Modeless Dialog Boxes

I. Introduction

A modeless dialog box does not block user input. Accordingly, modeless dialog boxes can grow in number. Modeless dialog boxes are commonly used in Graphic User Interface (GUI) to display and update data of the system so users can monitor/change the system data through dialog box at the same time. There are two types of modeless dialog boxes:

• Display data only
• Update data

II. Modeless Dialog Box: Display Data Only

• Standard Buttons and Operation

  Buttons	Operations
  Close	Close the dialog box

• Data Members
  • GUI controllers:
    The controllers for Java GUI components. The table below shows commonly used in VTT:

    GUI Component	GUI Controller
    JButton	ActionListener
    JTextField	ActionListener
    JComboBox	ActionListener
    JCheckBox	ItemListener
    JRadioButton	ActionListener

• Methods

  Accessibility	Method	Procedures
  public	Constructor( )	InitGuiControllers( ) InitGuiComponents( )
  public	Show( )	UpdateGui( ) Open dialog box
  public	UpdateGui( )	UpdateGuiFromGlobal( )
  private	UpdateGuiFromGlobal( )	Update the GUI display from the global variables
  private	InitGuiControllers( )	Init controller, add listeners, set action commands, etc.
  private	InitGuiComponents( )	Set title, location, size, compose the GUI object

III. Modeless Dialog Box: Update Data

• Standard Buttons and Operation

  Buttons	Operations
  Ok	Update local variables from GUI Update global variables from local variables Close the dialog box
  Cancel	Close the dialog box
  Apply	Update local variables from GUI (input) Update global variables from local variables Update GUI (display) from local variables
  Reset	Update GUI (display) from local variables

• Data Members
  • Local variables:
    Use as a local copy of the global variables manipulated in the dialog box
  • GUI controllers:
    The controllers for Java GUI components. The table below shows commonly used in VTT:

    GUI Component	GUI Controller
    JButton	ActionListener
    JTextField	ActionListener
    JComboBox	ActionListener
    JCheckBox	ItemListener
    JRadioButton	ActionListener

• Methods

  Accessibility	Method	Procedures
  public	Constructor( )	InitGuiControllers( ) InitGuiComponents( )
  public	Show( )	UpdateGui( ) Open dialog box
  public	UpdateGui( )	UpdateLocalVarsFromGlobal( ) UpdateGuiFromLocalVars( )
  private	UpdateLocalVarsFromGui( )	Update the values of local variables from GUI inputs
  private	UpdateLocalVarsFromGlobal( )	Update the values of local variables from global variables
  private	UpdateGuiFromLocalVars( )	Update the GUI display from the local variables
  private	InitGuiControllers( )	Init controller, add listeners, set action commands, etc.
  private	InitGuiComponents( )	Set title, location, size, compose the GUI object