vizdlg dialog components

Vizard 7 » Reference » Graphical user interfaces (GUIs) » Organizing GUIs » vizdlg dialog components

7.6

vizdlg dialog components

This section covers the MessageDialog, ChooseDialog, AskDialog, InputDialog, TickerDialog, ColorDialog, and TextureDialog objects of the vizdlg module. All dialog boxes create a Panel with accept/cancel buttons. By default their visibility is turned off unless added to a TabPanel. A show method is provided to display the dialog and wait for a button event.

MessageDialog

A MessageDialog creates a dialog that displays a message to the user. The following code displays a yes/no question to the user:

import viz
import vizdlg
import viztask

viz.go()

message = """Your progress has not been saved!
Are you sure you want to exit?"""

#create an MessageDialog object and position it on the screen
dialog = vizdlg.MessageDialog(message=message, title='Warning', accept='Yes', cancel='No')
dialog.setScreenAlignment(viz.ALIGN_CENTER)

def showdialog():
    while True:
        yield dialog.show()

        if dialog.accepted:
            print('yes')
        else:
            print('no')

        yield viztask.waitTime(1)

viztask.schedule(showdialog())

The following command creates a MessageDialog object:

Command

Description

vizdlg.MessageDialog(message,

**kw)

Creates a MessageDialog object.

The message that will display within the box.

**kw refers to any arguments the Dialog/Panel base classes accept.

ChooseDialog

A ChooseDialog displays a drop list of options for the user to choose from. The following code displays a dialog that allows the user to choose from a list of worlds:

import viz
import vizdlg
import viztask

viz.go()

choices = [ 'Piazza', 'Gallery', 'Dojo' ]

dialog = vizdlg.ChooseDialog(prompt='Select a world:', choices=choices)
dialog.setScreenAlignment(viz.ALIGN_CENTER)

def showdialog():
    while True:
        dialog.selection = 0
        yield dialog.show()

        if dialog.accepted:
            print('accepted', choices[dialog.selection])
        else:
            print('cancelled')

        yield viztask.waitTime(1)

viztask.schedule(showdialog())

The following command creates a ChooseDialog object:

Command

Description

vizdlg.ChooseDialog(prompt=None,

choices=[],

selection=0,

**kw)

Creates a ChooseDialog object.

The prompt argument will display above the drop list. Can be None to hide the prompt.

The choices argument specifies the list of option strings to display in the drop list.

The selection argument specifies the index of the initially selected option.

**kw refers to any arguments the Dialog/Panel base classes accept.

The following variable stores the value of the ChooseDialog:

Attribute	Description
<ChooseDialog>.selection	Contains the index of the currently selected option.

AskDialog

An AskDialog displays multiple options to the user as buttons. The following code gives the user the option to save, discard, or cancel:

import viz
import vizdlg
import viztask

viz.go()

prompt = """There have been changes made to your scene.
Would you like to:"""

options = [('Save','Save changes and exit')
        ,('Discard','Discard changes and exit')
]

dialog = vizdlg.AskDialog(prompt, options=options, title='Warning')
dialog.setScreenAlignment(viz.ALIGN_CENTER)

def showdialog():
    while True:
        dialog.selection = 0
        yield dialog.show()

        if dialog.accepted:
            print('accepted', options[dialog.selection])
        else:
            print('cancelled')

        yield viztask.waitTime(1)

viztask.schedule(showdialog())

The following command creates an AskDialog object:

Command

Description

vizdlg.AskDialog(prompt=None,

options=[],

**kw)

Creates an AskDialog object.

The prompt argument will display above the list of options. Can be None to hide the prompt.

The options argument specifies the list of option strings to display as individual buttons. If the item is a tuple of two strings, then the first string will be the title of the button and the second string will be displayed as a smaller description below the title.

**kw refers to any arguments the Dialog/Panel base classes accept.

The following variable stores the value of the AskDialog:

Attribute	Description
<AskDialog>.selection	Contains the index of the selected option.

InputDialog

An InputDialog creates a dialog with a textbox that allows the user to type in a value. The following code shows the dialog object and validates the user's entry:

import viz
import vizdlg
import viztask

viz.go()

# Function to validate value entered in InputDialog
def checkLength(data):

    if len(data.value) != 6:
        data.error = 'Incorrect length, try again'
        return False
    else:
        return True

# Create an InputDialog object and position it on the screen
dialog = vizdlg.InputDialog(prompt='Enter a value with 6 characters', validate=checkLength)
dialog.setScreenAlignment(viz.ALIGN_CENTER)

def showdialog():
    while True:

        dialog.value = ''
        yield dialog.show()

        if dialog.accepted:
            print('accepted',dialog.value)
        else:
            print('cancelled')

        yield viztask.waitTime(1)

viztask.schedule(showdialog())

The following command creates an InputDialog object:

Command

Description

vizdlg.InputDialog(prompt=None,

value='',

length=1.0,

validate=None,

**kw)

Creates an InputDialog object.

The prompt argument will display above the textbox.

The value argument sets the initial textbox value.

The length argument sets the length of the textbox.

You can optionally specify a function to validate the entry using the validate argument.

**kw refers to any arguments the Dialog/Panel base classes accept.

The following variable stores the value of the InputDialog:

Attribute	Description
<InputDialog>.value	A variable that holds the current string value of the dialog.

Take a look at the Methods section to see methods common to all dialog objects.

Adding a validate function

If a validate function is specified it will be called once the textbox has lost focus. It will be passed a viz.Data object with the following fields:

Field	Description
<viz.Data>.value	The value currently in the textbox.
<viz.Data>.oldValue	Either the initial value or the last valid entry.

The function should return True or False depending on whether the value is valid or invalid. If True is returned then the value in the textbox will remain. Otherwise, if False is returned, an error message will be displayed. A custom error message can be specified using the following field of the viz.Data object:

Field	Description
<viz.Data>.error	A string that contains a custom error message. This will be displayed if the validate function returns a value of False.

TickerDialog

A TickerDialog creates a dialog with a textbox and up/down buttons that allow the user to select between a range of integer or floating point values. The following example shows the dialog object and prints out the value displayed in the textbox once the accept button is pressed:

import viz
import vizdlg
import viztask

viz.go()

ticker = vizdlg.TickerDialog(label='border',units='pixels',range=(1,5,1))

viz.link(viz.CenterCenter,ticker)

def showdialog():
while True:
yield ticker.show()

if ticker.accepted:
print('accepted',ticker.value)
else:
print('cancelled')

yield viztask.waitTime(1)

viztask.schedule(showdialog())

The following command creates a TickerDialog:

Command

Description

vizdlg.TickerDialog(label='',

units='',

range=(0,5,1),

value=None,

format=None,

editable=True,

**kw)

Creates a TickerDialog.

The label argument will appear above the textbox.

The units argument will appear below the textbox.

The list passed into the range argument defines the low and high values and the interval to use.

To set the initial value of the dialog use the value argument. By default, it will be set to the low value of the range.

By default the value shown in the textbox will be formatted to display an integer if the range interval is an integer and a float with two decimal places if the range interval is a float. Use the string formatting(%) operator in the format argument to change this. (e.g. for a float with 1 decimal place use: '%.1f'.

When editable is set to True the user can type a value into the texbox directly.

**kw refers to any arguments the Dialog/Panel base classes accept.

The following variable stores the value of the TickerDialog:

Attribute	Description
<TickerDialog>.value	A variable that holds the current value of the dialog. This is either an integer or float.

Take a look at the Methods section to see methods common to all dialog objects.

ColorDialog

A ColorDialog creates three textboxes for inputting RGB values and a quad that displays the resulting color.

The folllowing example creates a ColorDialog and applies the dialog color to a ball in the scene when the accept button is pressed:

import viz
import vizdlg
import viztask

viz.go()

court = viz.add('court.ive')
ball = viz.add('white_ball.wrl',pos=[0,1.8,2])

ballDialog = vizdlg.ColorDialog(value=[0.3,0.5,1])

viz.link(viz.RightTop,ballDialog,offset=[-100,-100,0])

def showdialog():
while True:
yield ballDialog.show()

if ballDialog.accepted:
print('accepted')
ball.color(ballDialog.value)
else:
print('cancelled')

yield viztask.waitTime(1)

viztask.schedule(showdialog())

The following command creates a ColorDialog object:

Command

Description

vizdlg.ColorDialog(value=[0,0,0],**kw)

Creates a ColorDialog.

The value argument sets the initial RGB values of the dialog.

**kw refers to any arguments the Dialog/Panel base classes accept.

The following variable stores the value of the ColorDialog:

Attribute	Description
<ColorDialog>.value	A variable that holds the current value of the dialog. This is a list of 3 integers representing an RGB value.

Take a look at the Methods section to see methods common to all dialog objects.

TextureDialog

A TextureDialog allows the user to select from a group of textures.

The following example adds a TextureDialog and allows the user to select between two textures. When the accept button is pressed the selected texture is applied to a texture quad in the scene:

import viz
import vizdlg
import viztask

viz.go()

quad = viz.addTexQuad(pos = [0,1.8,4])

textures = [viz.add('lake3.jpg'),viz.add('image2.jpg')]
quadDialog = vizdlg.TextureDialog(options=textures,value=0,selectSize=2)

viz.link(viz.RightTop,quadDialog,offset=[-100,-100,0])

def showdialog():
while True:
yield quadDialog.show()

if quadDialog.accepted:
print('accepted')
quad.texture(textures[quadDialog.value])
else:
print('cancelled')

yield viztask.waitTime(1)

viztask.schedule(showdialog())

The following creates a TextureDialog object:

Command

Description

vizdlg.TextureDialog(value=None,

options=[],

iconSize=50,

selectSize=5,

columns=4,

**kw)

Creates a TextureDialog.

The value argument sets which texture is initially selected.

The options argument is a list of textures to display and select from.

The iconSize argument specifies the dimensions of the texture icon, in pixels.

The selectSize argument specifies the width of the border that appears around a selected icon, in pixels.

The columns argument specifies how many columns are used to display the textures.

**kw refers to any arguments the Dialog/Panel base classes accept.

The following variable stores the value of the TextureDialog:

Attribute	Description
<TextureDialog>.value	A variable that holds the current value of the dialog. This is an integer that represents the index position of the selected texture in the texture list.

Take a look at the Methods section to see methods common to all dialog objects.

Methods

The following methods are common to all dialog objects:

Method	Description
<Dialog>.__init__(title=None, align=viz.ALIGN_CENTER, accept='Accept', cancel='Cancel', acceptKey=viz.KEY_RETURN, cancelKey=viz.KEY_ESCAPE, **kw)	Initializes the base Dialog class. title is option title bar to add to the dialog. align specifies how to align the content of the dialog. accept specifies the string to display within the accept button. cancel species the string to display within the cancel button. Can be None to hide the cancel button. acceptKey specifies a key to allow for accepting the dialog. Can be None to prevent any keys from accepting the dialog. cancelKey specifies a key to allow for canceling the dialog. Can be None to prevent any keys from canceling the dialog. **kw refers to any arguments the Panel base classe accepts.
<Dialog>.show()	Makes the dialog visible, waits for either the accept/cancel button to be pressed, then hides the dialog. If the accept button was pressed then the <Dialog>.accepted variable will be set to True. Note: This method must be called within a viztask function after a yield statement.
<Dialog>.remove()	Removes the dialog.
<Dialog>.doAccept()	Can be used while the dialog is displayed to simulate the accept button being pressed.
<Dialog>.doCancel()	Can be used while the dialog is displayed to simulate the cancel button begin pressed.
<Dialog>.onAccept()	Can be overridden by derived classes to execute code when the accept action is taken. Return True to allow the accept action to proceed.
<Dialog>.onCancel()	Can be overridden by derived classes to execute code when the cancel action is taken. Return True to allow the cancel action to proceed.
<Dialog>.onShow()	Can be overridden by derived classes to execute code when the dialog is about to be displayed.
<Dialog>.onClose()	Can be overridden by derived classes to execute code when the dialog is about to be closed.

The following attributes are common to all dialog objects:

Attribute	Description
<Dialog>.accepted	Boolean value that is created in the show method after a button is pressed. This will be set to True if the accept button is pressed and False if the cancel button is pressed.
<Dialog>.accept	Button object with Accept label.
<Dialog>.cancel	Button object with Cancel label.

Using dialog components in a TabPanel

When using dialog components in a TabPanel the dialog's visibility will be turned on by default. Instead of using the show method, button events can be handled directly.

The following example adds two dialogs to a TabPanel and handles button events for each:

import viz
import vizdlg

viz.go()

court = viz.add('gallery.ive')
ball = viz.add('white_ball.wrl',pos=[0,1.8,2])

#create two dialog objects
p1 = vizdlg.ColorDialog(value=[0.3,0.5,1])
p2 = vizdlg.TickerDialog(label='Scale',range=(0,2,.25),value=1)

#create a TabPanel
tp = vizdlg.TabPanel(align=vizdlg.ALIGN_RIGHT_TOP)

#add the dialog objects to the TabPanel
tp.addPanel('Color',p1,align=vizdlg.ALIGN_CENTER)
tp.addPanel('Scale',p2,align=vizdlg.ALIGN_CENTER)

#position the TabPanel
viz.link(viz.RightTop,tp,offset=(-20,-20,0))

#handle accept button events
def changeColor():
ball.color(p1.value)

vizact.onbuttondown(p1.accept,changeColor)

def changeScale():
ball.setScale([p2.value]*3)

vizact.onbuttondown(p2.accept,changeScale)

BACK NEXT

vizdlg introduction

vizdlg panels

vizdlg dialog components

vizdlg advanced