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Message_Box

See Also: Dialog and Message Box Functions, Info_Box, Stop_Box, YesNo_Box, YesNoCancel_Box

Purpose

Displays a generic message dialog box.

Return Type

Integer

Syntax

Use Windows.pkg
(Message_Box( {sMessage}, {sCaption}, {Buttons}, {Options} ))

Where:

  • {sMessage} is a string containing the information message to be shown. A carriage-return/linefeed can be placed in the message string by the inclusion of \n in the text.

  • {sCaption} specifies the content of the caption bar.

  • {Buttons} specifies the list of buttons to be shown on the message box. The table below lists the types of buttons that can be selected.

Button Constant Description
MB_ABORTRETRYIGNORE Abort, Retry and Ignore buttons
MB_HELP Help button
MB_OK OK button
MB_OKCANCEL OK and Cancel buttons
MB_RETRYCANCEL Retry and Cancel buttons
MB_YESNOCANCEL Yes, No and Cancel buttons
MB_YESNO Yes and No buttons
  • {Options} specifies additional options for configuring the message box. These options are grouped by type.

Icon Constants

Icon Constant Description
MB_ICONHAND A stop-sign icon appears in the message box.
MB_ICONQUESTION A question-mark icon appears in the message box.
MB_ICONEXCLAMATION An exclamation-point icon appears in the message box.
MB_ICONASTERISK An icon consisting of a lowercase letter i in a circle appears in the message box.
MB_ICONWARNING An exclamation-point icon appears in the message box.
MB_ICONERROR A stop-sign icon appears in the message box.
MB_ICONINFORMATION An icon consisting of a lowercase letter i in a circle appears in the message box.
MB_ICONSTOP A stop-sign icon appears in the message box.

Default Button Constants

Default Button Constant Description
MB_DEFBUTTON1 The first button is the default button. This is the default.
MB_DEFBUTTON2 The second button is the default button.
MB_DEFBUTTON3 The third button is the default button.
MB_DEFBUTTON4 The fourth button is the default button.
Modal Type Constant Description
MB_APPLMODAL The user must respond to the message box before continuing. MB_APPLMODAL is the default.
MB_SYSTEMMODAL Same as MB_APPLMODAL except that the message box is the topmost window.

Other Constants

Other Constant Description
MB_RIGHT The message text is right-justified.
MB_SETFOREGROUND The message box becomes the foreground window.
MB_TOPMOST The message box is created with the Topmost window style.

You can combine one option from each type by using an expression where the options are Ior'ed. See the examples section below for more information.

What It Does

Message_Box is used to pop a message box and obtain the user's response. The message box contains a message and title, plus any combination of predefined icons and push buttons.

The message box function returns one of the following integer constants.

Return Type Constants

Return Type Constant Description
MBR_OK The OK button was clicked.
MBR_CANCEL The Cancel button was clicked.
MBR_ABORT The Abort button was clicked.
MBR_RETRY The Retry button was clicked.
MBR_IGNORE The Ignore button was clicked.
MBR_YES The Yes button was clicked.
MBR_NO The No button was clicked.

Examples

Move (
    Message_Box(
        "This box displays a Help button!", "Example", ;
        MB_OKCANCEL IOR MB_HELP, ;
        MB_ICONWARNING
    )
) to eResponse

The above example would display the following message box…

Example Message Box

Use Windows.pkg
Procedure Example
    Integer eResponse

Move (
    Message_Box(
        "Delete this file?", "Example", MB_YESNO, ;
        MB_ICONQUESTION IOR MB_DEFBUTTON2
    )
) to eResponse

If (eResponse = MBR_YES) Begin
    Send DeleteFile
End
End_Procedure

The above example displays the following message box…

Delete Confirmation Message Box

In this example, the default button is the "No" button (the second button). After the message box is closed, the returned value is tested to see which button was pressed.

Notes

  • If the user types Ctrl+C in the message box, the text of the message is copied to the clipboard.

  • To add a help button to other buttons in a message dialog, use an expression in the {Buttons} parameter which Ior's the help button with the other selected buttons. For example: (MB_OKCANCEL IOR MB_HELP).

  • When the user clicks the Help button or presses F1 from a message box, Windows sends a WM_HELP message to the application.