Adding to standard dialogs

[stephen barncard]

In 4.0 the dialogdata property is a full fledged data object and can be
multi-dimensional, easily converted back and forth into an array. This
simplifies creating complex dialog boxes with many parameters.  Before 4.0,
complex systems needed to be created to get multiple data blocks, some with
multiple lines and sensitive formatting, "through the eye of the needle".
All the parameters had to be sent in an exact order as well, and contributed
to many scripting errors. This simple change in dialogdata has made a world
of difference in the way I create dialog boxes.

A technique I use to extend the usefulness of a dialog is using some extra
tags I've created to use in addition to the htmltext property.

Often I need to package formatted text in a field in a dialog, but I require
more than the htmltext property will allow, like centering, textcolor and
backgroundcolor (of the entire field), but I want all of the properties to
be described in the htmltext.   After the last line of the gathered
htmlText, I add name-value pairs like this:
<backgroundcolor=white><locked=true><align=right>

As it turns out, if you set the htmltext of a field and include tags it
doesn't know about, Rev just silently ignores those tags and only changes
what it knows.
 So first, I'll parse out the extra tags and process them after first
setting the htmlText. Works like a champ - keeps all display parameters in
one block of text, rather that spread out in two or more areas.

On 18 May 2010 13:33, Bob Sneidar <bobs at twft.com> wrote:

> There is no way to add to the present ask and answer dialogs. But there's
> nothing to prevent you from making your own! See the dialogdata in the
> documentation for methods to send data back and forth between your custom
> dialog window and your application. You get and set the dialogdata (a global
> property) as you please. I don't even think there is any reason why you
> could not use an array.
>
> I would recommend having all your dialog windows as cards in a special
> stack. You can lock the screen, open them modally, set things up the way you
> want, and then show and hide the stack. Once the user clicks whatever ok or
> cancel or other button, you set the dialog data according to the contents of
> the particular dialog, then hide or close the stack.
>
> Bob
>
>
> On May 17, 2010, at 8:07 PM, Paul D. DeRocco wrote:
>
> > Is there any way to modify the standard file open/save dialogs, to add
> > things like checkboxes?
> >
> > --
> >
> > Ciao,               Paul D. DeRocco
> > Paul                mailto:pderocco at ix.netcom.com
> >
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-- 
-------------------------
Stephen Barncard
Back home in SF