Generic dialog with custom captions for buttons

Question

I know this issue have been up since before (ex. Best way to show customized message dialogs), but I still don't find what I want.

I started like this:

class function TAttracsForm.MessageDlg(const aMsg: string; aDlgType: TMsgDlgType; Buttons: TMsgDlgButtons; aCaptions: array of String; aDefault: TMsgDlgBtn): TModalResult;
var
  vDlg: TForm;
  i: Integer; 
begin
  if aButtons.Count = aCaptions.Count then
  begin
    vDlg := CreateMessageDialog(aMsg, aDlgType, Buttons);
    try
      for i := 0 aCaptions.Count - 1 do
        TButton(vDlg.FindComponent(Buttons[i].Caption)).Caption := aCaptions[i]; 

      vDlg.Position := poDefaultPosOnly;
      Result := vDlg.ShowModal;
    finally
      vDlg.Free;
    end;
  end;
end;

And the call would look like:

if (MessageDlg('Really quit application ?', mtWarning, 
       [mbNo, mbCancel, mbYes], {'No save', 'Cancel', 'Save'}) = mrYes) then

But the above code of course don't compile. I don't know how to get one item of an set in the loop and how to get the total count of it in the beginning.

Solution 1

you can use this code:

function MyMessageDlg(CONST Msg: string; DlgTypt: TmsgDlgType; button: TMsgDlgButtons;
  Caption: ARRAY OF string; dlgcaption: string): Integer;
var
  aMsgdlg: TForm;
  i: Integer;
  Dlgbutton: Tbutton;
  Captionindex: Integer;
begin
  aMsgdlg := createMessageDialog(Msg, DlgTypt, button);
  aMsgdlg.Caption := dlgcaption;
  aMsgdlg.BiDiMode := bdRightToLeft;
  Captionindex := 0;
  for i := 0 to aMsgdlg.componentcount - 1 Do
  begin
    if (aMsgdlg.components[i] is Tbutton) then
    Begin
      Dlgbutton := Tbutton(aMsgdlg.components[i]);
      if Captionindex <= High(Caption) then
        Dlgbutton.Caption := Caption[Captionindex];
      inc(Captionindex);
    end;
  end;
  Result := aMsgdlg.Showmodal;
end;

For example:

MyMessageDlg('Hello World!', mtInformation, [mbYes, mbNo],
      ['Yessss','Noooo'], 'New MessageDlg Box'):

Solution 2

How about something like this:

type
  TButtonInfo = record
    MsgDlgBtn: TMsgDlgBtn;
    Caption: string;
  end;

function ButtonInfo(MsgDlgBtn: TMsgDlgBtn; const Caption: string): TButtonInfo;
begin
  Result.MsgDlgBtn := MsgDlgBtn;
  Result.Caption := Caption;
end;

const
  ModalResults: array[TMsgDlgBtn] of Integer = (
    mrYes, mrNo, mrOk, mrCancel, mrAbort, mrRetry, mrIgnore, mrAll, mrNoToAll,
    mrYesToAll, 0, mrClose);

function FindDialogButton(Form: TForm; MsgDlgBtn: TMsgDlgBtn): TButton;
var
  i: Integer;
  Component: TComponent;
begin
  for i := 0 to Form.ComponentCount-1 do begin
    Component := Form.Components[i];
    if Component is TButton then begin
      if TButton(Component).ModalResult=ModalResults[MsgDlgBtn] then begin
        Result := TButton(Component);
        exit;
      end;
    end;
  end;
  Result := nil;
end;

function MessageDlg(
  const aMsg: string;
  aDlgType: TMsgDlgType;
  const Buttons: array of TButtonInfo;
  aDefault: TMsgDlgBtn
): TModalResult;
var
  i: Integer;
  MsgDlgButtons: TMsgDlgButtons;
  vDlg: TForm;
begin
  MsgDlgButtons := [];
  for i := low(Buttons) to high(Buttons) do begin
    Assert(not (Buttons[i].MsgDlgBtn in MsgDlgButtons));//assert uniqueness
    Include(MsgDlgButtons, Buttons[i].MsgDlgBtn);
  end;
  vDlg := CreateMessageDialog(aMsg, aDlgType, MsgDlgButtons, aDefault);
  try
    for i := low(Buttons) to high(Buttons) do begin
      FindDialogButton(vDlg, Buttons[i].MsgDlgBtn).Caption := Buttons[i].Caption;
    end;
    vDlg.Position := poDefaultPosOnly;
    Result := vDlg.ShowModal;
  finally
    vDlg.Free;
  end;
end;

procedure Test;
begin
  MessageDlg(
    'Really quit application ?',
    mtWarning,
    [ButtonInfo(mbNo, 'Do&n''t save'), ButtonInfo(mbCancel, '&Cancel'), ButtonInfo(mbYes,'&Save')],
    mbYes
  );
end;

Solution 3

I write this code: (I am from Croatia, so the texts are in Croatian)

function MojDijalog(const Msg, Capt: string; DlgType: TMsgDlgType; Buttons: TMsgDlgButtons;
  DefaultButton: TMsgDlgBtn): TModalResult;
var
  dlg : TForm;
begin
  dlg := CreateMessageDialog(Msg, DlgType, Buttons, DefaultButton) ;
  with dlg do begin
     Caption := Capt;
     FormStyle := fsStayOnTop;
     ( FindComponent( 'OK' ) as TButton ).Caption := 'U redu' ;
     ( FindComponent( 'Cancel' ) as TButton ).Caption := 'Odustani' ;
     ( FindComponent( 'Yes' ) as TButton ).Caption := 'Da' ;
     ( FindComponent( 'No' ) as TButton ).Caption := 'Ne' ;
      ( FindComponent( 'Help' ) as TButton ).Caption := 'Pomoć' ;
     ( FindComponent( 'Close' ) as TButton ).Caption := 'Zatvori' ;
     ( FindComponent( 'Ignore' ) as TButton ).Caption := 'Zanemari' ;
     ( FindComponent( 'Retry' ) as TButton ).Caption := 'Pokušaj ponovo' ;
     ( FindComponent( 'Abort' ) as TButton ).Caption := 'Prekini' ;
     ( FindComponent( 'All' ) as TButton ).Caption := 'Sve' ;
  end;
  Result := dlg.ShowModal;
end;

Example of use :

if MojDijalog('Obrisati zapis ?','Upit za brisanje',mtConfirmation,mbYesNo,mbNo) = mrNo then
    begin
         Abort;
    end;

Comments

[Uli Gerhardt]

Maybe you can use TTaskDialog or one of the pre-Vista capable emulations.

[David Heffernan]

Why not? Is it because I used accelerator keys perhaps? Also, "This doesn't work" isn't a very good error report..... ;-)

[Leslie]

@David - that's the error message most of our users report! LOL

[Andreas Rejbrand]

I think you might not want FindComponent(Buttons[i].Caption). It is pretty unlikely that the unmodified dialog has a control named 'Do&nt'' save'.

[Andreas Rejbrand]

It's a bit interesting that you get upvotes even though your code doesn't work! Clearly, people aren't actually trying the code before upvoting! Still, your code is beautiful, and deserves a lot of upvotes as soon as the bug is fixed.

[David Heffernan]

@Andreas @Roland Code works now!! Pretty hacky, but there you go. Would be quite easy to roll your own Task Dialog type form.

[David Heffernan]

@Andreas Thanks! Not sure I'd say beautiful though!!

[Andreas Rejbrand]

@David: Interesting, your solution is identical to the one I just wrote, that is, using a conversion array between buttons and modal results.

[David Heffernan]

@Andreas It's funny, I saw all the other issues with the code, but assumed the FindComponent stuff was fine since I never do stuff like that anyway!

[Roland Bengtsson]

David I tried the code and it doesn't work because of the reason Andreas said. FindComponent(Buttons[i].Caption) may be wrong. But I think the problem is solved anyway even if it isn't exactly as I want it. And the upvote is just for a good try for you David... :)

[David Heffernan]

@Roland The code works perfectly. You are probably running the original version. I edited it yesterday and now it works. As you can see above, there is no call to FindComponent. This is your answer.

[QMaster]

Work perfectly but in example must use , and not ; for dividing parameters and you can check it with normal MessageDlg results. So use it as this way: if MyMessageDlg('Hello World!', mtInformation, [mbYes, mbNo], ['Yessss','Noooo'], 'New MessageDlg Box') = mrYes then Begin .... End

[yonojoy]

@Holmes For a solution with Firemonkey have a look at this answer.

[David Heffernan]

@ShahramBanazadeh What do you mean?

[Shahram Banazadeh]

@DavidHeffernan I can not see routine that sets default (selected ) button passed by last parameter(adefault) .not implemented ?

[David Heffernan]

@Shahram How it is set? Again I don't know what you mean. Why don't you read the code and see how the parameter is used?

[Shahram Banazadeh]

@DavidHeffernan Because it is not used. I was wondering if I am missing some thing. aDefault: TMsgDlgBtn is not used in body.

[David Heffernan]

I see. I've fixed it now.

[Uli Gerhardt]

(Posted for [stackoverflow.com/users/6227080/nervouz](Nervouz) who can't comment himself.) Nice code @DavidHeffernan! It`s work for me. I can't anwer on your post. There are some way to make the length of buttons "customized" or "Justified"? Thank you!

[David Heffernan]

@computer the question is about delphi

[computerjulian]

Unfortunately, this does not work in Lazarus 1.8.0. The custom caption does not affect the actual button caption, ist just 'yes' and 'no.'

[Jerry Dodge]

Why set it to bdRightToLeft? It ends up destroying the text.

[Mohammad]

@JerryDodge Because it was supposed to run for Right to Left languages like Persian ;) For Left to Right languages, you don't need.