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4.5: The Dialog Box, the Property Sheet, and the Message Box   
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4.5: The Dialog Box, the Property Sheet, and the Message Box
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The dialog box is so named because it is a box and because it lets you communicate with your application software in a somewhat more conversational style when compared to mere menus and icons. Choices you can make are presented in various forms and formats, located in various areas of the box. For example, if a dialog box contains a tab control, it is considered to be a property sheet.
Dialog boxes display all the options you might need to know about and all the choices the program allows you to make on a given feature. For example, let us say you want to open a file. You would choose File from the menu bar and then choose Open from the File drop-down. The Open File dialog box would open, giving you a place to type the drive, path, and name of the file you want to open. Or, if you prefer, you could move on to the next control to scroll up and down a list of files in the currently logged directory to select and choose a file or even a group of files, instead of typing the name of the desired file. Choosing a file or files to open would close the Open File dialog and open the file or files you have chosen.
In still another area of the dialog you might find a list of the last several files you have worked on recently, in case you wanted the last file you worked with but did not happen to recall its name or path. More sophisticated applications even let you move, copy, delete, and rename files right within the same dialog box. Convenience is also of key importance in Windows.
You can change focus from one control to another in a dialog box in several different ways: You can point and click, rotate through the controls with TAB and SHIFT-TAB, or press one of the shortcut keys that Window-Eyes announces when it first reads the pop up dialog. To read the selected item of the focused control in a dialog box, press the Speak Summary hot key, CTRL-SHIFT-S.
Here are some brief discussions of the various controls commonly found in dialog boxes:
The Edit Box
In an edit box you have free rein to type more or less any text you wish. Ordinarily edit boxes control how long your answer can be, and sometimes they are programmed to reject certain characters. When you select an edit box, Window-Eyes says Edit Box and then reads the prompt and anything that has already been filled in within that edit box. The prompt is usually displayed to the left or above the space where you are allowed to type and there is usually a cursor within the box. You can edit text by moving with arrows or deleting with BACKSPACE or DELETE.
Windows also allows read-only edit boxes. A minor contradiction in terms, the read-only edit box looks exactly like an edit box. You can move the cursor around in one, however, read-only edit boxes do not accept keyboard input. Window-Eyes recognizes read-only edit boxes and tells you when you are in one.
The Button
The button, sometimes called a push button or button bar, is a very small control, ordinarily distinguished from other text by brighter or deeper colors and by a frame drawn around the text within the button. The text usually consists of one word, such as OK, Help, Options, Cancel, etc. Buttons can be chosen by pressing ENTER or the SPACE BAR when the button has focus. You can ordinarily point and click to select and choose a button all in one operation.
Application programmers often choose which button you are most likely to use and so often have set one button in a dialog as the default (or selected) button. Pressing ENTER chooses the default button. When Window-Eyes reads you the dialog box, it tells you which button is the default button and tells you the shortcut keys you can press to choose any of the buttons.
You can also press the Default Button hot key, NUMPAD-DELETE, to have Window-Eyes tell you the default button name in the current dialog box. If Window-Eyes beeps, there is no default button.
Some buttons open new dialog boxes; others execute some action such as canceling the changes made to the information in the dialog box. The OK button conventionally saves the choices you have made in the dialog and closes it. The Cancel button restores the settings that were in place before you opened the dialog and, it too, closes the dialog for you.
In most dialog boxes, ENTER automatically chooses the OK button or the selected button. The ESCAPE key chooses the Cancel button. Most feature-rich dialog boxes also have a Help button, which gives you access to the program's help system. Generally, the system is context sensitive, that is, the help screen that pops up gives you information about the dialog you are in.
The simplest of dialog boxes sometimes do no more than ask you a very basic question that calls for a yes or no response. You can respond by choosing the Yes button or the No button. Again, the button you are most likely to need will have focus initially when the dialog box opens.
The Radio Button
Imagine a car radio. You get to choose one and only one station at a time by pushing buttons arranged in a row, but even if the radio is shut off, one of its station buttons is selected, and that corresponding radio station will play when you turn the radio on.
Radio Buttons in Windows operate the same way, but they are typically displayed vertically instead of horizontally. Each radio button is depicted as a tiny hollow circle with a textual label to the right of the circle, describing the function of the button. One of these buttons is selected, as indicated by the circle being filled in for the benefit of the visual-access user. You tab to get into the array of radio buttons. When the first radio button gains focus, Window-Eyes tells you if it is checked or unchecked. You then move through them with arrow keys. As you move, you select the button you move to and, in so doing, deselect the previous one. After selecting the radio button you want, you can move on to the next area of the dialog box once again with the TAB key. You can also select a radio button by pointing and clicking with the left mouse button.
When Window-Eyes reads an entire dialog box containing radio buttons, it reads the selected radio button as "checked" and all others as "unchecked.
The Check Box
Check boxes are displayed in groups of one or more in their own areas of a dialog box, in a similar manner to radio buttons. Here, you can select none, one, more than one, or all the check boxes in a given set. Instead of being represented by tiny circles, check boxes are represented by tiny squares. Selecting a check box places a check mark inside the square. Slightly different from the procedure of selecting radio buttons you select a check box by clicking on it or by moving through the check boxes with the TAB key and pressing the SPACE BAR as each desired check box comes into focus. Window-Eyes tells you if the selected check box is checked or unchecked.
A good example of check boxes can be found in the property sheet of the taskbar. Press CTRL-ESC, press ESC, tab to the taskbar, press SHIFT-F10, arrow down to properties, and press ENTER. As you tab through the check boxes, notice how you can select none, one, more than one, or all the check boxes presented in this dialog.
The List Box
Many dialog boxes include a list of items from which to select or choose. This might be a list of file names, file types, fonts, or other choices. The list is usually displayed vertically, and one item in the list is indicated as the selected item by being displayed in a different color from other items in the list. You can move among the listed items by pressing up and down arrows or by pressing the first letter of the item you are looking for. Either way, Window-Eyes reads each newly selected item.
When you move into a list box, Window-Eyes announces, "List box," and reads you the selected item. Then it tells you the number of the selected item in the list and how many items are in the list. If there is no selection, Window-Eyes tells you that as well.
Some list boxes allow more than one selection to be made at a time. For example, you might want to select several files for deletion. In cases like this, Windows application programmers normally designate the list box as a multi-selection list box. When you go to a multi-selection list box, Window-Eyes tells you so and, of course, reads you the selected item if one is selected. You may make multi-selections either by pressing and holding the left mouse button and moving it through the list of items you want to select or by holding down the SHIFT key while moving through the list with arrow keys.
In keeping with a Windows convention, many applications let you switch to multi-selection mode in a list box, with a pressing of the SHIFT-F8 key. Once in this mode you can usually use the SPACE BAR to select or deselect multiple items.
The Combo Box
Combo boxes are not wholly different from menu or list boxes, in that they contain several items you can select and choose. The difference is that in a combo box only the selected item is visible, much as the case with button pull-downs. Pressing up and down arrow keys moves you through the choices from top to bottom. With many combo boxes, you can press ALT-DOWN ARROW to let the combo box be shown as a drop-down menu. You can still move through the items in the combo box by using the arrow keys. You can typically choose the selected item in the combo box with the ENTER key or the ALT-UP key. Once an item is chosen, the drop-down disappears, showing only the chosen item in the combo box.
After selecting a new item in a combo box or allowing the current item to remain selected, you can TAB to the next area in the dialog or press the OK or Cancel buttons to close the dialog.
Combo boxes are not rotors; they stop at a bottom and a top choice. You have to go the other direction if you come to either end before finding the item you are looking for. Combo boxes often let you select an item in the list by typing its first letter.
You may notice what sounds at first like a lot of chatter when you type in a combo box. For example, let us say that your application program uses a combo box to present its list of available files you can open. You know the name of the file you want so you just start keying its name. With each keystroke, your application moves down the list, changing focus to the file closest to what you have typed so far. Thus if there were three files-Jackson, Johnson, and Jolson-and you wanted Jolson, you would hear "Jackson" when you typed the J, "Johnson" when you typed the O, and "Jolson" when you typed the L. Some combo boxes only allow you to type the first letter of the item you want; then, you have to use the arrow keys to move up and down the list of items that begin with that letter.
The Combo Edit Box
Sometimes a small edit box, known as a combo edit box, appears just above a list box. You can type in the combo edit box and, if there is an item in the items in the list box that corresponds to what you are typing, Windows selects that item for you. Window-Eyes tells you when you are in a combo edit box.
The Tab Control
Imagine a notebook with tabbed dividers sticking out past the edges of the notebook's pages. The subject matter within each tabbed section is different from the other two, per its tab label. Flipping through the notebook from tab to tab reveals pages that are very different from those in the previous tabbed section of your notebook; but being all in the same notebook, they surely have something in common.
Windows tab controls are similar. Visually, they somewhat resemble a row of push buttons at the top of some dialog boxes. Like radio buttons, one and only one tab control can be selected at a time. There is no difference between selecting and choosing a tab control. The one that is chosen causes the rest of the dialog box beyond the tab controls to display its tab page. As you move to select a new tab control, you flip to a new tab page.
You can get to the tab controls by pressing SHIFT-TAB. Then you can move back and forth through the tab controls with left and right arrows. When you get to the one you want, you can press the TAB key to move into the controls for that page. Pressing TAB repeatedly will eventually take you back to the tab controls.
The advantage to tab controls is that they allow dialog boxes to contain more information and options, while saving space and lessening clutter.
The Windows Accessibility dialog has a good example of tab controls. You can get to this dialog as follows:
Choose Settings from the Start menu.
Choose Control Panel from the resulting submenu.
Choose the Accessibility icon, which is located at the top left of the Control Panel's box of icons.
The five tab pages are:
Keyboard
Sound
Display
Mouse
General
The List View
This control is similar to the list box. In appearance, the list view is not unlike a list box; however, all list views let you make multi-selections. You can change the view of most list views to be either iconic, which is similar to the desktop or to a list view, which is similar to the list box. In Explorer, for example, you can make this change through the View menu. You can press SHIFT-F10 or press the right mouse button to bring up a context menu for items in a list view. This menu allows you to perform specific operations on the selected item in the list view. For example in dial-up networking, the context menu for each connection allows you to connect, get status, disconnect, etc.
To select multiple items in a list view, you need to move to the first entry and hold the CTRL key down (do not let it up). Press the SPACE BAR, and the first item will be selected. While still holding down the CTRL key, arrow to the next entry you wish to select. Once there, press the SPACE BAR. The space bar will select the item if it is currently unselected or unselect the item if it is currently selected. Continue this procedure until you have selected all the items of interest. Once they are all selected, you may let up on the CTRL key. Once you arrow with the CTRL key up, you will lose all your selections. You may also use the SHIFT key in conjunction with the arrow keys to select multiple, contiguous items.
The Tree View
The tree view control is used in Windows to present a tree-type view of folders and their sub folders. A good example of this control is in the Windows Device Manager, which can be found under the System section of the Control Panel. Items in a tree view can be closed or opened. When tree views are closed, sub folders are hidden from view. You can open a tree view by clicking on it or selecting it and then pressing the RIGHT arrow key. If an item is opened, pressing the DOWN ARROW will give focus to the sub folders in the tree, which are displayed downward and to the right of their parent folder.
The Up/Down Edit Control
Windows introduces the Up/Down Edit Control, which is not functionally unlike a vertical scroll bar that runs items up and down in an adjacent list box. The Up/Down Edit control, however, is adjacent and linked functionally to another control which contains information that can be increased or decreased in value. An excellent example can be found in the Date Time section of the Control Panel. Here are provided Up/Down controls for changing year, date, time, etc. You can point, click, and hold, while values for these items increase or decrease, depending on which end of the control you are using.
You can use the UP and DOWN ARROWS to change the value in this control.
The Rich Edit Control
Windows offers an enhanced form of the edit box called the rich edit. This control allows the application designer to do more complicated operations which have no impact on the speech access user. As far as Window-Eyes is concerned, rich edit controls behave exactly like edit boxes. Read-only rich edit controls are also available.
Track Bars
Windows also offers the track bar. This is a slider control. Use the UP and DOWN arrows to make the selection.
Custom Controls
When software developers design dialog boxes, they usually choose from among the above Windows controls to direct your responses. Programmers can, however, create their own mini-interfaces to interact with you, or they can modify existing controls to better fit their needs. When Window-Eyes encounters one of these controls, it announces that you are in a custom control. On their own, some custom controls speak through Window-Eyes better than others. But some would not speak at all if it were not for Window-Eyes' Reclass feature, which lets Window-Eyes access many custom controls as if they were standard controls. Section 8.16 of this manual tells how to use this important speech feature when you encounter custom controls that don't speak well on their own.
When you use application programs that are supported by set files that came on your Window-Eyes program CD, all known custom controls will already be reclassed for you, so in that case you needn't be concerned with using the Window-Eyes Reclass hot key. But if you are having difficulty with getting a control in a dialog to speak well, you should refer to Section 8.16 for a complete explanation of reclassing custom controls.
Message Boxes
Message boxes are very similar to dialog boxes. However, usually message boxes display messages and simply wait for you to acknowledge the message. Usually, an OK button has focus and this is the only control in the message box. Choosing it removes the message box from your desktop. Error messages, for example, are commonly displayed in message boxes.