Re: Dialog boxes
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg18860] Re: Dialog boxes
- From: paulh at wolfram.com (P.J. Hinton)
- Date: Thu, 22 Jul 1999 22:57:53 -0400
- Organization: Wolfram Research, Inc.
- References: <7n6b2n$h9i@smc.vnet.net>
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
In article <7n6b2n$h9i at smc.vnet.net>, "Sortech Limited" <sortech.limited at virgin.net> writes: > I would be grateful if someone could tell me how to go about creating a > Dialog Box for inputting several parameter values used in my notebooks. I > would like to create something that looks like a standard windows dialog box > where the user inputs data into named boxes and then clicks on a button to > run a particular set of cells, plot graphs etc. Are there any example > workbooks someone can point me to? Or can this only be achieved using a VB > from end? My key objectives are 1) to create intuitive data entry dialogs, > and 2) to create notebooks that are novice/casual user friendly. It's quite > important for me to solve this one having recommended the use of Mathematica > in an engineering design house where I'm now meeting resistance from the > other system fans. Basically, I think I can stave off criticism if I can > demonstrate Mathematica delivers an I/O edge. You may want to look over the ButtonBox HOWTO tutorial notebook here: http://www.mathsource.com/Content/General/Tutorials/Programming/0209-809 It shows you how to create a button that performs a nontrivial task. For accepting input, you can use cells with frames around them to simulate the look of a text input field. To read the contents of the field, you can use a selection movement command like NotebookLocate[] to place the selection on the cell and then pull the expression using NotebookRead[]. If you would like to see more sophisticated instances of dialog box constructions in notebooks, you may want to look over the solvers used in Calculus Wiz. http://www.wolfram.com/products/student/calcwiz/examples2.html If you are more familiar with building user interfaces with Visual Basic, then you may want to go this route instead. There is a sample front end that is included in the Mathematica 3.0 and 4 MathLink Developers Kits. It's in the UnsupportedGoodies folder. -- P.J. Hinton Mathematica Programming Group paulh at wolfram.com Wolfram Research, Inc. Disclaimer: Opinions expressed herein are those of the author alone.