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GoFiler Legato Script Reference
Legato v 1.5b Application v 5.24b
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Chapter Nine — Dialog Functions
Dialogs are a method of interchanging data with the user. A dialog box is a temporary window created by the script to retrieve user input. A dialog box usually contains one or more controls (child windows) with which the user can interact to enter text, choose options, or direct some process or action. A control can be something as simple as text providing the user with information or as complex as a box that populates its contents automatically depending on selections within other controls on the dialog. Common dialog controls include text fields, radio boxes, checkboxes, list boxes, and combo boxes. Legato controls conform to Windows standards for appearance and behavior.
Most applications use dialog boxes to prompt for additional information for menu items that require user input. Using a dialog box is the only recommended way for an application to retrieve the input. For example, a typical Open menu item requires the user to enter or select the name of a file to open, so a script should use a dialog box to prompt the user for the name. Dialog boxes are also used to display information or options while the user works in another window. For example, word processing applications often use a dialog box with a text-search option. While the application searches for the text, the dialog box remains on the screen. The user can then return to the dialog box and search for the same word again or the user can change the entry in the dialog box and search for a new word. Applications that use dialog boxes in this way typically create one when the user clicks a menu item and continues to display it for as long as the application runs or until the user explicitly closes the dialog box.
There are three basic types: message boxes, common dialogs, and custom dialogs.
Message Boxes
Standard message boxes are covered in section 5.10. While there are standard messages boxes, users certainly can make their own. In addition, the standard message boxes offer a collection of flags to alter the appearance and controls available on the box.
Common Dialogs
Common boxes perform predefined functions common to many applications, such as selecting a file or folder, choosing fonts and colors, and printing. Common boxes are provided by Windows and support common menu items such as Open and Print.
Custom Dialogs
Custom dialogs allow the programmer complete control of the user input. Custom dialog boxes can have unique arrangements of controls and behaviors. They also, however, require a deeper understanding of how dialogs and controls operate and how to program them.
Dialog operation is considered to be modal or modeless. A modal dialog requires the user to respond to the dialog before the script will continue. Message boxes and common dialogs are examples of modal dialogs. A modeless dialog can remain on the screen, available for use at any time, while allowing the script to continue its execution.
This chapter also covers resources. Resources are static data items from a dialog templates, icons and images. Resources can be embedded directly within a script or included as resource files (.rc files.)
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