Array Property, TList, TStringList, or TCollection, etc (Delphi Win32)

Question

I am developing various components, and regularly run into the need to have a property that has a "one-to-many" relationship, component-to-property-member. The components are often visual components, but not always, and sometimes need to be registered with the IDE (i.e. use the Property Inspector), but not always. I find myself unsure of which route to take when setting up these properties -- using an array property, a TList, a TStringList, a TCollection, or something else altogether (perhaps a new class that inherits from one of those).

What are the "best practices" / guidelines for which to use when / where?

Answer 1

If they are properties, you can descend from TCollection, and then the IDE and Object Inspector will automatically provide support for them via the TCollection Property editor.

Answer 2

TObjectList and TInterfaceList / IInterfaceList are my favorites. And there is TThreadList for thread-safe lists. All of them are available in Delphi 6 (or even before).