User-defined Dialogs

• Creating dialogs

• Dialog widgets

• Executing dialogs

• Wizards

Creating dialogs

• Dialog designer

• Dialog layout

  • Editing the grid

  • Spacers

• Widgets

  • Inserting and removing widgets

  • Configuring widgets

• Editing already created dialogs

Dialog designer

• User defined Dialogs can be inserted into the script using right mouse button → Insert → Dialog… in the Add-on Editor.

  

• When a new dialog is inserted, a dialog Template, the target location of the dialog configuration and the dialog Type can be selected.

  

• Some dialog Templates are provided by the system. Additional templates can be created by the user.

• The options for placing a dialog configuration (see section Create as in the window above) are

  • Separate dialog file - default

  • Embedded into script

  The base filename of a dialog file is dialog.gdlg, it can be renamed later. A dialog is stored as a JSON document internally.

  Example: Script with separate dialog file

  RESULT=gom.script.sys.execute_user_defined_dialog (file=':dialog.gdlg')
  

  Example: Script with embedded dialog

  RESULT=gom.script.sys.execute_user_defined_dialog (dialog={
      "content": [
          [
              {
                  ...
              }
          ]
      ],    
      "control": {
          "id": "OkCancel"
      },
      "embedding": "always_toplevel",
      "position": "automatic",
      "size": {
          "height": 155,    
          "width": 198
      },
      "sizemode": "automatic",
      "style": "",
      "title": {
          "id": "",
          "text": "Message",
          "translatable":     True
      }
  })
  

• The options for the dialog Type are

  • Break dialog (script is blocked) - default

  • Extendable break dialog (script is blocked)

  • Info dialog (script continues)

  The dialog type is explained in section Executing dialogs

• Dialogs are designed using the GUI based Dialog Editor.

  

Note

The Dialog Editor is opened from the Add-on Editor by

• Selecting a dialog file (*.gdlg) in the Add-on Explorer

• Selecting a dialog definition embedded in a Python script

• Using right mouse button → Insert → Dialog… in the script editor

Dialog layout

• The Dialog Editor is using a grid based layout.

• Elements can be inserted into the grid via drag and drop.

Editing the grid

💡 Editing the layout means changing the underlying grid.

• Because the underlying layout is a grid, the following actions are possible:

  • Adding and removing rows and columns.

  • Merging and splitting rows and columns.

  Tool button	Function
  	Split selected cells vertically
  	Split selected cells horizontally
  	Merge selected cells

• Selected cells are marked with a red overlay.

  

Spacers

💡 Spacers are empty spaces extending in either horizontal or vertical direction.

• If a spacer is inserted into a cell, the cell claims the maximum available space in spacer direction.

• All other cells share the remaining space.

Widgets

Inserting and removing widgets

• The list of available widgets resides at the left of the Dialog Editor in the section Dialog Elements.

• Widgets are inserted via drag and drop.

• Newly dropped widgets overwrite existing widgets at the drop target cells.

• A unique object name is assigned during insertion of a widget. This name is used to access the widget in the Python script.

• Because each cell has to be filled with a widget, widgets can not be removed from the grid. To get rid of a widget

  • Another widget can be dragged and dropped onto the existing widget or

  • The widget cell can be merged with another cell.

💡 Removing widgets from the grid is not possible. Instead, they can be overwritten by other widgets.

Configuring widgets

• The properties of selected widgets can be edited in the Property Editor at the right side of the Dialog Editor.

• Every widget has at least a unique Object name.

• Additionally, various parameters depending on the widget type can be edited.

The definition of the dialog can be found in scriptingEditorExampleDialog.py

Editing already created dialogs

• Creating a dialog leads to a script command with a dialog representation as JSON code, which can either be embedded or stored in an external dialog file (*.gdlg).

• Double clicking onto the embedded dialog or the dialog file opens the Dialog Editor again.

Dialog widgets

• Use of the __doc__ string

• Control widget

  • Control widget elements

  • Control button properties

  • Status label

• Specific widgets

  • Description field (label) widget

  • Continuous text widget

  • Image widget

  • Log widget

  • Progress-bar widget

  • Element name widget

  • Integer widget

  • Decimal widget

  • Text entry field

  • Slider widget

  • Checkbox widget

  • File widget

  • Date widget

  • Color widget

  • Unit widget

  • Selection element widget

  • Selection list widget

  • Button widget

  • Radio button widget

  • Abort button widget

  • Tolerances widget

  • File system browser widget

This section gives an overview of the available widgets. If the code examples given in this section are not intuitive to you, you might want to take a look into Executing dialogs.

Use of the __doc__ string

Information about the widgets can be obtained by accessing their doc string. Let objName be the object name of a widget and DIALOG the dialog handle (see Executing dialogs if this is unclear to you), the __doc__ string can be obtained as follows:

print( DIALOG.objName.__doc__ )

Control widget

💡 The Control widget contains the ok / cancel or similar buttons of the dialog.

• The control elements of a dialog cannot be configured like other dialog widgets.

• Therefore, their name is fixed and they are grouped together inside of the control widget named control.

• The control elements consist of the dialogs lower buttons plus a configurable dialog status label.

Handle	Property	Example
DIALOG.control	Control widget	-
DIALOG.control.status	Status icon of the control widget	DIALOG.control.status = ‘Point 1 missing’
DIALOG.control.<button>	Handle for a button of the control widget	DIALOG.control.ok.enabled = False

Control widget elements

💡 The names of the Control widget elements are fixed

• Usually, the names are corresponding with the elements’ semantics. For example, the name of the ok button is ‘ok’. The names can also be obtained from the __doc__ string as shown in the code example below.

• The control elements are accessed like all other widget attributes.

Accessing the control widget

# Print control widget properties<br>print (DIALOG.control.__doc__)
ControlGroup

Attributes:

status (string)              - Status tool tip icon
ok     (unspecified/various) - Control widget
cancel (unspecified/various) - Control widget

Control button properties

Control buttons only have the following two properties which can be set programmatically:

Property	Type	Example
text	str	DIALOG.control.prev.text = ‘Previous’
enabled	bool	DIALOG.control.ok.enabled = False

Status label

⚠️ The Status label of the control widget is invisible until a status text is set.

• If a status text is set, a small warning icon appears, like in regular applications’ dialogs.

• The status label can be configured using its properties like all other widgets.

Using the Status label

DIALOG=gom.script.sys.create_user_defined_dialog (content='dialog definition')

# Set status label text
DIALOG.control.status = 'No point selected.'

# Set 'ok' button to disabled<br>DIALOG.control.ok.enabled = False
gom.script.sys.show_user_defined_dialog(dialog = DIALOG)

You can reset the status icon and clear the error message by assigning an empty string (DIALOG.control.status = '').

Specific widgets

Description field (label) widget

Description field (label) widget

The Description field (label) widget allows to display static text. It is typically used for labelling a section or an individual element of a dialog.

Property	Type	Example
tooltip	str	DIALOG.label.tooltip = ‘This is just a label!’
enabled	bool	DIALOG.label.enabled = False
focus	bool	DIALOG.label.focus = True ⚠️ Only works if dialog is open
visible	bool	DIALOG.label.visible = False
text	str	DIALOG.label.text = ‘New label:’
word_wrap	bool	DIALOG.label.word_wrap = True

Continuous text widget

Continuous text widget

The Continuous text widget allows to display static text and keywords. A double click onto a text field widget opens the content editor. Some formatting can be applied.

Editor	Dialog

Property	Type	Example
enabled	bool	DIALOG.textWidget.enabled = False
text	str	print(DIALOG.textWidget.text)
wordwrap	bool	DIALOG.textWidget.wordwrap = True
visible	bool	DIALOG.textWidget.visible = False
default_font_family	str	DIALOG.textWidget.default_font_family = ‘Arial Black’
default_font_size	int	DIALOG.textWidget.default_font_size = 12

Displaying keywords in a continuous text widget

A keyword can be inserted into the text with the following procedure:

1. RMB -> ‘Insert Expression…’

   

2. Select ‘Insert Keyword’ button

   

3. Select the desired keyword from the tree

   

4. The keyword and its actual value are shown

   

5. The final rendering of the text widget

   

Internal representation of a dialog with text widget

The dialog is stored as a JSON document internally.

Internal representation of a dialog

gom.script.sys.execute_user_defined_dialog (dialog={
	"content": [
		[
			{
                ...
			},
			{
				"columns": 1,
				"default_font_family": "",
				"default_font_size": 0,
				"name": "text",
				"rows": 1,
				"text": {
					"id": "",
					"text": "\<html\>\<p align=\"center\"\>By clicking 'Close', the dialog will be closed.\</p\>\</html\>",
					"translatable": True
				},
                                ...
				"type": "display::text",
				"wordwrap": False
			}
		]
	],
	"control": {
		"id": "Close"
	},
        ...
})

Image widget

Image widget

The Image widget allows to display arbitrary images.

Property	Type	Example
enabled	bool	DIALOG.image.enabled = False
use_system_image	bool	DIALOG.image.use_system_image = True
system_image	str	# Possible values: ‘system_message_information’, ‘system_message_warning’, ‘system_message_critical’, ‘system_message_question’ DIALOG.image.system_image = ‘system_message_question’
file_name	str	read-only!
keep_original_size	bool	read-only!
keep_aspect	bool	read-only!
data	(special)	# This is the actual image data # Copy image from one dialog to another: my_dialog.my_image.data = image_container_dialog.image_1.data
width	int	print(‘image width ‘ + str(DIALOG.image.width))
height	int	print(‘image height ‘ + str(DIALOG.image.height))
visible	bool	DIALOG.image.visible = False

Note that you can switch from a system image to a user image using the property use_system_image. But this user image must have been selected beforehand in the designer. You cannot read a new image file by setting the filename property. Also, all of the image formatting properties (keep_original_size, keep_aspect, width, height) only work in the designer. From the script you can only read these values. Although you cannot read images using the filename property you can copy images from one dialog to another using the data property. So you are able to prepare (create) a dialog as an image container holding several images. You can then use this image container dialog to copy the image you need to an actually displayed dialog.

Internal representation of a dialog with image widget

The dialog is stored as a JSON document internally. The ‘data’ element contains the image data.

Internal representation of an image

# The 'data' element contains the image data (shortened version here)
RESULT=gom.script.sys.execute_user_defined_dialog (dialog={
    "content": [
        [
            {
                "columns": 1,
                "data": "AAAAAYlQTkcNChoKAAAADUlIRFIAAAQAAAACQAgCAAAAnPeDgptZSsdt...",
                "file_name": "C:/Users/IQMPRINK/Downloads/zeiss-inspect_python.jpg",
                "height": 144,
                "keep_aspect": True,
                "keep_original_size": False,
                "name": "image",
                "rows": 1,
                "system_image": "system_message_information",
                "tooltip": {
                    "id": "",
                    "text": "",
                    "translatable": True
                },
                "type": "image",
                "use_system_image": False,
                "width": 256
            }
        ]
    ],
    "control": {
        "id": "Close"
    },
    "embedding": "always_toplevel",
    "position": "automatic",
    "size": {
        "height": 233,
        "width": 292
    },
    "sizemode": "automatic",
    "style": "",
    "title": {
        "id": "",
        "text": "Dialog with image",
        "translatable": True
    }
})

Log widget

Log widget

The Log widget can display multiple lines of unformatted text, which can be easily saved to a text file by clicking the save button.

Property	Type	Example
enabled	bool	DIALOG.log.enabled = True
text	str	DIALOG.log.text += ‘Yet another log message.\n
word_wrap	bool	DIALOG.log.word_wrap = True
show_save	bool	DIALOG.log.show_save = False
save_dialog_title	str	DIALOG.log.save_dialog_title = ‘Save operator log’
scroll_automatically	bool	DIALOG.log.scroll_automatically = True
visible	bool	DIALOG.log.visible = False
monospace	bool	# Use monospace font DIALOG.log.monospace = True

Progress bar widget

Progress bar widget

The Progress bar widget can be used in the two modes system and manual.

Manual mode

In this mode, the user may set the progress bar through its value variable.

import gom, time
DIALOG=gom.script.sys.create_user_defined_dialog (content='dialog definition')
DIALOG.progress.minimum = 0
DIALOG.progress.maximum = 100
gom.script.sys.open_user_defined_dialog( dialog = DIALOG )
DIALOG.progress.value = 0
time.sleep(1)
DIALOG.progress.value = 33
time.sleep(1)
DIALOG.progress.value = 66
time.sleep(1)
DIALOG.progress.value = 100
gom.script.sys.close_user_defined_dialog (dialog=DIALOG)

Automatic mode

In this mode, the progress bar displays the same progress informations as the progress bar in the lower right corner of the software.

import gom
DIALOG=gom.script.sys.create_user_defined_dialog (content='dialog definition')
gom.script.sys.open_user_defined_dialog (dialog=DIALOG)
gom.script.sys.create_project ()
gom.script.sys.import_project (file='some project')
gom.script.sys.close_user_defined_dialog (dialog=DIALOG)

You can switch between automatic and manual mode from within the script by setting the mode variable as shown below:

# manual mode:
DIALOG.progress.mode = "manual"

# automatic mode:
DIALOG.progress.mode = "system"

Partially controlled system progress bar

The range of a system progress bar can be divided into parts, sequentially controlled by an executed command.

• The progress bar range can be split into multiple parts.

• Each part controls an equally sized progress bar interval. If, for example, there are 3 parts, the first part ranges from 0 to 33, the second from 33 to 66 and the third from 66 to 100.

• When a command is executed, the command controls just the one active part of the progress bar widget.

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-

import gom

# Create a user defined dialog with a progress bar, mode 'system'
DIALOG=gom.script.sys.create_user_defined_dialog (content='dialog definition')
gom.script.sys.open_user_defined_dialog( dialog = DIALOG )

# Split progress bar into 3 parts
DIALOG.progress.parts = 3

# Current part is the first interval (part '0', because we are counting from '0')
DIALOG.progress.step = 0

# Execute load command. The command will control the first progress bar range from 0% to 33%.
# That means when the command has been finished, the progress bar will display '33%'.
gom.script.sys.load_project (file='some project')

# Current part is the second interval. The progress bar runs from 33% to 66%
DIALOG.progress.step = 1

gom.script.sys.switch_to_report_workspace ()
gom.script.report.update_report_page (
pages=gom.app.project.reports,
switch_alignment=True,
switch_stage=False)

# Current part is the third interval. The progress bar runs from 66% to 100%
DIALOG.progress.step = 2

gom.script.sys.switch_to_inspection_workspace ()
gom.script.sys.recalculate_all_elements ()

💡 It is possible to switch between automatic and manual mode for each part.

Property	Type	Example
tooltip	str	DIALOG.progressbar.tooltip = ‘Work in progress!’
enabled	bool	DIALOG.progressbar.enabled = False
value	int	if DIALOG.progressbar.value < 50:
focus	bool	DIALOG.progressbar.focus = True ⚠️ Only works if dialog is open
minimum	int	DIALOG.progressbar.minimum = 20
maximum	int	DIALOG.progressbar.maximum = 50
visible	bool	DIALOG.progressbar.visible = False
parts	int	# Set number of progress bar parts DIALOG.progressbar.parts = 3
step	int	# Set current step DIALOG.progressbar.step = 0
text	str	# Set text mode (none, percentage, step) DIALOG.progressbar.text = ‘step’
mode	str	# Set mode (system, manual) DIALOG.progressbar.mode = ‘manual’

Element name widget

Element name widget

The Element name widget is used to request an element name from the user. It is possible to select the default name (according to naming scheme, e.g. ‘Point 2’ if ‘Point 1’ already exists), or to enter an arbitrary name. elementnameWidget is the object name of the element name widget in the example below.

# Let the user define 3 new points (the coordinates are created automatically in this example)
for i in range(3):
    DIALOG=gom.script.sys.create_user_defined_dialog (dialog='dialog definition')
    
    #
    # Event handler function called if anything happens inside of the dialog
    #
    def dialog_event_handler (widget):
        pass
    
    DIALOG.handler = dialog_event_handler
    
    RESULT=gom.script.sys.show_user_defined_dialog (dialog=DIALOG)
    
    print (RESULT.elementnameWidget)
    
    MCAD_ELEMENT=gom.script.primitive.create_point (
        name=RESULT.elementnameWidget,
        point={'point': gom.Vec3d (i+10.0, 0.0, 0.0)}
    )

Property	Type	Example
tooltip	str	DIALOG.inputEleName.tooltip = ‘Enter the number of points!’
enabled	bool	DIALOG.inputEleName.enabled = False
value	int	DIALOG.inputEleName.value = ‘Blob’
focus	bool	DIALOG.inputEleName.focus = True ⚠️ Only works if dialog is open
visible	bool	DIALOG.inputEleName.visible = False
basename	str	DIALOG.inputEleName.basename = ‘Point’
mode	str	# Mode to get the name suggestion from. (‘manually’, ‘from_element_type’, ‘check_like’) DIALOG.inputEleName.mode = ‘from_element_type’
read_only	bool	# Keep user from changing the default DIALOG.inputEleName.read_only = true

Integer widget

Integer widget

The Integer widget is used to request an integer value from the user. integerWidget is the object name of the integer widget in the example below.

RESULT=gom.script.sys.execute_user_defined_dialog (content='dialog definition')
userInput = RESULT.integerWidget

Property	Type	Example
tooltip	str	DIALOG.inputInt.tooltip = ‘Enter the number of points!’
enabled	bool	DIALOG.inputInt.enabled = False
value	int	if DIALOG.inputInt.value < 15:
focus	bool	DIALOG.inputInt.focus = True ⚠️ Only works if dialog is open
visible	bool	DIALOG.inputInt.visible = False
minimum	double	DIALOG.inputInt.minimum = 20
maximum	double	DIALOG.inputInt.maximum = 50

Decimal widget

Decimal widget

The Decimal widget is used to request a floating point value from the user. It is possible to choose the number of digits and a unit. The selectable units are the ones from the user preferences (Edit > Application > Settings > Preferences) in the Default units tab. decimalWidget is the object name of the decimal widget in the example below.

RESULT=gom.script.sys.execute_user_defined_dialog (content='dialog definition')
userInput = RESULT.decimalWidget

Property	Type	Example
tooltip	str	DIALOG.input.tooltip = ‘Enter distance between points!’
enabled	bool	DIALOG.input.enabled = False
value	int	if DIALOG.input.value < 15:
focus	bool	DIALOG.input.focus = True ⚠️ Only works if dialog is open
visible	bool	DIALOG.input.visible = False
minimum	double	DIALOG.input.minimum = 20
maximum	double	DIALOG.input.maximum = 50
precision	double	# Set precision to 2 decimals DIALOG.input.precision = 2
unit	str	# Set unit ID DIALOG.input.unit = ‘LENGTH’

Text entry field

Text entry field

The Text entry field widget can be used to get string input from the user. A simple use case is given by the next code block. textEntryWidget is the object name of the widget in the example below.

DIALOG=gom.script.sys.create_user_defined_dialog (content='dialog definition')
DIALOG.textEntryWidget = "some default text"
RESULT = gom.script.sys.show_user_defined_dialog(dialog = DIALOG)
print( RESULT.textEntryWidget ) # the user input string

Property	Type	Example
tooltip	str	DIALOG.inputString.tooltip = ‘Enter object description’
enabled	bool	DIALOG.inputString.enabled = True
value	str	DIALOG.inputString.value = “Warsaw”
focus	bool	DIALOG.inputString.focus = True ⚠️ Only works if dialog is open
visible	bool	DIALOG.inputString.visible = False
read_only	bool	if DIALOG.inputString.read_only:
password	bool	# Hide user input by replacing each character by a dot DIALOG.inputString.password = True

Slider widget

Slider widget

The Slider widget can be used to get a float value from a certain interval from the user. sliderWidget is the object name of the slider widget in the example below.

DIALOG=gom.script.sys.create_user_defined_dialog (content='dialog definition')

RESULT = gom.script.sys.show_user_defined_dialog (dialog=DIALOG)
print( RESULT.sliderWidget ) # some text

Property	Type	Example
tooltip	str	DIALOG.input.tooltip = ‘Drag slider to change rotation’
enabled	bool	DIALOG.input.enabled = True
value	str	print(‘Angle:’, str(DIALOG.input.value))
focus	bool	DIALOG.input.focus = True ⚠️ Only works if dialog is open
visible	bool	DIALOG.input.visible = False
minimum	double	DIALOG.input.minimum = -90
maximum	double	DIALOG.input.maximum = 90
precision	double	# Set precision to 1 decimal DIALOG.input.precision = 1
step	double	# Set step size to 15 DIALOG.input.step = 15
orientation	str	print(DIALOG.input.orientation) ⚠️ read-only

Checkbox widget

Checkbox widget

The Checkbox widget can be used to get boolean input from the user. checkboxWidget is the object name of the checkbox widget in the example below.

DIALOG=gom.script.sys.create_user_defined_dialog (content='dialog definition')

RESULT=gom.script.sys.show_user_defined_dialog (dialog=DIALOG)
print (RESULT.checkboxWidget)

Property	Type	Example
tooltip	str	DIALOG.inputCheckbox.tooltip = ‘Check this option to clear the results after evaluation.’
enabled	bool	DIALOG.inputCheckbox.enabled = True
value	bool	print(‘Evaluation enabled:’, str(DIALOG.inputCheckbox.value))
title	str	DIALOG.inputCheckbox.title = ‘Mirror option’
visible	bool	DIALOG.inputCheckbox.visible = False

File widget

File widget

By clicking the File widget, a file selection dialog is opened. This allows to select a file from the file system.

Property	Type	Example
tooltip	str	DIALOG.inputFile.tooltip = ‘Select a file for the protocol’
enabled	bool	DIALOG.inputFile.enabled = False
value	str	if DIALOG.inputFile.value != ‘’:
focus	bool	DIALOG.inputFile.focus = True ⚠️ Only works if dialog is open
visible	bool	DIALOG.inputFile.visible = False
type	str	# Possible values: ‘any’ (any file), ‘new’ (not an existing file), # ‘file’ (an existing file), ‘multi_file’ (multiple existing files), # ‘directory’ (an existing folder) DIALOG.inputFile.type = ‘any’
title	str	DIALOG.inputFile.title = ‘Select the location for the protocol files’
default	str	DIALOG.inputFile.default = ‘D:/data/default.txt’
file	str	print(DIALOG.inputFile.file)
file_types	list	# Show only specified file types; each list item must consist of [<filename_extension>, <description>] DIALOG.inputFile.file_types = [[’.g3d’, ‘Mesh data’], [’.stp’, ‘CAD data’]] ⚠️ limited must be set to True in order to apply the filter!
limited	bool	# Limit file selection to ‘file_types’ DIALOG.inputFile.limited = True

Date widget

Date widget

The Date widget requests a date from the user. dateWidget is the object name of the date widget in the example below.

DIALOG=gom.script.sys.create_user_defined_dialog (content='dialog definition')
dateObject = DIALOG.dateWidget.value # date object
print( DIALOG.dateWidget.year )  # integer
print( DIALOG.dateWidget.month ) # integer
print( DIALOG.dateWidget.day )   # integer

Property	Type	Example
tooltip	str	DIALOG.inputDate.tooltip = ‘Enter fabrication date’
enabled	bool	DIALOG.inputDate.enabled = False
value	(special)	print(‘Selected date:’, str(DIALOG.inputDate.value))
focus	bool	DIALOG.inputDate.focus = True ⚠️ Only works if dialog is open
visible	bool	DIALOG.inputDate.visible = False
use_current_date	bool	DIALOG.inputDate.use_current_date = True 💡 if set, use current date to initialize widget.
year	int	DIALOG.inputDate.year = 2014
month	int	DIALOG.inputDate.month = 12
day	int	DIALOG.inputDate.day = 24
show_today_button	bool	DIALOG.inputDate.show_today_button = True

Color widget

Color widget

The Color widget allows to select a color. colorWidget is the object name of the color widget in the example below. gomColor behaves in the same way as gom.Color( ... ).

DIALOG=gom.script.sys.create_user_defined_dialog (content='dialog definition')

#
# Event handler function called if anything happens inside of the dialog
#
def dialog_event_handler (widget):
    if widget == DIALOG.colorWidget:
        gomColor = DIALOG.colorWidget.color
        print( gomColor) # output: gom.Color (#ffffffff)

DIALOG.handler = dialog_event_handler

RESULT=gom.script.sys.show_user_defined_dialog (dialog=DIALOG)
print('Selection:', RESULT.colorWidget) # example output (white): 0xffffffff

Property	Type	Example
tooltip	str	DIALOG.inputColor.tooltip = ‘Select a color for the marks.’
enabled	bool	DIALOG.inputColor.enabled = True
value	(special)	print(‘Mark color:’, str(DIALOG.inputColor.value))
focus	bool	DIALOG.inputColor.focus = True ⚠️ Only works if dialog is open
visible	bool	DIALOG.inputColor.visible = False
transparency_allowed	bool	DIALOG.inputColor.transparency_allowed = True

Unit widget

Unit widget

The Unit widget allows to select a unit. unitWidget is the object name of the color widget in the example below.

DIALOG=gom.script.sys.create_user_defined_dialog (content='dialog definition')

#
# Event handler function called if anything happens inside of the dialog
#
def dialog_event_handler (widget):
    if widget == DIALOG.unitWidget:
        unit = DIALOG.unitWidget.value
        print( unit) # ANGLE

DIALOG.handler = dialog_event_handler

RESULT=gom.script.sys.show_user_defined_dialog (dialog=DIALOG)

Property	Type	Example
tooltip	str	DIALOG.inputUnit.tooltip = ‘Select a unit.’
enabled	bool	DIALOG.inputUnit.enabled = True
value	(special)	print(‘Unit ID:’, DIALOG.inputUnit.value)
focus	bool	DIALOG.inputUnit.focus = True ⚠️ Only works if dialog is open
visible	bool	DIALOG.inputUnit.visible = False

Selection element widget

Selection element widget

The Selection element widget can be used to select the elements from the element explorer. The following element types can be chosen:

• Any Point

• Point element

• Line element

• Plane element

• Direction

• User-defined

elementSelectionWidget is the object name of the element selection widget in the example below.

DIALOG=gom.script.sys.execute_user_defined_dialog (content='dialog definition')

selectedElement = DIALOG.elementSelectionWidget
print(selectedElement.value ) # output: gom.app.project.inspection['Equidistant Surface Points 1']

Property	Type	Example
tooltip	str	DIALOG.selectElement.tooltip = ‘Select a line for rotation’
enabled	bool	DIALOG.selectElement.enabled = False
value	(special)	if DIALOG.selectElement.value != None:
focus	bool	DIALOG.selectElement.focus = True ⚠️ Only works if dialog is open
visible	bool	DIALOG.selectElement.visible = False
supplier	str	# Read-only property # Possible values: ‘any’, ‘points’, ‘lines’, ‘planes’, ‘directions’, ‘custom’ print(DIALOG.selectElement.supplier)
filter	function	Element filter function for the ‘custom’ supplier. See example below.

The following script shows how to use a custom filter for element selection. The example filter allows the user to select a system plane:

DIALOG4=gom.script.sys.create_user_defined_dialog (content='...')


def dialog_event_handler (widget):
    pass

# filter system planes
def element_filter( element ):
    try:
        if element.type == 'plane':
            return True
    except Exception as e:
        pass
    return False

DIALOG4.handler = dialog_event_handler
DIALOG4.input_new.filter = element_filter

RESULT=gom.script.sys.show_user_defined_dialog (dialog=DIALOG4)

print("Chosen system plane:", RESULT.input_new.name)

Please find the complete example here: dialog_custom_elem_select.py

Selection list widget

Selection list widget

The Selection list widget allows to make a selection from a predefined set of options. The selected item can be accessed from a script through its object name (e.g. selectionListWidget) as follows.

selectedValue = DIALOG.selectionListWidget.value
print( selectedValue ) # output: entry2

Property	Type	Example
tooltip	str	DIALOG.selectEntry.tooltip = ‘Select one of the operating modes’
enabled	bool	DIALOG.selectEntry.enabled = False
value	str	DIALOG.selectEntry.value = ‘Debug’
focus	bool	DIALOG.selectEntry.focus = True ⚠️ Only works if dialog is open
visible	bool	DIALOG.select_mode.visible = False
items	list of str	DIALOG.selectEntry.items = [‘Debug’, ‘Info’, ‘Warn’, ‘Error’, ‘Fatal’]

Button widget

Button widget

The Button widget allows to trigger an event or to return a boolean value, respectively. There are two types of buttons: push buttons and toggle buttons. The push button is a regular button and needs an event handler to manage its action. The toggle button has two states - active and inactive - and the user can toggle between them by clicking the button. The button is highlighted in active state as shown in the screenshot. The state of the toggle button can be accessed as follows.

toggleButtonState = DIALOG.toggleButtonWidget.value
print(toggleButtonState) # output: True

The buttons size and icon can be changed in the Dialog Editor.

Property	Type	Example
tooltip	str	DIALOG.button.tooltip = ‘Click to start evaluation’
enabled	bool	DIALOG.button.enabled = False
value	bool	if DIALOG.button.value: 💡 Only for toggle button!
text	str	DIALOG.button.text = ‘Click here!’
type	str	# Possible values: ‘push’, ‘toggle’ DIALOG.button.type = ‘toggle’ DIALOG.button.value = True
icon_type	str	# Possible values: ‘none’, ‘file’, ‘system’ # but see remark below! DIALOG.button.icon_type = ‘none’
icon_system_type	str	# Possible values: ‘ok’, ‘cancel’, # ‘arrow_left’, ‘arrow_right’, ‘arrow_up’, ‘arrow_down’ DIALOG.button.icon_system_type = ‘ok’
icon_system_size	str	# Possible values: ‘default’, ‘large’, ‘extra_large’ DIALOG.button.icon_system_size = ‘extra_large’
visible	bool	DIALOG.button.visible = False

💡 There are also values for file icons. These only work straightforward using the dialog designer but not from a script. You can only change between no icon and system icons in a straightforward way.

Radio button widget

Radio button widget

The Radio button widget enables the user to choose an option from a predefined set. Each option has a label and a unique ID, which both can be set in the scripting dialog editor by double clicking the widget. The IDs are ‘ONE’, ‘TWO’ and ‘THREE’ in the example below.

selectedChoice = DIALOG.radiobuttonsWidget.value
print( selectedChoice ) # output: ONE

if selectedChoice == 'ONE':
    print("IDs are strings.") # output: IDs are strings.

Property	Type	Example
tooltip	str	DIALOG.radiobuttons.tooltip = ‘Choose one alternative!’
enabled	bool	DIALOG.radiobuttons.enabled = False
value	str	DIALOG.radiobuttons.value = ‘Value3’
visible	bool	DIALOG.radiobuttons.visible = False
items	(special list)	# Possible values is a list of lists of two strings. # Each first string is the returned value # Each second string is the entries’ title DIALOG.radiobuttons.items = [[‘Value1’, ‘Title1’], [‘Value2’, ‘Title2’], [‘Value3’, ‘Title3’]] DIALOG.radiobuttons.default = ‘Value2’
default	str	DIALOG.radiobuttons.default = ‘Value1’

Abort button widget

Abort button widget

The Abort button widget aborts the current action. It is disabled if no action is currently executed. It behaves in the same manner as the abort button in the lower right corner of the ZEISS INSPECT software.

Tolerances widget

Tolerances widget

The Tolerances widget is a group of input widgets which allows to configure all parameters related to tolerances.

Property	Type	Example
tooltip	str	DIALOG.tolerancesWidget.tooltip = ‘Configure tolerances’
enabled	bool	DIALOG.tolerancesWidget.enabled = False
value	(unspecified/various)	The current value of the widget. Type depends on the widget type and can be ‘none’ for empty widgets.
focus	bool	DIALOG.tolerancesWidget.focus = True ⚠️ Only works if dialog is open
visible	bool	DIALOG.tolerancesWidget.visible = False
expanded	bool	# Check if widged is expanded if DIALOG.tolerancesWidget.expanded == True:
mode	str	# Tolerance mode (‘no_tolerance’, ‘via_tolerance_table’, ‘from_cad’, ‘manual’, ‘from_element’) print( DIALOG.tolerancesWidget.mode )
upper	double	DIALOG.tolerancesWidget.upper = 0.3
lower	double	DIALOG.tolerancesWidget.lower = 0.2
use_warn_limit	bool	# Use warning levels DIALOG.tolerancesWidget = True
upper_warn	bool	DIALOG.tolerancesWidget.upper_warn = 0.5
lower_warn	bool	DIALOG.tolerancesWidget.lower_warn = 0.4
link_limits	bool	# Allow setting of upper / lower limits separately DIALOG.tolerancesWidget.link_limits = False
unit	str	# Set unit ID DIALOG.tolerancesWidget.unit = ‘LENGTH’

File system browser widget

File system browser widget

The File system browser widget allows to view the file system and to select a file or a set of files, respectively. A filter can be set to show only files with certain filename extensions.

Property	Type	Example
tooltip	str	DIALOG.filesystemWidget.tooltip = ‘Select CAD file’
enabled	bool	DIALOG.filesystemWidget.enabled = False
value	(unspecified/various)	The current value of the widget. Type depends on the widget type and can be ‘none’ for empty widgets.
focus	bool	DIALOG.filesystemWidget.focus = True ⚠️ Only works if dialog is open
visible	bool	DIALOG.filesystemWidget.visible = False
root	str	DIALOG.filesystemWidget.root = ‘C:/Users’
show_date	bool	DIALOG.filesystemWidget.show_date = True
show_size	bool	DIALOG.filesystemWidget.show_size = True
show_type	bool	DIALOG.filesystemWidget.show_type = True
use_multiselection	bool	# Enable selection of multiple files DIALOG.filesystemWidget.use_multiselection = True
selected	list	print(DIALOG.filesystemWidget.selected) # example output: [‘C:/temp/Basic_Training_GOM_Inspect_Pro/Training Data/Raw Data/Actual/GOM Training Object Mesh 1.g3d’, ‘C:/temp/Basic_Training_GOM_Inspect_Pro/Training Data/Raw Data/Actual/GOM Training Object Mesh 2.g3d’]
filter	list	# Apply a filter of filename extensions DIALOG.filesystemWidget.filter = [ ‘*.g3d’, ‘*.stp’ ]

Widget text assignment and formatting at run time

The Description field (label) widget and the Continuous text widget support HTML / CSS syntax for text formatting and character encoding.

Example: Dialog with a label widget (label)

# Label - font size: 18 pt, style: bold, special character: 'Diameter'
DIALOG.label.text = '<span style="font-size:18pt"><b>Cylinder &#x2300;</b></span>'

Example: Continuous text widget (cont_text) with formatted text

# Continuous text - font size: 18 pt, font weight: 600, color: red, 
DIALOG.text.text = '<span style="font-size:18pt; font-weight:600; color:red;">Attention!</span>'

Example: Continuous text widget (cont_text) with a table containing values from variables

var1 = 9.8
var2 = 10
var3 = 0.3
var4 = "pass"

DIALOG.text.text = '<table width="200">'\
'<tr><th>Actual</th><th>Nominal</th><th>Tolerance</th><th>Result</th></tr>'\
f'<tr><td>{var1}</td><td>{var2}</td><td>{var3}</td><td>{var4}</td></tr></table>'

Note

In case a character string is not recognized as HTML code automatically, enclose it in <html> tags:

DIALOG.label.text = '<html>Diameter &#x2300;</html>'

Executing dialogs

• Dialog commands

  • Break dialog (execute)

  • Extendable break dialog (create and show)

  • Info dialog (create, open and close)

• Dialog results

  • Custom results

• Configuring dialog widgets

• Event handler functions

  • Registering event handlers

  • Closing dialogs from within the event handler

  • Using a timer to activate the event handler

• Determining the existing widget attributes

Dialog commands

Break dialog (execute)

• Standard case of a dialog.

• The dialog is created and executed with a single command.

• The command blocks the script until the dialog is closed again.

• The dialog result is returned.

RESULT=gom.script.sys.execute_user_defined_dialog (dialog={
    "content": [
        [
            {
                "columns": 1,
                "name": "label",
                "rows": 1,
                "text": {
                    "id": "",
                    "text": "Distance",
                    "translatable": True
                },
                "tooltip": {
                    "id": "",
                    "text": "",
                    "translatable": True
                },
                "type": "label",
                "word_wrap": False
            },
            {
                "background_style": "",
                "columns": 1,
                "maximum": 1000,
                "minimum": 0,
                "name": "inputDistance",
                "precision": 2,
                "rows": 1,
                "tooltip": {
                    "id": "",
                    "text": "",
                    "translatable": True
                },
                "type": "input::number",
                "unit": "",
                "value": 0
            }
        ]
    ],
    "control": {
        "id": "OkCancel"
    },
    "embedding": "always_toplevel",
    "position": "automatic",
    "size": {
        "height": 112,
        "width": 198
    },
    "sizemode": "automatic",
    "style": "",
    "title": {
        "id": "",
        "text": "Distance",
        "translatable": True
    }
})

Extendable break dialog (create and show)

• A dialog is created and executed by subsequent commands.

• This way, the created dialog can be modified by the script right before execution.

Creating and executing a dialog with two separate commands

# Create dialog, but do not execute it yet
DIALOG = gom.script.sys.create_user_defined_dialog (content='...')

#
# The dialog has been created. At this point of the script, the dialog handle DIALOG
# can be used to access and configure dialog parts
#

# Execute dialog and fetch execution result
RESULT = gom.script.sys.show_user_defined_dialog( dialog = DIALOG )

Info dialog (create, open and close)

• In this mode, the script execution continues after the dialog has been opened.

• The sequence of commands is as follows:

  • the create command creates a dialog. The dialog can be configured now. Afterwards

  • the open command is issued to display the dialog. The script executing continues. At last

  • the close command closes the dialog again, if no closed manually by the user yet.

💡 At script termination all open dialogs are closed automatically.

Non blocking configurable dialogs

# Create dialog but do not execute it yet
DIALOG = gom.script.sys.create_user_defined_dialog (content='...')

#
# The dialog has been created. At this point of the script, the dialog handle DIALOG
# can be used to access and configure dialog parts
#

# Show dialog. The script execution continues.
gom.script.sys.open_user_defined_dialog( dialog = DIALOG )

#
# The dialog content can be modified here, the dialog is still open
#
DIALOG.title = 'Stufe 2'

# Close dialog again
gom.script.sys.close_user_defined_dialog (dialog=DIALOG)

Dialog results

💡 The return value is an object with one property per interactive dialog widget containing its current value.

• The return value is an object containing all current values.

• Each dialog widget which can be changed by the script user writes its resulting value into this result object.

• The key for each widget is its object name, which is unique.

#
# Print whole dialog result as an object. This is a result map with just one entry 'distance',
# named after the unique object name assigned to the spinbox (decimal widget).
#
print (RESULT) # Print whole result map
# output: gom.dialog.DialogResult ('distance': 2.0, 'label': None)

#
# Print result for the element named 'distance'. This will lead to the decimal widget content.
#
print (RESULT.distance)
# output: 2.0

#
# Print whole dialog result as a dictionary with the same content as above. 
#
print (RESULT.__dict__)
# output: {'__args__': [{'distance': 2.0, 'label': None}], '__kwargs__': {}}
print (RESULT.__dict__['__args__'][0])
# output: {'distance': 2.0, 'label': None}

# Print content of the 'name' widget
print( RESULT.name )
# output: Line 1

# Print content of the widget named 'point1'. This can again be an element reference.
print( RESULT.point1 )
# output: gom.ActualReference (gom.app.project.inspection['Point 5'])

# Print content of the widget named 'point2'.
print( RESULT.point2 )
# output: gom.ActualReference (gom.app.project.inspection['Point 6'])

# construct a line with the user input. Therefore our dialog works similar to the 2-point line
# construction dialog
MCAD_ELEMENT=gom.script.primitive.create_line_by_2_points (
    name= RESULT.name,
    point1 = RESULT.point1,
    point2 = RESULT.point2)

💡 The type of the result depends on the specific widget.

Custom results

You can return custom results from dialogs using an optional parameter to the close_user_defined_dialog-function. The following example produces ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ results for the different buttons and ‘Cheater’ when the user uses the close button of the dialog.

DIALOG = gom.script.sys.create_user_defined_dialog (content='...')

#
# Event handler function called if anything happens inside of the dialog
#
def dialog_event_handler (widget):
    if widget == DIALOG.button_yes:
        gom.script.sys.close_user_defined_dialog( dialog = DIALOG, result = 'Yes' )
    if widget == DIALOG.button_no:
        gom.script.sys.close_user_defined_dialog( dialog = DIALOG, result = 'No' )

DIALOG.handler = dialog_event_handler

try:
    RESULT = gom.script.sys.show_user_defined_dialog (dialog=DIALOG)
except gom.BreakError as e:
    RESULT = 'Cheater'

print('RESULT', RESULT)

Please find the complete example here: dialog_yes_no.py

Configuring dialog widgets

• Dialogs created with the create and open commands can be modified before executed.

• Each widget in the dialog can be accessed via the dialog handle.

• The widget is identified by its unique name.

Configuring dialog widgets

# Create dialog and receive dialog handle
DIALOG = gom.script.sys.create_user_defined_dialog (content='...')

# The handle for a widget inside of the dialog is addressed by its unique name
WIDGET = DIALOG.distance

# The widget parameter can be set via widget attributes. 'Value', for instance, relates to the current widget value.
WIDGET.value = 3.0

• All widgets share some common standard attributes:

Attribute	Type	Property
name	str	Unique name of the widget - do not write!
enabled	bool	Widget is currently active / inactive
value	(depends on widget)	Current value

For the type of the value property for a specific widget, see section Specific widgets above. For widgets which are not used to enter some value, value is None and read-only. In addition, widgets have further attributes depending on their type (see section Specific widgets above for details).

Accessing widget attributes

# Create dialog but do not execute it yet
DIALOG=gom.script.sys.create_dialog (content='...')

# Set name to 'default name' and disable 'ok' button
DIALOG.name.value = "default name"
DIALOG.control.ok.enabled = False

# Execute dialog
RESULT=gom.script.sys.show_user_defined_dialog (dialog=DIALOG)

Event handler functions

Registering event handlers

• A function can be registered to the dialog called on value changed.

• Every time the user modified a dialog value, the handler function is called.

• The handler function is also called on application global signals, e.g. when application data has been changed. In these cases is the string 'system' passed to the handler function. Those global signals are caused by changing the element selection or opening a project for example.

• The handler function can access dialog widget properties.

• The handler function is registered using the special attribute handler.

• The prev and next buttons of a wizard dialog are the only control widgets, which trigger the event handler.

Dialog handler functions

DIALOG=gom.script.sys.create_user_defined_dialog (content='dialog definition')

# Handler function registered to the dialog
def handler_function (widget):
    # Print information about the modified widget
    print ("Modified:", str (widget))
    # If the 'name' widget is empty, the 'ok' button is disabled.
    if DIALOG.name.value == "":
        DIALOG.control.ok.enabled = False
    else:
        DIALOG.control.ok.enabled = True

    if str(widget) == 'system':
        print("It is a global event.")
    elif str(widget) == 'initialize':
        print("Dialog is displayed for the first time.")

# Register dialog handler
DIALOG.handler = handler_function

# Execute dialog
RESULT=gom.script.sys.show_user_defined_dialog (dialog=DIALOG)

A complete example with a handler function can be found in the file scriptingEditorExampleDialog.py. The argument passed to the event handler is either the dialog widget (e.g. a button) which triggered the event handler or a string. The following table lists all possible strings:

Value	Description
‘system’	Passed to the event handler in the case of a global event.
‘timer’	Passed to the event handler in the case of a global event.
‘initialize’	Passed to the event handler when the dialog is displayed for the first time.

If the widget parameter is not a string, it represents a widget object. Note, that you cannot use the is operator on these objects. Always use == and similar operators to compare the widget parameter:

Comparing widget parameters

def handler_function (widget):
    ...
    # compare widget using "==", using "is" will not work!
    if widget == DIALOG.textInput:
        if DIALOG.textInput.value == "":
            DIALOG.control.ok.enabled = False
        else:
           DIALOG.control.ok.enabled = True

Closing dialogs from within the event handler

💡 Dialogs can be closed from within event handlers.

Button event handler

def dialog_event_handler (widget):
    if widget == DIALOG.button1:
        execute_func_1 ()
        gom.script.sys.close_user_defined_dialog (dialog=DIALOG)
    elif widget == DIALOG.button2:
        execute_func_2 ()
        gom.script.sys.close_user_defined_dialog (dialog=DIALOG)
    elif widget == DIALOG.button3:
        execute_func_3 ()
        gom.script.sys.close_user_defined_dialog (dialog=DIALOG)

⚠️ Right after the dialog has been closed its handle becomes invalid.

This implies, that the event handler function must be written in a way that no dialog dependent code is executed after the dialog has been closed.

Using a timer to activate the event handler

Each DIALOG has a special property named DIALOG.timer. This timer property can be used to trigger the event handler registered to DIALOG in certain time intervals. When the event handler is triggered by the timer, the string timer is passed to it. The __doc__-string of the timer gives information about its attributes:

print(DIALOG.timer.__doc__)
# output:
# Timer
#
# Attributes:
# enabled (boolean) - timer enabled
# interval (integer) - timer interval [ms]

💡 Please note that the timer is disabled by default.

Example:

Button/Timer event handler

DIALOG=gom.script.sys.create_user_defined_dialog (content='boring dialog definition')

#
# Event handler function called if anything happens inside of the dialog
#
state = False
def dialog_event_handler (widget):
    global state
    if widget == DIALOG.start:
        DIALOG.timer.interval = DIALOG.interval.value * 1000
        DIALOG.timer.enabled = True
        DIALOG.start.enabled = False
        DIALOG.stop.enabled = True
    elif widget == DIALOG.stop:
        DIALOG.timer.enabled = False
        DIALOG.start.enabled = True
        DIALOG.stop.enabled = False
    elif widget == DIALOG.interval:
        DIALOG.timer.interval = DIALOG.interval.value * 1000
    elif widget == DIALOG.exit:
        gom.script.sys.close_user_defined_dialog (dialog=DIALOG)
    elif str(widget) == 'system':
        print("Its a system event.")
    elif str(widget) == 'timer':
        print("Its a timer event. Let´s swap the image.")
        state = not state
     
        if state:
            DIALOG.image.system_image = 'system_message_warning'
        else:
            DIALOG.image.system_image = 'system_message_question'

DIALOG.handler = dialog_event_handler
DIALOG.stop.enabled = False
RESULT=gom.script.sys.show_user_defined_dialog (dialog=DIALOG)

The complete code of the example can be found here: timer.py.

Determining the existing widget attributes

• Because Python is a very dynamic language, the type of a variable or attribute can not be determined statically.

• Instead, it is possible to query the variable dynamically during runtime.

• The more commonly used widget attributes are documented in the section Specific widgets above.

💡 Most objects support the attribute __doc__ which prints the available object documentation to the console.

Print object documentation

#
# Query __doc__ attribute of a button widget
#
print (DIALOG.my_button.__doc__)
# output:
# Handle for a widget called 'my_button' of type 'Button' (button::pushbutton)
#
# Attributes:
# name             (string)              - Name of the widget. The name can be used to access the widget via a dialog handle.
# tooltip          (string)              - Tooltip of the widget. If empty, no tooltip is displayed.
# enabled          (boolean)             - Enabled state of the widget. Default is 'enabled', set to false for disabling it.
# value            (unspecified/various) - The current value of the widget. Type depends on the widget type and can be 'none' for empty widgets.
# attributes       (map)                 - Map of all accessable widget attributes together with their current values.
# focus            (boolean)             - Focus state of the widget. Can be used to set an explicit widget focus.
# text             (string)              - Text of the button
# type             (string)              - Button type ('push', 'toggle')
# icon             (Tom::Parse::Binary)  - Icon of the button
# icon_file_name   (string)              - Source file name of the icon
# icon_size        (string)              - Icon size mode (icon, full)
# icon_type        (string)              - Icon type (none, system, file)
# icon_system_type (string)              - System icon type (ok, cancel, arrow_up, arrow_down, arrow_left, arrow_right)
# icon_system_size (string)              - System icon size (default, large, extra_large)

Wizards

• Control widgets

• Wizards are dialogs with < Back and Next > buttons at the lower dialog edge.

• The script programmer is responsible for adding functionality to this layout.

• Wizards are not very versatile, but modifying the displayed texts and images is easily possible.

⚠️ It is not possible to exchange widgets from within a dialog after the dialog has been created!

Therefore Wizards only have simple options like exchange of images and texts in those containing elements.

Control widgets

The operational elements in a control widget from a wizard do act like those in regular dialogs und can be accessed via handles as well:

Wizard example

#
# Create dialog with wizard control panel
#
DIALOG=gom.script.sys.create_user_defined_dialog (content='boring dialog definition')
#
# Handler function to be registered to the dialog
#
def func (widget):
    #
    # Handle clicks onto the 'prev' button
    #
    if widget == DIALOG.control.prev:
        # Here you would write code to display the content of the previous wizard 'page'
        
        #
        # Handle clicks onto the 'next' button
        #
        print("Prev button was clicked.")
    elif widget == DIALOG.control.next:
        # Here you would write code to display the content of the next wizard 'page'
        
        #
        # Update dialog button enabled state and register handler function
        #
        print("Next button was clicked.")

DIALOG.handler = func

#
# Execute wizard dialog
#
RESULT=gom.script.sys.show_user_defined_dialog (dialog=DIALOG)

Creating wizard dialogs shows some ways to manage wizard dialogs in greater detail.