A dialog box is the most straightforward form of a windowed operating system that implements an inbound conversation, similar to a console in an online command interface, except that the console is based on a command line, and the dialog is based on a graphical interface.
1. The purpose of the dialog box
A dialog box is a temporary window with title bars, input boxes, and buttons on your desktop, also known as a dialog window. Although the dialog box is somewhat similar to the window, there are significant differences, mainly as follows: There are no toolbars on all of the dialog boxes, and the size of the dialog box is the same, so there is no corresponding maximize and minimize button, and the dialog box cannot resize and position by dragging its border or window corner like a window, and The dialog box is a temporary window that disappears automatically when it is finished, or eliminates it with a cancellation command.
The main purpose of the dialog box is to implement the inbound dialog, where the system prompts the user to enter information about the task through a dialog box. such as prompting the user to enter the name of the file to open, the directory, the drive and file type of the information, or the object's properties, Windows, and other environmental settings, such as setting the properties of the file, set the color and resolution of the display, set the desktop display effect, you can also provide the user may need information.
2. The composition of the dialog box
Windows dialog box can consist of the following elements, some simple, some complex. Figure 1 (a), (b) is divided into two commonly used dialog boxes, "Save as" and "format".
1) title bar
As with a window, the title bar of the dialog box is located at the top of it, where the left section is the name of the dialog box (for example, the name is "surname attribute") and the right side is a close button and a Help button.
2) Input Box
The input box can be divided into two categories: a text box, is a rectangular box for the user to enter text information, the user can enter any strings to the text box through the keyboard, the other is a list box, in the list box to provide users with reference information for the user to choose, but the user can not modify the contents of the list box. The list box has 3 forms: the first is a simple list box, and everything you need to display is listed in the box; the second is a scrolling list box with a scroll bar (slider) at the border of the box to see what is not displayed in the box, and the 5th is a drop-down list box with only one line of words in the box (an option). The right side has a triangular symbol facing down, and when clicked, pops up a drop-down list for the user to choose from.
3) button
In Windows, there are several forms of buttons, such as command buttons, selection buttons, sliding buttons, and so on.
(1) command button. You can use this button to initiate an action that responds immediately, such as the OK button, the Cancel button, the Close button, the Start button, and so on. A command button is usually a rectangular button that contains text, at the bottom or right of the dialog box.
(2) Select the button. It can also be divided into radio buttons and check buttons. The former refers to multiple radio buttons in the same group, each of which must and can only be selected. The radio button is a graphic. When an option is selected, a concentric dot is added to the Circle button. A check button means that a user can select one or more buttons in multiple check buttons as needed. The check button is square and, if selected, the tick mark appears in the corresponding box.
(3) Slider Type button. The properties of some objects can be continuously adjusted within a certain range, such as the speed of the mouse being double-clicked, the repetition rate of the keyboard, the adjustment of the sound volume, etc., as shown in Figure 2.