   else
209.                      begin
210.                         Button6.Caption:='Remastered laden';
211.                         Button7.Caption:='Enhancements deaktivieren';
212.                         Button8.Caption:='Mods deaktivieren';
213.                      end
214.       end
215.    else if Line2='lang=eng' then
216.       begin
217.          Button1.Caption:='Start';
218.          Button2.Caption:='Settings';
219.          Button3.Caption:='Initialize';
220.          Button4.Caption:='Close';
221.          BUtton5.Caption:='Change Langauge';
222.          Button9.Caption:='Back';
223.             if Line3='vers=rem' then
224.                if Line4='enhancements=0' then
225.                   if Line5='mods=0' then
226.                      begin
227.                         Button6.Caption:='Load Original';
228.                         Button7.Caption:='Activate Enhancements';
229.                         Button8.Caption:='Activate Mods';
230.                      end
231.                   else
232.                      begin
233.                         Button6.Caption:='Load Original';
234.                         Button7.Caption:='Activate Enhancements';
235.                         Button8.Caption:='Deactivate Mods';
236.                      end
237.                else
238.                   if Line5='mods=0' then
239.                      begin
240.                         Button6.Caption:='Load Original';
241.                         Button7.Caption:='Deactivate Enhancements';
242.                         Button8.Caption:='Activate Mods';
243.                      end
244.                   else
245.                      begin
246.                         Button6.Caption:='Load Original';
247.                         Button7.Caption:='Deactivate Enhancements';
248.                         Button8.Caption:='Deactivate Mods';
249.                      end
250.             else
251.                if Line4='enhancements=0' then
252.                   if Line5='mods=0' then
253.                      begin
254.                         Button6.Caption:='Load Remastered';
255.                         Button7.Caption:='Activate Enhancements';
256.                         Button8.Caption:='Activate Mods';
257.                      end
258.                   else
259.                      begin
260.                         Button6.Caption:='Load Remastered';
261.                         Button7.Caption:='Activate Enhancements';
262.                         Button8.Caption:='Deactivate Mods';
263.                      end
264.                else
265.                   if Line5='mods=0' then
266.                      begin
267.                         Button6.Caption:='Load Remastered';
268.                         Button7.Caption:='Deactivate Enhancements';
269.                         Button8.Caption:='Activate Mods';
270.                      end
271.                   else
272.                      begin
273.                         Button6.Caption:='Load Remastered';
274.                         Button7.Caption:='Deactivate Enhancements';
275.                         Button8.Caption:='Deactivate Mods';
276.                      end;
277.    end;
278. end;
279.  
280.  
281. end.
282.  

[dseligo]

You are missing OnCreate event:

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]

1. procedure TForm1.FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
2. var
3.    MyFile:Text;
4. begin
5.   If not FileExists(cMyFileName) then
6.   begin
7.     AssignFile(MyFile,cMyFileName);
8.     Rewrite(MyFile);
9.     WriteLn(MyFile,'Line1');
10.     WriteLn(MyFile,'lang=eng');
11.     CloseFile(MyFile);
12.   end;
13.   confCheck;
14. end;

This is meant to read ini file in the beginning of your program.

Omit 'if' block if you are sure that you always have ini file. In this 'if' block you can write default values in ini file if someone accidently deletes it or when the app is first started.

Simpler version:

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]

1. procedure TForm1.FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
2. begin
3.   confCheck;
4. end;

[AlphaInc.]

You are missing OnCreate event:

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]

1. procedure TForm1.FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
2. var
3.    MyFile:Text;
4. begin
5.   If not FileExists(cMyFileName) then
6.   begin
7.     AssignFile(MyFile,cMyFileName);
8.     Rewrite(MyFile);
9.     WriteLn(MyFile,'Line1');
10.     WriteLn(MyFile,'lang=eng');
11.     CloseFile(MyFile);
12.   end;
13.   confCheck;
14. end;

This is meant to read ini file in the beginning of your program.

Omit 'if' block if you are sure that you always have ini file. In this 'if' block you can write default values in ini file if someone accidently deletes it or when the app is first started.

Simpler version:

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]

1. procedure TForm1.FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
2. begin
3.   confCheck;
4. end;

That didn't fix the problem. Still get an empty message-box when language is set to english in the ini at starup.

[dseligo]

That didn't fix the problem. Still get an empty message-box when language is set to english in the ini at starup.

Did you double click on empty space of your form to create OnClick event (or assigned it manually in Object inspector)?

Oh, and change the start of confCheck(), I just see you still read it in Line2 instead of sLanguageLine:

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]

1. procedure TForm1.confCheck();
2. var
3.    MyFile:Text;
4.    Line1,Line2,Line3,Line4,Line5:String;
5. begin
6.    AssignFile(MyFile,cMyFileName);
7.    Reset(MyFile);
8.    ReadLn(MyFile,Line1);
9.    ReadLn(MyFile,Line2);
10.   If (Line2<>'lang=deu') and (Line2<>'lang=eng') then Line2:='lang=eng'; // new line
11.   sLanguageLine:=Line2; // new line
12.    ReadLn(MyFile,Line3);
13.    ReadLn(MyFile,Line4);
14.    ReadLn(MyFile,Line5);
15.    CloseFile(MyFile);

[dseligo]

One more thing: Lazarus has support for internationalization.
For couple of captions you could do it manually, but as you continue to develop your application you may find it easier to use Lazarus' built-in internationalization support.

If you are interested in this, here are a couple of links to get you started:
https://wiki.freepascal.org/Translations_/_i18n_/_localizations_for_programs
https://wiki.freepascal.org/Step-by-step_instructions_for_creating_multi-language_applications
https://wiki.freepascal.org/Lazarus_Documentation#Translating.2FInternationalization.2FLocalization
https://wiki.freepascal.org/Everything_else_about_translations

When you use this localization support, it's also very easy to add another language.

[MarkMLl]

I'd normally suspect a dangling else as the cause of this, but #8 (the only place the entire code has been posted) doesn't show anything obvious.

I would, however, as a preventative measure replace some more of those if...then...else statements with case statements, and would make sure that each case has an otherwise clause even if this only contained an error message: case...otherwise is identical in effect to case...else but avoids confusion.

MarkMLl

[dseligo]

I'd normally suspect a dangling else as the cause of this, but #8 (the only place the entire code has been posted) doesn't show anything obvious.

The reason is that variable sLanguageLine isn't initialized at the beginning.