SFDialogs.Dialog service
The Dialog service contributes to the management of dialogs created with the Basic Dialog Editor. Each instance of the current class represents a single dialogue box displayed to the user.
A dialogue box can be displayed in modal or in non-modal modes.
In modal mode, the box is displayed and the execution of the macro process is suspended until one of the OK or Cancel buttons is pressed. In the meantime, user actions executed on the box can trigger specific actions.
In non-modal mode, the dialogue box is "floating" on the user desktop and the execution of the macro process continues normally. A non-modal dialogue box closes when it is terminated with the Terminate() method or when the Office session ends. The window close button is inactive in non-modal dialogue boxes.
A dialogue box disappears from memory after its explicit termination.
The SFDialogs.Dialog service is closely related to the SFDialogs.DialogControl service.
Service invocation and usage
Before using the Dialog service the ScriptForge library needs to be loaded or imported:
• Basic macros require to load ScriptForge library using the following statement:
GlobalScope.BasicLibraries.loadLibrary("ScriptForge")
• Python scripts require an import from scriptforge module:
from scriptforge import CreateScriptService
The Dialog service is invoked through the CreateScriptService method. It requires three positional arguments to specify the dialogue box to activate:
Container: "GlobalScope" for preinstalled libraries or a window name as defined by ScriptForge.UI service. Empty string "" default value stands for the current document.
Library: The case-sensitive name of a library contained in the container. Default value is "Standard".
DialogName: A case-sensitive string designating the dialog.
Below Office Basic and Python examples are displaying the dlgConsole dialog that belongs to ScriptForge shared library:
Dim oDlg As Object, lButton As Long
Dim Container As String, Library As String, DialogName As String
Set oDlg = CreateScriptService("SFDialogs.Dialog", "GlobalScope", "ScriptForge", "dlgConsole")
'... controls initialization goes here...
lButton = oDlg.Execute()
'Default mode = Modal
If lButton = oDlg.OKBUTTON Then
'... Process controls and do what is needed here
End If
oDlg.Terminate()
Or using Python:
dlg = CreateScriptService('SFDialogs.Dialog', 'GlobalScope', 'ScriptForge', 'dlgConsole')
# ... controls initialization goes here...
rc = dlg.Execute()
# Default mode is Modal
if rc == dlg.OKBUTTON:
# ... Process controls and do what is needed here
dlg.Terminate()
Alternatively a Dialog instance can be retrieved via the SFDialogs.DialogEvent service, providing that the dialog was initiated with the Dialog service. DialogEvent returns the SFDialogs.Dialog service instance that triggered the event.
Sub SomeEvent(ByRef poEvent As Object)
Dim oDlg As Object
Set oDlg = CreateScriptService("SFDialogs.DialogEvent", poEvent)
End Sub
with Python:
def some-event(event: uno):
dlg = CreateScriptService("SFDialogs.DialogEvent", event)
Note that in previous examples, the prefix "SFDialogs." may be omitted when deemed appropriate.
Properties
| Name | ReadOnly | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| OKBUTTON | Yes | Integer | Value = 1. An OK button was pressed. |
| CANCELBUTTON | Yes | Integer | Value = 0. A Cancel button was pressed. |
| Caption | No | String | Specify the title of the dialog. |
| Height | No | Long | Specify the height of the dialogue box. |
| Modal | Yes | Boolean | Specifies if the dialogue box is currently in execution in modal mode. |
| Name | Yes | String | The name of the dialog |
| Page | No | Integer | A dialog may have several pages that can be traversed by the user step by step. The Page property of the Dialog object defines which page of the dialog is active. |
| Visible | No | Boolean | Specify if the dialogue box is visible on the desktop. By default it is not visible until the Execute() method is run and visible afterwards. |
| XDialogModel | Yes | UNOobject | The UNO object representing the dialog model. Refer to XControlModel and UnoControlDialogModel in Application Programming Interface (API) documentation for detailed information. |
| XDialogView | Yes | UNOobject | The UNO object representing the dialog view. Refer to XControl and UnoControlDialog in Application Programming Interface (API) documentation for detailed information. |
| Width | No | Long | Specify the width of the dialogue box. |
Event properties
Returns a URI string with the reference to the script triggered by the event. Read its specification in the scripting framework URI specification.
| Name | ReadOnly | Basic IDE Description |
|---|---|---|
| OnFocusGained | Yes | When receiving focus |
| OnFocusLost | Yes | When losing focus |
| OnKeyPressed | Yes | Key pressed |
| OnKeyReleased | Yes | Key released |
| OnMouseDragged | Yes | Mouse moved while key presses |
| OnMouseEntered | Yes | Mouse inside |
| OnMouseExited | Yes | Mouse outside |
| OnMouseMoved | Yes | Mouse moved |
| OnMousePressed | Yes | Mouse button pressed |
| OnMouseReleased | Yes | Mouse button released |
| Methods | ||
|---|---|---|
| Activate Center Controls | EndExecute Execute GetTextsFromL10N | Resize Terminate |
Activate
Set the focus on the current Dialog instance. Return True if focusing was successful.
This method is called from a dialog or control event, or when a dialog is displayed in non-modal mode.
Syntax:
svc.Activate(): bool
Example:
Dim oDlg As Object
Set oDlg = CreateScriptService(,, "myDialog")
oDlg.Execute()
' ...
oDlg.Activate()
Python and Office Basic examples both assume that the dialog is stored in current document's Standard library.
dlg = CreateScriptService(,,'myDialog')
dlg.Execute()
# ...
dlg.Activate()
Center
Centres the current dialogue box instance in the middle of a parent window. Without arguments, the method centres the dialogue box in the middle of the current window.
Returns True when successful.
Syntax:
svc.Center(opt Parent: obj): bool
Parameters:
Parent: An optional object that can be either …
- a ScriptForge dialog object
- a ScriptForge document (Calc, Base, ...) object
Example:
In Basic
Sub TriggerEvent(oEvent As Object)
Dim oDialog1 As Object, oDialog2 As Object, lExec As Long
Set oDialog1 = CreateScriptService("DialogEvent", oEvent) ' The dialog that caused the event
Set oDialog2 = CreateScriptService("Dialog", ...) ' Open a second dialog
oDialog2.Center(oDialog1)
lExec = oDialog2.Execute()
Select Case lExec
...
End Sub
In Python
def triggerEvent(event: uno):
dlg1 = CreateScriptService('DialogEvent.Dialog', event) # The dialog having caused the event
dlg2 = CreateScriptService('Dialog', ...) # Open a second dialog
dlg2.Center(dlg1)
rc = dlg2.Execute()
if rc is False:
# ...
Controls
Return either:
- the list of the controls contained in the dialog
- a DialogControl class instance based on its name
Syntax:
svc.Controls(): str[0..*]
svc.Controls(controlname: str): svc
Parameters:
ControlName : A valid control name as a case-sensitive string. If absent, the list of control names is returned as a zero-based array.
Example:
Dim myDialog As Object, myList As Variant, myControl As Object
Set myDialog = CreateScriptService("SFDialogs.Dialog", , "Standard", "Dialog1")
myList = myDialog.Controls()
Set myControl = myDialog.Controls("myTextBox")
dlg = CreateScriptService('SFDialogs.Dialog','', 'Standard', 'Dialog1')
ctrls = dlg.Controls()
ctrl = dlg.Controls('myTextBox')
EndExecute
Ends the display of a modal dialog and gives back the argument as return value for the current Execute() running action.
EndExecute() is usually contained in the processing of a macro triggered by a dialog or control event.
Syntax:
svc.EndExecute(returnvalue: int)
Parameters:
returnvalue: The value passed to the running Execute() method.
Example:
Using Office Basic:
Sub OnEvent(poEvent As com.sun.star.lang.EventObject)
Dim oDlg As Object
Set oDlg = CreateScriptService("SFDialogs.DialogEvent", poEvent)
oDlg.EndExecute(ReturnValue := 25)
End Sub
Using Python:
from com.sun.star.lang import EventObject
def on-event(event: EventObject):
dlg = CreateScriptService("SFDialogs.DialogEvent", event)
dlg.EndExecute(25)
Above com.sun.star.lang.EventObject mentions are optional. Such annotations help identify Office Application Programming Interface (API).
Execute
Display the dialog box and, when modal, wait for its termination by the user. The returned value is either:
- 0 : Cancel button pressed
- 1 : OK button pressed
- Otherwise the dialog stopped with an EndExecute() statement issued by a dialog or control event
For non-modal dialog boxes the method always returns 0 and the execution of the macro continues.
Syntax:
svc.Execute(modal: bool = True): int
Parameters:
modal: False when non-modal dialog. Default = True.
Example:
In this Basic example myDialog dialog is stored in current document's Standard library.
Dim oDlg As Object, lReturn As Long
Set oDlg = CreateScriptService("SFDialogs.Dialog", , , "myDialog")
lReturn = oDlg.Execute(Modal := False)
Select Case lReturn
' ...
End Select
This Python code displays DlgConvert modal dialog from Euro shared Basic library.
dlg = CreateScriptService("SFDialogs.Dialog", 'GlobalScope', 'Euro', "DlgConvert")
rc = dlg.Execute()
if rc == dlg.CANCELBUTTON:
# ...
GetTextsFromL10N
Replaces all fixed text strings in a dialog by their translated versions based on a L10N service instance. This method translates the following strings:
- The title of the dialogue box.
- The caption of the following control types: Button, CheckBox, FixedLine, FixedText, GroupBox and RadioButton.
- Static strings in ListBoxes and ComboBoxes.
- The tooltip or help text displayed when the mouse hovers over the control.
The method returns True if successful.
To create a list of translatable strings in a dialog use the AddTextsFromDialog method from the L10N service.
Syntax:
svc.GetTextsFromL10N(l10n: svc): bool
Parameters:
l10n: A L10N service instance from which translated strings will be retrieved.
Example:
The following example loads translated strings and applies them to the dialog "MyDialog".
In Basic
oDlg = CreateScriptService("Dialog", "GlobalScope", "Standard", "MyDialog")
myPO = CreateScriptService("L10N", "/home/user/po-files/")
oDlg.GetTextsFromL10N(myPO)
oDlg.Execute()
In Python
dlg = CreateScriptService("Dialog", "GlobalScope", "Standard", "MyDialog")
myPO = CreateScriptService("L10N", "/home/user/po-files/")
dlg.GetTextsFromL10N(myPO)
dlg.Execute()
Read the L10N service help page to learn more about how PO and POT files are handled.
Resize
Moves the top left corner of a dialogue box to new coordinates and/or modify its dimensions. All distances are expressed in 1/100 mm. Without arguments, the method resets the initial dimensions. Return True if the resize was successful.
Syntax:
svc.Resize(opt Left: num, opt Top: num, opt Width: num, opt Height: num): bool
Parameters:
Left: the horizontal distance from the top-left corner
Top: the vertical distance from the top-left corner
Width: the width of the rectangle containing the dialog
Height: the height of the rectangle containing the dialogue box
Negative or missing arguments are left unchanged
Example:
In Basic
oDialog.Resize(1000, 2000, Height := 6000) ' Width is not changed
In Python
With Python:
oDialog.Resize(1000, 2000, Height = 6000) # Width is not changed
Terminate
Terminate the Dialog service for the current instance. Return True if the termination was successful.
Syntax:
svc.Terminate(): bool
Example:
Below Basic and Python examples open DlgConsole and dlgTrace non-modal dialogue boxes. They are respectively stored in ScriptForge and Access2Base shared libraries. Dialogue box close buttons are disabled and explicit termination is performed at the end of a running process.
In this example a button in DlgConsole is substituting inhibited window closing:
In Basic
oDlg = CreateScriptService("SFDialogs.Dialog","GlobalScope","ScriptForge","DlgConsole")
oDlg.Execute(modal:=False)
Wait 5000
oDlg.Terminate()
With Python:
In Python
from time import sleep
dlg = CreateScriptService('SFDialogs.Dialog',"GlobalScope",'Access2Base',"dlgTrace")
dlg.Execute(modal=False)
sleep 5
dlg.Terminate()
All ScriptForge Basic routines or identifiers that are prefixed with an underscore character "-" are reserved for internal use. They are not meant be used in Basic macros or Python scripts.