The following demonstrates
the typical function sequence:
- Load the DCL file with
a load_dialog call.
- Call new_dialog to
display a particular dialog box.
Be sure to check the value
returned by new_dialog.
Calling start_dialog when
the new_dialog call
has failed can have unpredictable results.
- Initialize the dialog
box by setting up tile values, lists, and images. Initialize also
when you call action_tile to
set up action expressions or callback functions. Other functions
typically called at this time are set_tile and mode_tile for
general tile values and states, start_list, add_list,
and end_list for
list boxes, and the dimension functions with start_image, vector_image, fill_image, slide_image,
and end_image for images.
At this time you can also call client_data_tile to
associate application-specific data with the dialog box and its
components.
- Call start_dialog to
turn control over to the dialog box, so that the user can enter
input.
- Process user input
from within your actions (callbacks). Process input when you are
most likely to use get_tile, get_attr, set_tile,
and mode_tile.
The user presses an exit
button, causing an action to call done_dialog, which
causes start_dialog to
return a value. At this point, unload the DCL file by calling unload_dialog.
This scheme handles
only one dialog box and one DCL file at a time. Applications usually
have multiple dialog boxes. The easiest and quickest way to handle
these dialog boxes is to save all of them in a single DCL file. The load_dialog call
then loads all dialog boxes at once, and you can call new_dialog for
any dialog box. If memory is limited, however, you may need to create
multiple DCL files and use unload_dialog to
remove one set of dialog boxes from memory before you load another
set.
