Dialog Class Catalog

3D PLM Enterprise Architecture	User Interface - Dialogs	Dialog Class Catalog Illustrated catalog linked with programming information
Quick Reference

Dialog objects are , windows, menus, bars, boxes, items, indicators, and controls. They share the base class CATDialog. Two other objects are useful: the grid constraints and the interactive application.

Table 1: Windows
Contain all other objects
	Window	The window object base class to share window and dialog box behavior
	Application Window	Accommodates a SDI or MDI application. The document window is the main application window. It can contain one or several dialog windows, each containing a document's presentation, depending on whether the application is SDI (Single Document Interface) or MDI (Multiple Document Interface), and other dialog windows. In addition, it usually features a menu bar, toolbars, and a status bar.
	Dialog Window	Accommodates any dialog. The dialog window is designed to enable the dialog between the end user and the application. It can contain a presentation of the application document such as an 2D or 3D viewer, or a 2D graph immersed into a 3D viewer as shown in the Part1 window. It can also contain controls, such as in the Macro window. The dialog window is designed to allow for data acquisition from the user. Applications can thus request data from the user to go on executing. In addition, a dialog window can be set to modal. In this case, the dialog is limited to this window, and when it ends, the window disappears.
	Message Window	Displays help, error, and information messages. The message window is used for displaying information, warning and error messages to the end user. The application can also request a validation from the end user to go on working using a message window.
	File Window	Enables file selection. The file window offers a standard file selection box with a filter to apply to search for files. There are three kinds of file windows: default, apply, and help. Apply and help file windows feature an Apply and Help push button respectively, in addition to the OK, Filter and Cancel push buttons. In addition, a file window can be set to modal. The modal file window locks the dialog to this window as long as it is displayed.

Table 2: Menus
Gather in a small area all the actions offered to the end user
	Menu	The menu object base class to gather in a small area the actions that are offered to the user. They are fully displayed on request only and save space for other purposes
	Menu Bar	Accommodates the menu bar of an application
	Submenu	Accommodates dropdown menus and submenus. (A submenu is also called a child menu with Windows.) The menus and submenus are used to group menu items for pull-down menus. Submenus are depicted using an horizontal arrow end and can be nested. Menu items trigger commands. Submenus items can be push items, radio items, check items, and separator items. In the figure beside, Tools is a menu. Among its items, some can be submenus. For example, Image is a submenu. Selecting Image displays the Capture, Album, and Video items.
	Contextual Menu	Accommodates an object's dependent menu. Its contents depends on the context determined by the mouse position. (A contextual menu is also called a shortcut menu with Windows.) Usually, the mouse in a window can preactivate a given object by simply being located above it, and a floating menu depending on the preactivated object can be available using the mouse right button. The commands available in the contextual menu are dedicated to the object under the mouse. A contextual menu, like any other menu, can contain submenus, push items, check items, radio items, and separator items. As an example, the figure beside shows the contextual menu of a PartBody. It contains push items, such as Center Graph or Copy, separators, such as the one between Paste Special and Delete, and the PartBody object submenu.

Table 3: Bars
Gather a set of controls and information without needing to arrange them
	Bar	The bar object base class to gather a set of controls without needing to arrange them. Controls appear in their instantiation order.
	Status Bar	Displays temporary or permanent application's status information. It is generally located at the bottom of the window. It includes an area for messages in its left part, and can include push buttons, check buttons, radio buttons, and labels.
	Toolbar	Contains push buttons or other controls. Toolbars gather the tools of the application. These tools are commands represented usually using icons, and are also usually available from pull-down menus.

Table 4: Boxes
Gather dialog components in consistent sets inside a dialog window or a toolbar
	Box	The box object base class to gather dialog components in consistent sets inside a dialog window. These components are usually controls, but a box can often contain boxes. For example, a frame can contain frames, as well as a tab page.
	Container	Accommodates a scrollable area that can contain a single object. This object can in turn contain many objects.
	Frame	Gathers controls having something in common. The frame is designed to group several Dialog framework objects, like controls and labels, having something in common from the user or from the application point of view. In the figure beside, the second frame has a title.
	Icon Box	Makes a dropdown menu in a toolbar. The icon box is used in a toolbar to build a pull-down (dropdown) menu composed of icons. Each of these icons represents a command and can be clicked to fire an action. To open the icon box, the end user clicks the arrow. This displays the icons available in the icon box. The icon the user will click will remain the only one displayed afterwards.
	Splitter	Enables two resizeable subareas.
	Tab Container	Gathers a set of tab pages presented as a tab index. Also known as a property sheet. It presents a tab index at the top to select the page to show. One page is shown at a time.
	Tab Page	Gathers controls having something in common. Also known as property page. Accessed form its tab index in a tab container. The tab page is one of the pages available in a tab container.

Table 5: Items
Make up dropdown menu components
	Item	The menu item base class to share item behavior
or	Push Item	Executes an action from a menu, submenu, or toolbar.
	Check Item	Sets an option among several available options in a menu, submenu, or toolbar.
	Radio Item	Sets an option among several mutually exclusive available options in a menu, submenu, or toolbar.
	Separator Item	Separates controls in menus, submenus, and toolbars.

Table 6: Indicators
Provide a visual help to the end user
	Label	Adds an information text to a control
	Progress indicator	Displays the progress of a lengthy operation
	Separator	Separates two subareas of a dialog or container

Table 7: Controls
Execute actions, set options, or enter or select texts or values
	Control	The control base class to share unit and contextual menu management
	Check Button	Sets an option among several available ones
	Combo	Selects one alphanumerical value in a discrete list
	Editor	Enables characters to be entered
	Multilist	Selects connected values within a set of finite lists
	Push Button	Executes an action
	Radio Button	Sets an option among several mutually exclusive ones
	Scrollbar	Scrolls a clipped object
	Selector List	Selects one or several alphanumerical value in a discrete list
	Slider	Selects a numerical value among a discrete list by dragging along with the mouse.
	Spinner	Selects a numerical value among a discrete list by clicking up and down arrows

History

Version: 1 [Jan 2000]	Document created
[Top]

Copyright © 2000, Dassault Systèmes. All rights reserved.