Use DbiAddAlias function with necessary parameters. Example shows adding STANDARD alias.

uses  DBIProcs, DBITypes;
...
procedure TForm1.Button3Click(Sender: TObject);
var
  AliasName, AliasPath: string;
begin
  AliasName:='TESTAlias2';
  AliasPath:='PATH:C:\Tools';
  Check(
    DbiAddAlias(
      nil, 
      PChar(AliasName), 
      nil, 
      PChar(AliasPath), 
      True));
end;

Sometimes it is necessary to change a date format of date field, when you show data from your database. You may use DisplayFormat property of TDateField type.

procedure TForm1.FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
begin
  with table1 do
  begin
    TDateField(FieldByName('Date1')).DisplayFormat:='dd*mm*yyyy';
    TDateField(FieldByName('Date2')).DisplayFormat:='ddmmyyyy';
    Active:=True;
  end;
end;

Actually you don't need to use any visual component. Remember that each component in Delphi is an object and do not forget to free it for releasing of the allocated memory.

uses Db, DBTables, Dialogs

procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
var
  Session: TSession;
  Database: TDatabase;
  Table: TTable;
begin
  Session:=TSession.Create(nil);
  Database:=TDatabase.Create(nil);
  Session.SessionName:='DBSession';
  Database.Connected:=False;
  Database.AliasName:='dbdemos';
  Database.DatabaseName:='biolife';
  Database.SessionName:=Session.SessionName;

  Table:=TTable.Create(nil);
  Table.DatabaseName:=Database.DatabaseName;
  Table.SessionName:=Session.SessionName;
  Table.TableName:='biolife';

  Table.Active:=True;
  ShowMessage(Table.Fields[1].AsString+' '+Table.Fields[2].AsString);
  Table.Free;
  Database.Free;
  Session.Free;
end;

Use OnDrawColumnCell event of DBGrid component with the following code. This example will paint each cell to green color, if these cells are odd.

procedure TForm1.DBGrid1DrawColumnCell(Sender: TObject; const Rect: TRect;
  DataCol: Integer; Column: TColumn; State: TGridDrawState);
var
  HoldColor: TColor;
begin
  HoldColor:=DBGrid1.Canvas.Brush.Color; 
  if Column.FieldName='EmpNo' then 
    if (Column.Field.AsInteger mod 2 <> 0) then 
    begin
      DBGrid1.Canvas.Brush.Color:=clGreen;
      DBGrid1.DefaultDrawColumnCell(Rect, DataCol, Column, State);
      DBGrid1.Canvas.Brush.Color:=HoldColor;
    end;
end;