DIALOG Statement

Syntax:

  DIALOG text, id, x, y, width, height[, style[, framectl]]
         [data-definitions]
  BEGIN
  control-definition
      .
      .
      .
  END

The DIALOG statement defines a window that an application can use to create dialog boxes. The statement defines the position and dimensions of the dialog box on the screen, as well as the dialog-box style. The DIALOG statement is most often used in a DLGTEMPLATE statement.

Typically, you use only one DIALOG statement in each DLGTEMPLATE statement, and the DIALOG statement contains at least one control definition.

text

Specifies the dialog-box title if the style specifies a title bar. This field must contain zero or more characters enclosed in double quotation marks. Character values must be in the range 1 through 255. If a double quotation mark is required in the title, you must include the double quotation mark twice.
id
Specifies the dialog-box identifier. This value must be a signed integer in the range -32768 through 32767, an unsigned integer in the range of 1 through 65535, or a simple expression that evaluates to a value in these ranges.
x
Specifies the x-coordinate of the lower-left corner of the dialog box. This value must be a signed integer in the range -32768 through 32767 or an expression consisting of integers and the addition (+) or subtraction (-) operator. The value is in dialog units, but its exact meaning depends on the dialog style. See the "Comments" section for details.
y
Specifies the y-coordinate of the lower-left corner of the dialog box. This value must be a signed integer in the range -32768 through 32767 or an expression consisting of integers and the addition (+) or subtraction (-) operator. The value is in dialog units, but its exact meaning depends on the dialog style. See the "Comments" section for details.
width
Specifies the width of the dialog box. This value must be an integer in the range 0 through 65535 or an expression consisting of integers and the addition (+) or subtraction (-) operator. The value is in n-character units.
height
Specifies the height of the dialog box. This value must be an integer in the range 0 through 65535 or an expression consisting of integers and the addition (+) or subtraction (-) operator. The value is in 1/8-character units.
style
Specifies the dialog-box style. This value can be any of the window, dialog-box, or frame styles. You can use the bitwise OR (|) operator to combine styles.
framectl
Specifies the styles for frame controls belonging to the dialog box. This value can be any of the frame-control styles specified in the "Frame-Control Flags" table in the Presentation Manager Programming Reference. You can use the bitwise OR (|) operator to combine styles.
data-definitions
Specifies a CTLDATA and/or PRESPARAMS statement. These statements define control and presentation data for the dialog box. For more information, see CTLDATA Statement and PRESPARAMS Statement.
control-definition
Specifies a CONTROL statement or any one of several predefined control statements. These statements define the style, position, and dimensions of controls in the dialog box.

Comments

The exact meaning of the coordinates depends on the style defined by the style field. For dialog boxes with FS_SCREENALIGN style, the coordinates are relative to the origin of the display screen. For dialog boxes with the style FS_MOUSEALIGN, the coordinates are relative to the position of the mouse pointer at the time the dialog box is created. For all other dialog boxes, the coordinates are relative to the origin of the parent window.

The DIALOG statement can actually contain any combination of CONTROL, DIALOG, and WINDOW statements. Typically, a DIALOG statement contains one or more CONTROL statements.

Example

This example creates a dialog box that is labeled "Disk Error."

DLGTEMPLATE 1BEGIN
    DIALOG  "Disk Error", 100, 10, 10, 300, 110
    BEGIN
        CTEXT "Select One:", 1, 10, 80, 280, 12
        RADIOBUTTON "Retry", 2, 75, 50, 60, 12
        RADIOBUTTON "Abort", 3, 75, 30, 60, 12
        RADIOBUTTON "Ignore", 4, 75, 10, 60, 12
    END
END

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