Quick Overview
 
 
 

This example starts with a simple dialog box:

The following DCL defines the dialog box:

hello : dialog {
	label = "Sample Dialog Box";
	: text { label = "Hello, world."; }
	ok_only;
}

This DCL defines a dialog box labeled Sample Dialog Box that contains a text tile and a single OK button. The DCL resides in a file named hello.dcl.

To display the dialog box and respond to the user pressing OK

  1. Use the load_dialog function to load the DCL file into memory. For example:
    (setq dcl_id (load_dialog "hello.dcl"))
    

    The load_dialog function returns a DCL identification number. You need this to identify the dialog in subsequent function calls.

  2. Call the new_dialog function and pass it the dialog name and DCL identification number as arguments, as follows:
    (new_dialog "hello" dcl_id)
    
  3. Initialize the dialog box by setting up tile values, lists, and images.

    The DCL example above uses a predefined tile named ok_only, so you do not have to initialize the tile unless you want to override its default values. The ok_only tile also has an action named done_dialog assigned to it. If the user presses the OK button, AutoCAD passes the done_dialog call to your AutoLISP application and ends the dialog.

  4. Call start_dialog to pass control of the dialog to AutoCAD for display to the user:
    (start_dialog)
    
  5. Call unload_dialog to remove the dialog from memory after the user responds.

    Steps 3, 4, and 5 are dependent on the new_dialog function returning a non-nil value. For the sake of simplicity, no error processing is included in this example.

You can use the following function to call the sample dialog box:

(defun C:HELLO( / dcl_id )
  (setq dcl_id (load_dialog "hello.dcl")) ; Load the DCL file.
  (if (not (new_dialog "hello" dcl_id))   ; Initialize the dialog.
	(exit)								; Exit if this doesn't 
										; work.
  )
  (start_dialog)						; Display the dialog 
										; box.
  (unload_dialog dcl_id)				; Unload the DCL file.
  (princ)
)

Enter this code into a new VLISP text editor window and load the program by choosing Tools Load Text in Editor from the VLISP menu. To display the dialog box, enter (c:hello) at the VLISP Console prompt.

Note that the start_dialog call remains active until the user selects a tile (usually a button) whose associated action expression calls done_dialog. The done_dialog call can be issued explicitly by the tile. The done_dialog call is also issued by the selected tile if its is_cancel attribute is set to true.

WarningIn theory, the dialog box facility takes control of input at the time you call start_dialog, but in Windows it takes control when you call new_dialog. This has no effect on writing programs. However, if you invoke these functions interactively (at the AutoCAD Command prompt or a VLISP window), you must enter them as one statement. Enclose them within a progn or another function. If you don't, the interactive call to new_dialog can freeze the screen. Calling new_dialog and start_dialog interactively can be useful during debugging. (For an example of using these functions interactively, see DCL Error Handling.)