Bob Arning said:
On Sun, 23 Aug 1998 10:04:25 -0500 Tim Olson tim@jumpnet.com wrote:=20
I may be missing something, but I don't see anything that looks like =
real=20
dialog window support in Squeak. Is there something available?
The FillInTheBlank class provides dialog support for text entry, and=20 SelectionMenu>>confirm: can be used for yes/no dialog boxes.
Personally, I hate it when the system pops up a dialog and I can't use my system to determine the answer to the question it's asking. "so, what do you want to name that file?" (No! You can't use the system to look at what other files you have in that directory!).
I agree -- modal dialog boxes of that type are evil -- EVIL I tell 'ya! ;-)
Unfortunately FillInTheBlank and SelectionMenu are modal in just this way. Much better are the type found in NeXTSTEP -- dialog boxes cause the application to wait for a response, but the box itself can be moved, and other applications and windows can be activated normally. Much like the standard User Interrupt window in Squeak.
-- tim
I agree -- modal dialog boxes of that type are evil -- EVIL I tell 'ya! ;-)
Well, if correctly implemented and wisely used, then, there's just wonderful. I think, we've to distinguish image modal and application modal windows. While the first type of window will block the whole system, the second one just blocks the application (aka parent window) which needs the input to continue. But even non-movable image modal dialogs aren't evil, as a piece of software, they're innocent. However, the programmer who implemented this kind of stuff has to be considered as evil :-)
Therefore, I'd vote for movable, application modal dialogs: Just the usual stuff, message boxes, input boxes, file or color requestors and that kind of stuff.
bye -- Stefan Matthias Aust // Are you ready to discover the twilight zone?
I agree -- modal dialog boxes of that type are evil -- EVIL I tell 'ya! ;-)
Well, if I might make my humble opinion...coming from an X/Motif world I have to agree with the sentiment. ANYTHING that locks the pointer into a single window irritates the heck out of me. It isn't so much a problem when things actually work properly..however when an app goes berzerk (like, say, netscape) bad things can happen (like the pointer being permanently locked in a modal state...seems to happen to me all the time when I'm in a pulldown menu in netscape). The nice thing is, certain window managers can be configured to either honour the modality or not. Maybe Squeak could have a similar configurable option? Then again, the X11 way may not be the best way.. :)
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