Question: We've noticed that when checking in updates, our `.DFM` files have added `ExplicitWidth` and `ExplicitHeight` properties - but we don't know why.

My questions are: 

* What are these properties for?
* Why are they automatically added by Delphi?

Below is an example showing the added `ExplicitWidth` property:

```
object Splitter2: TcxSplitter
    Left = 0
    Top = 292
    Width = 566
    Height = 8
    Cursor = crVSplit
    HotZoneClassName = 'TcxXPTaskBarStyle'
    AlignSplitter = salBottom
    Control = BottomPanel
    Color = clBtnFace
    ExplicitWidth = 8
end

```

Answer: 
With DDevExtensions you can disable storing these properties in the dfm:   

<http://andy.jgknet.de/blog/?page_id=10>

> 
> Adds Explicit\* property remover to keep DFM files compatible to older Delphi versions
> 
> 
>
I encounter a lot of noise from random (dis)appearances of these:

```
ExplicitLeft = 0
ExplicitTop = 0
ExplicitWidth = 0
ExplicitHeight = 0

```

So I wrote a tool that removes only these (all 4 exist and are 0) from DFM files:

<https://github.com/gonutz/dfm_clear_explicit_zeros>