Author: Jonas Bilinkevicius

How to give a MDI application a 3D frame

Answer:

You can give an MDI application a 3D frame in Delphi by overriding the main form's 
CreateWnd method:

1   procedure TMainForm.CreateWnd;
2   begin
3     inherited CreateWnd;
4     SetWindowLong(ClientHandle, GWL_EXSTYLE, GetWindowLong(ClientHandle, GWL_EXSTYLE)
5       or WS_EX_CLIENTEDGE);
6   end;


In the interface section of your main form's unit you have a type definition for 
the main form that
looks something like:

7   type
8     TMainForm = class(TForm)
9       { maybe some field are defined here }
10    private
11      { private declarations }
12    public
13      { public declarations }
14    end;


Add the following two lines immediately preceding the end:

protected

procedure CreateWnd; override;

Now add that procedure that I gave you in the implementation section of the unit:

15  procedure TMainForm.CreateWnd;
16  begin
17    inherited CreateWnd;
18    SetWindowLong(ClientHandle, GWL_EXSTYLE, GetWindowLong(ClientHandle, GWL_EXSTYLE)
19      or WS_EX_CLIENTEDGE);
20  end;