Question

My Question is similar to the idea here: Replacing a component class in delphi.
But I need to change a specific component(s) class on demand.
Here is some pseudo demo code:

unit Unit1;

TForm1 = class(TForm)
  ImageList1: TImageList;
  ImageList2: TImageList;
private
  ImageList3: TImageList;
end;

procedure TForm1.FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
begin
  ImageList3 := TImageList.Create(Self);
  // all instances of TImageList run as usual
end;

procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
begin
  Unit2.MakeSuperImageList(ImageList2);
  Unit2.MakeSuperImageList(ImageList3);
  // from now on ONLY ImageList2 and ImageList3 are TSuperImageList
  // ImageList1 is unchanged
end;

---

unit Unit2;

type
  TSuperImageList = class(Controls.TImageList)
  protected
    procedure DoDraw(Index: Integer; Canvas: TCanvas; X, Y: Integer;
      Style: Cardinal; Enabled: Boolean = True); override;
  end;

procedure TSuperImageList.DoDraw(Index: Integer; Canvas: TCanvas; X, Y: Integer;
  Style: Cardinal; Enabled: Boolean = True);
var
  Icon: TIcon;
begin
  Icon := TIcon.Create;
  try
    Self.GetIcon(Index, Icon);
    Canvas.Draw(X, Y, Icon);
  finally
    Icon.Free;
  end;
end;

procedure MakeSuperImageList(ImageList: TImageList);
begin
  // TImageList -> TSuperImageList
end;

---

Note: Just to be clear, I want to change some instances, but not all, so interposer class will not do.

Answer 1

This is easier as thought (thanks to Hallvard’s Blog – Hack#14: Changing the class of an object at run-time):

procedure PatchInstanceClass(Instance: TObject; NewClass: TClass);
type
  PClass = ^TClass;
begin
  if Assigned(Instance) and Assigned(NewClass)
    and NewClass.InheritsFrom(Instance.ClassType)
    and (NewClass.InstanceSize = Instance.InstanceSize) then
  begin
    PClass(Instance)^ := NewClass;
  end;
end;

type
  TMyButton = class(TButton)
  public
    procedure Click; override;
  end;

procedure TMyButton.Click;
begin
  ShowMessage('Click!');
end;

procedure TForm1.FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
begin
  PatchInstanceClass(Button1, TMyButton);
end;