SFDialogs.Dialog service

The Dialog service contributes to the management of dialogs created with the Basic Dialog Editor. Each instance of the current class represents a single dialog box displayed to the user.

A dialog box can be displayed in modal or in non-modal modes.

In modal mode, the box is displayed and the execution of the macro process is suspended until one of the OK or Cancel buttons is pressed. In the meantime, user actions executed on the box can trigger specific actions.

In non-modal mode, the dialog box is "floating" on the user desktop and the execution of the macro process continues normally. A non-modal dialog closes when it is terminated with the Terminate() method or when the LibreOffice session ends. The window close button is inactive in non-modal dialogs.

A dialog box disappears from memory after its explicit termination.

The SFDialogs.Dialog service is closely related to the SFDialogs.DialogControl service.

Service invocation and usage

The Dialog service is invoked through the CreateScriptService method. It requires three positional arguments to specify the dialog box to activate:

Container: "GlobalScope" for preinstalled libraries or a window name as defined by ScriptForge.UI service. Empty string "" default value stands for the current document.

Library: The case-sensitive name of a library contained in the container. Default value is "Standard".

DialogName: A case-sensitive string designating the dialog.

Below LibreOffice Basic and Python examples are displaying the dlgConsole dialog that belongs to ScriptForge shared library:

      Dim oDlg As Object, lButton As Long
      Dim Container As String, Library As String, DialogName As String
      Set oDlg = CreateScriptService("SFDialogs.Dialog", "GlobalScope", "ScriptForge", "dlgConsole")
      '... controls initialization goes here...
      lButton = oDlg.Execute()
      'Default mode = Modal
      If lButton = oDlg.OKBUTTON Then
      '... Process controls and do what is needed here
      End If
      oDlg.Terminate()
  

Or using Python:

    dlg = CreateScriptService('SFDialogs.Dialog', 'GlobalScope', 'ScriptForge', 'dlgConsole')
    # ... controls initialization goes here...
    rc = dlg.Execute()
    # Default mode is Modal
    if rc == dlg.OKBUTTON:
        # ... Process controls and do what is needed here
    dlg.Terminate()
  

Alternatively a Dialog instance can be retrieved via the SFDialogs.DialogEvent service, providing that the dialog was initiated with the Dialog service. DialogEvent returns the SFDialogs.Dialog service instance that triggered the event.

    Sub SomeEvent(ByRef poEvent As Object)
        Dim oDlg As Object
        Set oDlg = CreateScriptService("SFDialogs.DialogEvent", poEvent)
    End Sub
  

with Python:

    def some_event(event: uno):
        dlg = CreateScriptService("SFDialogs.DialogEvent", event)
  

Note that in previous examples, the prefix "SFDialogs." may be omitted when deemed appropriate.

Properties

Event properties

These event properties are available from LibreOffice 7.2 onwards.

Returns a URI string with the reference to the script triggered by the event. Read its specification in the scripting framework URI specification.

Activate

Set the focus on the current Dialog instance. Return True if focusing was successful.

This method is called from a dialog or control event, or when a dialog is displayed in non-modal mode.

Syntax:

svc.Activate(): bool

Example:

      Dim oDlg As Object
      Set oDlg = CreateScriptService(,, "myDialog")
      oDlg.Execute()
      ' ...
      oDlg.Activate()
   

Python and LibreOffice Basic examples both assume that the dialog is stored in current document's Standard library.

     dlg = CreateScriptService(,,'myDialog')
     dlg.Execute()
     # ...
     dlg.Activate()
   

Controls

Return either:

• the list of the controls contained in the dialog

• a DialogControl class instance based on its name

Syntax:

svc.Controls(): str[0..*]

svc.Controls(controlname: str): svc

Parameters:

ControlName : A valid control name as a case-sensitive string. If absent, the list of control names is returned as a zero-based array.

Example:

      Dim myDialog As Object, myList As Variant, myControl As Object
      Set myDialog = CreateScriptService("SFDialogs.Dialog", , "Standard", "Dialog1")
      myList = myDialog.Controls()
      Set myControl = myDialog.Controls("myTextBox")
   

     dlg = CreateScriptService('SFDialogs.Dialog','', 'Standard', 'Dialog1')
     ctrls = dlg.Controls()
     ctrl = dlg.Controls('myTextBox')
   

EndExecute

Ends the display of a modal dialog and gives back the argument as return value for the current Execute() running action.

EndExecute() is usually contained in the processing of a macro triggered by a dialog or control event.

Syntax:

svc.EndExecute(returnvalue: int)

Parameters:

returnvalue: The value passed to the running Execute() method.

Example:

Using LibreOffice Basic:

      Sub OnEvent(poEvent As com.sun.star.lang.EventObject)
          Dim oDlg As Object
          Set oDlg = CreateScriptService("SFDialogs.DialogEvent", poEvent)
          oDlg.EndExecute(ReturnValue := 25)
      End Sub
   

Using Python:

     from com.sun.star.lang import EventObject
     def on_event(event: EventObject):
         dlg = CreateScriptService("SFDialogs.DialogEvent", event)
         dlg.EndExecute(25)
   

Above com.sun.star.lang.EventObject mentions are optional. Such annotations help identify LibreOffice Application Programming Interface (API).

Execute

Display the dialog box and, when modal, wait for its termination by the user. The returned value is either:

• 0 : Cancel button pressed

• 1 : OK button pressed

• Otherwise the dialog stopped with an EndExecute() statement issued by a dialog or control event

For non-modal dialog boxes the method always returns 0 and the execution of the macro continues.

Syntax:

svc.Execute(modal: bool = True): int

Parameters:

modal: False when non-modal dialog. Default = True.

Example:

In this Basic example myDialog dialog is stored in current document's Standard library.

      Dim oDlg As Object, lReturn As Long
      Set oDlg = CreateScriptService("SFDialogs.Dialog", , , "myDialog")
      lReturn = oDlg.Execute(Modal := False)
      Select Case lReturn
          ' ...
      End Select
   

This Python code displays DlgConvert modal dialog from Euro shared Basic library.

     dlg = CreateScriptService("SFDialogs.Dialog", 'GlobalScope', 'Euro', "DlgConvert")
     rc = dlg.Execute()
     if rc == dlg.CANCELBUTTON:
         # ...
   

Terminate

Terminate the Dialog service for the current instance. Return True if the termination was successful.

Syntax:

svc.Terminate(): bool

Example:

Below Basic and Python examples open DlgConsole and dlgTrace non-modal dialogs. They are respectively stored in ScriptForge and Access2Base shared libraries. Dialog close buttons are disabled and explicit termination is performed at the end of a running process.

In this example a button in DlgConsole is substituting inhibited window closing:

     oDlg = CreateScriptService("SFDialogs.Dialog","GlobalScope","ScriptForge","DlgConsole")
     oDlg.Execute(modal:=False)
     Wait 5000
     oDlg.Terminate()
   

With Python:

     from time import sleep
     dlg = CreateScriptService('SFDialogs.Dialog',"GlobalScope",'Access2Base',"dlgTrace")
     dlg.Execute(modal=False)
     sleep 5
     dlg.Terminate()
   

All ScriptForge Basic routines or identifiers that are prefixed with an underscore character "_" are reserved for internal use. They are not meant be used in Basic macros.