AquilaDigital Partnership Home
*

EssentialDialog for REALbasic.
Simplifies dialog creation.

EssentialDialog ©2002-2006 Stephen E. Hutson • All Rights Reserved Worldwide • Click here to search the site


Click here to skip directly to the Instructions and Download section. Click here to to register.





What is EssentialDialog?

EssentialDialog is a window/module combination for use with REALbasic 5.5 and above. With a single line of code, you can create a dialog box with the icon, text, and buttons of your choice. The dialog implements REALbasic’s MessageDialog class, but it’s much faster and easier to implement, and adds the advantage of Mac OS X sheet support. Like most software, you could code something similar yourself, but consider whether saving yourself some time is worth five bucks. :-)

The main advantage is the pure convenience of using EssentialDialog. Just type this — EDCaution("This is a dialog","OK") — to put up a dialog with a caution icon, the text “This is a dialog,” and an “OK” button. Need to know which button was clicked? Just check EDResult for the text of the last button clicked. It is that easy! Of course, EssentialDialog contains more advanced features, and can grow as your experience and needs grow.

If you have an application of substantial complexity, you might have hundreds of dialogs scattered throughout your program. That’s a lot of typing! Here’s an example of how one might implement a simple “Save Changes?” dialog without EssentialDialog. Note that sixteen lines of code are required to display the dialog:

And here’s an example of that same dialog being displayed via EssentialDialog’s interface. One line of code displays the dialog:

Plus, EssentialDialog can free you from manually assigning button keyboard shortcuts, and it handles Mac OS X sheets via the same interface.

EssentialDialog Features:

  • Can be implemented with a single line of code. No multiple setup calls to display a simple dialog.
  • Returns plain English values. EssentialDialog returns the text of the button clicked, so it’s easy to track and code the dialog’s result.
  • Compiles to Mac OS Classic, Mac OS X, and Windows, with identical functionality between platforms (sheet display requires Mac OS X).
  • Sample project demonstrates many of EssentialDialog’s features.
  • Button keyboard shortcuts may be assigned manually, or let EssentialDialog assign them automatically, based on the button’s caption.
  • Demonstration mode is fully functional both in IDE and built applications.
  • Excellent, illustrated documentation in PDF format.
  • Requires no plugins; built with pure RB code.
  • Choice of several alert icons.
  • Return values (string format) are persistent and globally available.
  • Between zero and three buttons may be specified; if zero buttons are specified, EssentialDialog defaults to a single “OK” button.
  • Register EssentialDialog with a single line of code per project.
  • Obtain registration code within minutes of purchase.
  • Supports Mac OS X sheets in Carbon builds.

What Does it Cost?

EssentialDialog costs nothing to try. Should you decide to purchase it, the price is USD $5.00. Click here to purchase and obtain a serial number immediately.

How Do I Register?

Register EssentialDialog here.

System Requirements:

Are There Limitations?

Instructions:

EssentialDialog, Version 2.0 (06 March 2004):

Questions? Problems?

Check Out More Software!


Page updated Tuesday, May 13, 2008 10:59 PM