Query about custom dialogs in WB

[Foebane]

What I mean by dialogs is the little windows that pop up with a question, offering options via buttons. Is that available via a Shell script in WB3.1 (ClassicWB) or does it require extra software?

And if it is available, then how do I program them via a Shell script?

[Leffmann]

You can use

requestchoice title text choice1 choice2 ...

[Foebane]

Originally Posted by Leffmann

You can use

requestchoice title text choice1 choice2 ...

Cool, but I'm wondering how I could use the input value to point to different commands.

[thomas]

set result `requestchoice title text choice1 choice2 choice3`
if "$result" eq "1"
   echo "choice 1"
endif
if "$result" eq "2"
   echo "choice 2"
endif
if "$result" eq "0"
   echo "choice 3"
endif

Note: the signs around the requestchoice commands are back ticks (grave accents), not single quotes.

[DamienD]

That's pretty cool

Thank you thomas for posting a sample script; I too was wondering how you could relate requester selections to different commands

I did notice from running "requestchoice title text choice1 choice2" in shell that clicking the first option returned "1" while clicking the last option returned "0"; but had no idea how to use this...

[thomas]

The rightmost button is usually Cancel, so it returns 0. The other buttons are numbered from from left to right starting with 1.

So if you have a traditional Ok/Cancel requester, Ok gives 1 (TRUE) and Cancel gives 0 (FALSE).

[Foebane]

Thanks, people.

I've got a script that works with a simple Yes/No question, although I wonder if I can insert the keyboard shortcuts under the Y and N. The official AmigaDOS reference seems to say that all I have to do is prefix the Yes and No with an underscore each, but it didn't work when I tried it.

[DamienD]

Yeah, that's what it says here: RequestChoice but didn't work for me either...

[Foebane]

Originally Posted by DamienD

Yeah, that's what it says here: RequestChoice but didn't work for me either...

Yep, that's what I usually look at concerning AmigaDOS.

[DamienD]

Thing is that request window looks very different to how it does in OS 3.1; so it's probably a feature in a later AmigaOS.

[Foebane]

Originally Posted by DamienD

Thing is that request window looks very different to how it does in OS 3.1; so it's probably a feature in a later AmigaOS.

Agreed.

[kolla]

The shortcuts you are looking for, are left-amiga v and b.

[daxb]

Originally Posted by Foebane

The official AmigaDOS reference seems to say that all I have to do is prefix the Yes and No with an underscore each, but it didn't work when I tried it.

Here it works under OS 3.1 (requestchoice 39.4). Edit: Seems ReqTools is responsible for this feature.

[DamienD]

You're missing the point kolla.



In the above example you would expect:

• pressing the letter "O" selects the "OK" button.
• pressing the letter "M" selects the "Maybe" button.
• pressing the letter "C" selects the "Cancel" button.

[kolla]

Well, you cannot have that consistently on OS3, while lamiga+v/b works regardless of language settings etc.

[DamienD]

So how does that work if you have more than 2 buttons?

...I get it's not usual, but interested to here.

[kolla]

Originally Posted by DamienD

So how does that work if you have more than 2 buttons?

It doesn't, AmigaOS is littered with shortcomings.

[jPV]

Originally Posted by DamienD

Yeah, that's what it says here: RequestChoice but didn't work for me either...

That site is for AmigaOS 4 and doesn't apply for AmigaOS 3.x. This feature isn't mentioned in OS3.9 manual for instance.

[AMIGASYSTEM]

Originally Posted by jPV

That site is for AmigaOS 4 and doesn't apply for AmigaOS 3.x. This feature isn't mentioned in OS3.9 manual for instance.

I have tested the script and it works the same way on OS AMiGA obsolete too, tested on OS 2.1, 3.1 and 3.9. Certainly the aesthetics of the GUI changes but this may depend on several factors. On OS 2.1 the command "RequestChoice" it is not present in the system but can be taken from subsequent operating systems

[jPV]

Originally Posted by AMIGASYSTEM

I have tested the script and it works the same way on OS AMiGA obsolete too, tested on OS 2.1, 3.1 and 3.9. Certainly the aesthetics of the GUI changes but this may depend on several factors.

Yes, as I said this feature only works in OS4, in these previous versions (2.1, 3.1, and 3.9) you just get an extra underscore character as seen on your screenshots, and it doesn't work as a keyboard shortcut. So, an OS4 only feature. Except that last shot might look like working one, but it has some 3rd party replacement for requesters, standard Workbench installations don't support this on 68k systems.