Windows.XP.in.a.Nutshell.1002005.2Ed [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

2.7. Common Controls

Many application and system
windows use a common set of controls in
addition to the ubiquitous titlebar, menubar, system menu, and
scrollbars. This section describes a few of these common controls.

Figure 2-5 shows some of the
common controls in
Control Panel
Display
Screen Saver and the
additional dialog box that pops up from its Settings button.

Figure 2-5. Common controls in Windows applications and dialogs

Some of these controls include:

(1) Tabbed dialogs

Settings may be grouped into separate tabbed dialog pages. For
example, see Control Panel
System or Control Panel
Display. Click on any tab
to bring that page to the front.

(2) Radio buttons

Radio buttons are used for mutually exclusive
settings. Clicking on one causes any other that has been pressed to
pop up, just like on an old car radio. The button with the dot in the
middle is the one that has been selected. Sometimes
you'll see more than one group of buttons, with a
separate outline around each group. In this case, you can select one
radio button from each group.

(3) Drop-down lists

Any time you see a downward-pointing arrow next to a text field,
click on the arrow to drop down a list of other values. Often, a
drop-down list contains a history of previous entries
you've made into a text entry field. Pressing the
first letter will often jump to that place in the list, as long as
the list has the focus. The down arrow (or F4) will also drop down
the currently selected list. The arrow keys will scroll through the
stored entries, even if the list is not already dropped down.
Microsoft sometimes calls these lists "Look In
Lists." For an example, see Start
Find Files or Folders
Name & Location.

(4) Checkboxes

Checkboxes are
generally used for on/off settings. A checkmark means the setting is
on; an empty box means it's off. Click on the box to
turn the labeled setting on or off.

(5) Grayed-out (inactive) controls

Any control like this one that is
grayed
out is disabled because the underlying operation is not currently
available. In the dialog box shown in Figure 2-5,
the currently selected screensaver doesn't have any
applicable settings, so the Settings button is disabled.

(6) OK, Cancel, Apply

Most dialogs will have at least an OK
and a Cancel button. Some also have Apply. The difference is that OK
accepts the settings and quits the dialog and Apply accepts the
changes, but doesn't quit. (This is useful in a
dialog with multiple tabs, so that you can apply changes before
moving to the next tab.) Cancel quits without making any changes. If
you click Cancel after clicking Apply, your changes will probably
already have been applied and will not revert to their original
settings. But don't be surprised if some
applications respond differently. Microsoft has never been clear with
application developers about the expected behavior of these buttons.

(7) Counters

You can either
select the number and type in a new value or click on the up or down
arrow to increase or decrease the value.

(8) The default button

When a set of buttons is displayed, the
default button (the one that will be activated by pressing the
Enter key) has a bold border around
it. The button or other area in the dialog box that has the
additional dashed outline has the focus. You can move the focus by
clicking with the mouse, typing the underlined accelerator character
in a button or field label, or pressing the Tab or arrow keys.

In some dialog boxes, the default
button (the button the Enter key presses) is
hardcodedit will always be the same, as
shown in Figure 2-6.

Figure 2-6. A tab containing a hardcoded default button

In others, the default button follows the focus from button to
button, as in Figure 2-7. For example, right-click
on the Taskbar and select Properties. The Taskbar Options tab has the
OK button hardcoded as the default. Note that the bold border will
stay on this button even when you move the focus among the
checkboxes. The Start Menu Programs tab does not have a hardcoded
default button. As you move the focus between buttons, the default
button highlight moves with it. Regardless of which button is the
default, pressing Esc always has the same effect as clicking the
Cancel button: it cancels the dialog box.

Figure 2-7. A tab without a hardcoded default button

For more information on these various UI features, see
Chapter 3.