I've seen questions related to this in a few places and thought I'd post my answer to this question:
- Start Delphi 2005
- Select Tools|Options
- Under Environment Options\Delphi Options\VCL Designer uncheck Embedded designer and click OK
- Close the IDE and restart
- Select View|Dock Edit Window (which will uncheck this item and undock the Edit Window)
- From the Desktops Dropdown combo on the main IDE window (near the main menu) select "Classic Undocked"
At this point, people are probably wondering "what about the component palette?". At present there isn't any way to reconfigure the component palette to look like it did in Delphi 7 (see "updated" below) however I do believe that the new component palette offers improved functionality over the old implementation and just takes some getting used to. For example:
- The list can be filtered by simply setting focus to the palette typing the classname of the component you're looking for
- Reoganizing the palette can be performed using simple drag-and-drop
- Better use of screen real estate, multiple different layouts are supported allowing you to view many more components onscreen at one time
- [Updated Item] Categories popup menu available from the toolbar similar to GExperts palette menu
From an IDE standpoint I believe that's about as close to Delphi 7 as you can get. If I think of other things or as people comment I'll update this post accordingly.
If this still isn't enough and you'd like to see the new palette support the old style (horizontal tabs and a single row of component icons) please leave a comment.
Hope this helps!
One additional item is to change the component palette to use the icon size of Delphi 7 as follows:
- Right click the palette and select Properties
- Set Button Size to Medium
- Uncheck Show Component Caption