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<title>The Dialog Module for Lua</title>
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<hr><h2>The Dialog module</h2><hr>
<p>
The <tt>dialog</tt> module provides a relatively simple way to create some fairly
complex dialog boxes for user interaction. The general idea is very loosely based on HTML forms.
<p>
<p>The functions are described below. The <tt>dlg</tt> argument expects a
dialog object, most other arguments are strings, unless otherwise noted.</p>
Note that you can also use these functions in object-oriented style:<br>
For instance <tt>dialog.label(dlg, "hello")</tt> <br>
can also be written as <tt>dlg:label("hello")</tt><br></p>
<br>
<hr><tt><b><big>function dialog.new ( title, buttons )</big></b></tt><br><p>
Creates a new dialog object. The <tt>title</tt> string assigns the window's title bar
text for the dialog. The <tt>buttons</tt> argument is a table of
strings, where each string will create a button with that text and add it to the
bottom row of the dialog. If a button's text contains an underscore, the letter after
it will be seen as an underlined accelerator for the button.</p>
<br>
<hr><tt><b><big>function dialog.run ( dlg )</big></b></tt><br>
<p>Displays the dialog to the user and waits for submission.</p><p>
This function returns two values: the one-based <tt>index</tt> of the the clicked button,
and a <tt>results</tt> table containing key-value pairs collected from the dialog's elements.</p><p>
If the user cancels the dialog e.g. by pressing the <tt>[Esc]</tt> key, the <tt>index</tt> will be zero, and the <tt>results</tt> table will be <tt>nil</tt>.
</p>
<br>
<hr><tt><b><big>function dialog.label ( dlg, text )</big></b></tt><br>
<p>Adds some informative text to the dialog.</p>
<br>
<hr><tt><b><big>function dialog.hr ( dlg )</big></b></tt><br>
<p>Draws a horizontal separator across the dialog.</p>
<br>
<hr><tt><b><big>function dialog.heading ( dlg, text )</big></b></tt><br>
<p>Adds a horizontal separator with some informative text below it.</p>
<p>This function is the same as calling the <tt>hr()</tt> and <tt>label()</tt> functions individually.</p>
<br>
<hr><tt><b><big>function dialog.text ( dlg, key, default, prompt )</big></b></tt><br>
<p>Creates a single-line text entry widget.</p>
<p>
The value of the <tt>key</tt> field in the <tt>results</tt> table will be set to the contents of the entry box.<br>
If the <tt>default</tt> string is non-nil, that text will initially be displayed in the entry box.<br>
The <tt>prompt</tt> string displays a label in front of the entry box to describe the requested input.
</p>
<br>
<hr><tt><b><big>function dialog.password ( dlg, key, default, prompt )</big></b></tt><br>
<p>Identical to the <tt>text()</tt> function, except that the contents of the entry box are "masked", the characters are displayed as asterisks. </p>
<br>
<hr><tt><b><big>function dialog.textarea ( dlg, key, default, caption )</big></b></tt><br>
<p>Creates a multi-line text entry widget.</p>
<p>
The value of the <tt>key</tt> field in the results table will be set to the contents of the text area.<br>
If the <tt>default</tt> string is non-nil, that text will initially be displayed in the text area.<br>
The <tt>caption</tt> string displays a label above the text area to describe the requested input.
</p>
<br>
<hr><tt><b><big>function dialog.checkbox ( dlg, key, default, caption )</big></b></tt><br>
<p>Creates an on/off toggle button.</p>
<p>
If the boolean <tt>default</tt> argument is <tt>true</tt>, the button will initially be shown in a "checked" state.<br>
The <tt>caption</tt> argument is the human-readable text to be displayed next to the button.
</p><p>
Note that although the default argument is boolean, the <tt>key</tt> value returned in the
<tt>results</tt> table will be a string, either <tt>"1"</tt>
for checked or <tt>"0"</tt> for unchecked.
</p>
<br>
<hr><tt><b><big>function dialog.select ( dlg, key, default, caption )</big></b></tt><br>
<p>Creates an empty drop-down list box.</p>
<p>
The contents of the <tt>key</tt> field in the <tt>results</tt> table will be set to the value of the selected item.<br>
If the <tt>default</tt> string is non-nil, the item with that value will initially be selected in the list.<br>
The <tt>caption</tt> string displays a label in front of the list box to describe the requested input.
</p>
<br>
<hr><tt><b><big>function dialog.option ( dlg, key, value, label )</big></b></tt><br>
<p>Adds an item to the drop-down list identified by <tt>key</tt>.</p>
<p>
The returned value of <tt>key</tt> will be set to this <tt>value</tt> in the <tt>results</tt> table if this item is selected.<br>
The <tt>label</tt> argument is the human-readable text to be displayed in the list.
</p>
<br>
<hr><tt><b><big>function dialog.group ( dlg, key, default, caption )</big></b></tt><br>
<p>Creates an empty group for radio buttons.</p><p>
The contents of the <tt>key</tt> field in the <tt>results</tt> table will be set to
the value of the selected radio button.<br>
If the <tt>default</tt> string is non-nil, the button with that value will initially be selected in the group.<br>
The <tt>caption</tt> string displays a label above of the group to describe the requested input.
</p>
<br>
<hr><tt><b><big>function dialog.radio ( dlg, key, value, label )</big></b></tt><br>
<p>Adds a button to the radio group identified by <tt>key</tt>.</p>
<p>
The returned value of <tt>key</tt> will be set to this <tt>value</tt> in the <tt>results</tt> table if this button is selected.<br>
The <tt>label</tt> argument is the human-readable text to be displayed next to this button.
</p>
<br>
<hr><tt><b><big>function dialog.file ( dlg, key, default, caption )</big></b></tt><br>
<p>
Creates a single-line text entry widget, along with a "browse" button that
invokes a separate file-selection dialog. <br>
If the user selects a filename in the file dialog, the text in the
entry widget will be set to the selected filename.
</p>
<p>
The value of the <tt>key</tt> field in the <tt>results</tt> table will be set to
the contents of the entry box.<br>
</p>
<br>
<hr><tt><b><big>function dialog.color ( dlg, key, default, caption )</big></b></tt><br>
<p>
Creates a single-line text entry widget, along with a "choose" button that
invokes a separate color-selection dialog. <br>
If the user selects a color from the dialog, the text in the
entry widget will be set to the selected color name in <tt>#RRGGBB</tt> format.
</p>
<p>
The value of the <tt>key</tt> field in the <tt>results</tt> table will be set to
the contents of the entry box.<br>
</p>
<br>
<hr><tt><b><big>function dialog.font ( dlg, key, default, caption )</big></b></tt><br>
<p>
Creates a single-line text entry widget, along with a "select" button that
invokes a separate font-selection dialog. <br>
If the user selects a font from the dialog, the text in the
entry widget will be set to the font name.
</p>
<p>
The value of the <tt>key</tt> field in the <tt>results</tt> table will be set to
the contents of the entry box.<br>
</p>
<br>
<hr>
<br><br>
<div align="right"><small>© 2007-2008 <i>Jeff Pohlmeyer </i> </small></div>
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