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# SFDialogs.DialogControl service

The DialogControl service manages the controls belonging to a dialog defined with the Basic Dialog Editor. Each instance of the current service represents a single control within a dialog box.

The focus is set on getting and setting the values displayed by the controls of the dialog box. Formatting is accessible via the XControlModel and XControlView properties.

Note that the unique DialogControl.Value property content varies according to the control type.

A special attention is given to controls of type tree control. It is easy to populate a tree, either branch by branch, or with a set of branches at once. Populating a tree control can be performed statically or dynamically.

The SFDialogs.DialogControl service is closely related to the SFDialogs.Dialog service.

## Service invocation

The DialogControl service is invoked from an existing Dialog service instance through its Controls() method. The dialog must be initiated with the SFDialogs.Dialog service.

          Dim myDialog As Object, myControl As Object
          Set myDialog = CreateScriptService("SFDialogs.Dialog", "GlobalScope", myLibrary, DialogName)
          Set myControl = myDialog.Controls("myTextBox")
          myControl.Value = "Dialog started at " & Now()
          myDialog.Execute()
          ' ... process the controls actual values
          myDialog.Terminate()

         from time import localtime, strftime
         dlg = CreateScriptService('SFDialogs.Dialog', 'GlobalScope', lib_name, dlg_name)
         text = dlg.Controls('myTextBox')
         text.Value = "Dialog started at " + strftime("%a, %d %b %Y %H:%M:%S", localtime())
         dlg.Execute()
         # ... process the controls actual values
         dlg.Terminate()

Alternatively a control instance can be retrieved via the SFDialogs.DialogEvent service, providing the dialog was initiated with the Dialog service. DialogEvent returns the SFDialogs.DialogControl class instance that triggered the event.

          Sub SomeEvent(ByRef poEvent As Object)
              Dim oControl As Object
              Set oControl = CreateScriptService("SFDialogs.DialogEvent", poEvent)
              ' ...
          End Sub

         def some_event(event: uno):
             ctrl = CreateScriptService('SFDialogs.DialogEvent', event)
             # ...

Note that in previous examples, the prefix "SFDialogs." may be omitted.

## Control types

The DialogControl service is available for these control types:

- Button

- CheckBox

- ComboBox

- CurrencyField

- DateField

- FileControl

- FixedLine

- FixedText

- FormattedField

- GroupBox

- ImageControl

- ListBox

- NumericField

- PatternField

- ProgressBar

- RadioButton

- ScrollBar

- TextField

- TimeField

- TreeControl

  This control is available from LibreOffice 7.2 onwards.

## Properties

Name | ReadOnly | Type | Applicable to | Description
Cancel | No | Boolean | Button | Specifies if a command button has or not the behaviour of a Cancel button.
Caption | No | String | Button, CheckBox, FixedLine, FixedText, GroupBox, RadioButton | Specifies the text associated with the control.
ControlType | Yes | String | All | One of the types listed above.
CurrentNode | No | UNO object | TreeControl | The currently upmost node selected in the tree control. Refer to XmutableTreeNode in Application Programming Interface (API) documentation for detailed information. This property is available from LibreOffice 7.2 onwards.
Default | No | Boolean | Button | Specifies whether a command button is the default (OK) button.
Enabled | No | Boolean | All | Specifies if the control is accessible with the cursor.
Format | No | String | DateField, TimeField, FormattedField (read-only) | Specifies the format used to display dates and times. It must be one these strings: For dates: "Standard (short)", "Standard (short YY)", "Standard (short YYYY)", "Standard (long)", "DD/MM/YY", "MM/DD/YY", "YY/MM/DD", "DD/MM/YYYY", "MM/DD/YYYY" , "YYYY/MM/DD", "YY-MM-DD", "YYYY-MM-DD". For times: "24h short", "24h long", "12h short", "12h long".
ListCount | Yes | Long | ComboBox, ListBox | Specifies the number of rows in a list box or a combo box.
ListIndex | No | Long | ComboBox, ListBox | Specifies which item is selected in a list box or combo box.
Locked | No | Boolean | ComboBox, CurrencyField, DateField, FileControl, FormattedField, ListBox, NumericField, PatternField, TextField, TimeField | Specifies if the control is read-only.
MultiSelect | No | Boolean | ListBox | Specifies whether a user can make multiple selections in a listbox.
Name | Yes | String | All | The name of the control.
Page | No | Integer | All | A dialog may have several pages that can be traversed by the user step by step. The Page property of the Dialog object defines which page of the dialog is active. The Page property of a control defines the page of the dialog on which the control is visible.
Parent | Yes | Dialog service | All | The parent SFDialogs.Dialog class object instance.
Picture | No | String | Button, ImageControl | Specifies the file name containing a bitmap or other type of graphic to be displayed on the specified control. The filename must comply with the FileNaming attribute of the ScriptForge.FileSystem service.
RootNode | Yes | UNO object | TreeControl | An object representing the lowest root node (usually there is only one such root node). Refer to XmutableTreeNode in Application Programming Interface (API) documentation for detailed information. This property is available from LibreOffice 7.2 onwards.
RowSource | No | Array of strings | ComboBox, ListBox | Specifies the data contained in a combobox or a listbox.
Text | Yes | String | ComboBox, FileControl, FormattedField, PatternField, TextField | Gives access to the text being displayed by the control.
TipText | No | String | All | Specifies the text that appears as a tooltip when you hold the mouse pointer over the control.
TripleState | No | Boolean | CheckBox | Specifies if the checkbox control may appear dimmed (grayed) or not.
Value | No | Variant |  | Refer to Value property
Visible | No | Boolean | All | Specifies if the control is hidden or visible.
XControlModel | Yes | UNO object | All | The UNO object representing the control model. Refer to XControlModel and UnoControlDialogModel in Application Programming Interface (API) documentation for detailed information.
XControlView | Yes | UNO object | All | The UNO object representing the control view. Refer to XControl and UnoControlDialog in Application Programming Interface (API) documentation for detailed information.
XTreeDataModel | Yes | UNO object | TreeControl | The UNO object representing the tree control data model. Refer to XMutableTreeDataModel in Application Programming Interface (API) documentation for detailed information. This property is available from LibreOffice 7.2 onwards.

## The Value property

Control type | Type | Description
Button | Boolean | For toggle buttons only
CheckBox | Boolean or Integer | 0, False: not checked 1, True: checked 2: grayed, don't know
ComboBox | String | The selected value. The ListIndex property is an alternate option.
CurrencyField | Numeric |
DateField | Date |
FileControl | String | A file name formatted in accordance with the FileNaming property of the ScriptForge.FileSystem service
FormattedField | String or Numeric |
ListBox | String or array of strings | The selected row(s) as a scalar or as an array depending on the MultiSelect attribute
NumericField | Numeric |
PatternField | String |
ProgressBar | Numeric | Must be within the predefined bounds
RadioButton | Boolean | Each button has its own name. They are linked together if their TAB positions are contiguous. If a radiobutton is set to True, the other related buttons are automatically set to False
ScrollBar | Numeric | Must be within the predefined bounds
TextField | String | The text appearing in the field
TimeField | Date |

## Event properties

Returns a URI string with the reference to the script triggered by the event. Read its specification in the scripting framework URI specification.

These event properties are available from LibreOffice 7.2 onwards.

Name | ReadOnly | Description as labeled in the Basic IDE
OnActionPerformed | Yes | Execute action
OnAdjustmentValueChanged | Yes | While adjusting
OnFocusGained | Yes | When receiving focus
OnFocusLost | Yes | When losing focus
OnItemStateChanged | Yes | Item status changed
OnKeyPressed | Yes | Key pressed
OnKeyReleased | Yes | Key released
OnMouseDragged | Yes | Mouse moved while key presses
OnMouseEntered | Yes | Mouse inside
OnMouseExited | Yes | Mouse outside
OnMouseMoved | Yes | Mouse moved
OnMousePressed | Yes | Mouse button pressed
OnMouseReleased | Yes | Mouse button released
OnNodeExpanded | No | (Not in Basic IDE) when the expansion button is pressed on a node in a tree control
OnNodeSelected | No | (Not in Basic IDE) when a node in a tree control is selected
OnTextChanged | Yes | Text modified

## Methods

List of Methods in the DialogControl Service
AddSubNode AddSubTree | CreateRoot FindNode | SetFocus WriteLine

These methods are available from LibreOffice 7.2 onwards.

## AddSubNode

Create and return a new node of the tree control as a UNO object subordinate to a parent node. Refer to XMutableTreeNode in Application Programming Interface (API) documentation for detailed information.

This method may be called before displaying the dialog box to build the initial tree. It may also be called from a dialog or control event - using the OnNodeExpanded event - to complete the tree dynamically.

### Syntax:

svc.AddSubNode(parentnode: uno, displayvalue: str, opt datavalue: any): uno

### Parameters:

parentnode: A node UNO object, of type com.sun.star.awt.tree.XMutableTreeNode.

displayvalue: The text appearing in the tree control box.

datavalue: Any value associated with the new node. datavalue may be a string, a number or a date. Omit the argument when not applicable.

### Example:

LibreOffice Basic and Python examples pick up current document's myDialog dialog from Standard library.

          Dim oDlg As Object, myTree As Object, myNode As Object, theRoot As Object
          Set oDlg = CreateScriptService("Dialog",,, "myDialog")
          Set myTree = oDlg.Controls("myTreeControl")
          Set theRoot = myTree.CreateRoot("Tree top")
          Set myNode = myTree.AddSubNode(theRoot, "A branch ...")

         dlg = CreateScriptService('SFDialogs.Dialog', None, None, 'myDialog')
         tree = dlg.Controls('myTreeControl')
         root = tree.CreateRoot('Tree top')
         node = tree.AddSubNode(root, 'A branch ...')

## AddSubTree

Return True when a subtree, subordinate to a parent node, could be inserted successfully in a tree control. If the parent node had already child nodes before calling this method, the child nodes are erased.

This method may be called before displaying the dialog box to build the initial tree. It may also be called from a dialog or control event - using the OnNodeExpanded event - to complete the tree dynamically.

### Syntax:

svc.AddSubTree(parentnode: uno, flattree: any, opt withdatavalue: bool): bool

### Parameters:

parentnode: A node UNO object, of type com.sun.star.awt.tree.XMutableTreeNode.

flattree: a two dimension array sorted on the columns containing the display values. Such an array can be issued by the GetRows method applied on the SFDatabases.Database service. When an array item containing the text to be displayed is Empty or Null, no new subnode is created and the remainder of the row is skipped.

          Flat tree    >>>>    Resulting subtree
          A1	B1	C1             |__   A1
          A1	B1	C2                   |__   B1
          A1	B2	C3                         |__  C1
          A2	B3	C4                         |__  C2
          A2	B3	C5                   |__   B2
          A3	B4	C6                         |__  C3
                                 |__   A2
                                       |__   B3
                                             |__  C4
                                             |__  C5
                                 |__   A3
                                       |__   B4
                                             |__  C6

withdatavalue: When False default value is used, every column of flattree contains the text to be displayed in the tree control. When True, the texts to be displayed (displayvalue) are in columns 0, 2, 4, ... while the data values (datavalue) are in columns 1, 3, 5, ...

### Example:

          Dim myTree As Object, theRoot As Object, oDb As Object, vData As Variant
          Set myTree = myDialog.Controls("myTreeControl")
          Set theRoot = myTree.CreateRoot("By product category")
          Set oDb = CreateScriptService("SFDatabases.Database", "/home/.../mydatabase.odb")
          vData = oDb.GetRows("SELECT [Category].[Name], [Category].[ID], [Product].[Name], [Product].[ID] " _
              & "FROM [Category], [Product] WHERE [Product].[CategoryID] = [Category].[ID] " _
              & "ORDER BY [Category].[Name], [Product].[Name]")
          myTree.AddSubTree(theRoot, vData, WithDataValue := True)

         SQL_STMT = "SELECT [Category].[Name], [Category].[ID], [Product].[Name], [Product].[ID] \
             FROM [Category], [Product] WHERE [Product].[CategoryID] = [Category].[ID] \
             ORDER BY [Category].[Name], [Product].[Name]"
         tree = dlg.Controls('myTreeControl')
         root = tree.CreateRoot('By Product category')
         db = CreateScriptService('SFDatabases.Database', '/home/.../mydatabase.odb')
         sub_tree = db.GetRows(SQL_STMT)
         tree.AddSubTree(root, sub_tree, withdatavalue=True)

## CreateRoot

Returns a new root node of the tree control, as a node UNO object of type com.sun.star.awt.tree.XMutableTreeNode. The new tree root is inserted below pre-existing root nodes. Refer to XMutableTreeNode in Application Programming Interface (API) documentation for detailed information.

This method may be called before displaying the dialog box to build the initial tree. It may also be called from a dialog or control event to complete the tree dynamically.

### Syntax:

svc.CreateRoot(displayvalue: str, opt datavalue: any): uno

### Parameters:

displayvalue: The text appearing in the tree control box.

datavalue: Any value associated with the new node. datavalue may be a string, a number or a date. Omit the argument when not applicable.

### Example:

          Dim myTree As Object, myNode As Object
          Set myTree = myDialog.Controls("myTreeControl")
          Set myNode = myTree.CreateRoot("Tree starts here ...")

         tree = dlg.Controls('myTreeControl')
         node = tree.CreateRoot('Tree starts here ...')

## FindNode

Traverses the tree and finds recursively, starting from the root, a node meeting some criteria. Either - 1 match is enough - having its display value matching displayvalue pattern or having its data value equal to datavalue. The comparisons may be or not case-sensitive. The first matching occurrence is returned as a node UNO object of type com.sun.star.awt.tree.XMutableTreeNode. Refer to XMutableTreeNode in Application Programming Interface (API) documentation for detailed information.

When not found, the method returns Nothing, to be tested with the IsNull() builtin function.

This method may be called before displaying the dialog box to build the initial tree. It may also be called from a dialog or control event.

### Syntax:

svc.FindNode(displayvalue: str = '', opt datavalue: any, casesensitive = False): uno

### Parameters:

One argument out of displayvalue or datavalue must be specified. If both present, one match is sufficient to select the node.

displayvalue: The pattern to be matched. Refer to SF_String.IsLike() method for the list of possible wildcards. When equal to the zero-length string (default), this display value is not searched for.

datavalue: Any value associated with the new node. datavalue may be a string, a number or a date. Omit the argument when not applicable.

casesensitive: Default value is False

### Example:

          Dim myTree As Object, myNode As Object
          Set myTree = myDialog.Controls("myTreeControl")
          Set myNode = myTree.FindNode("*Sophie*", CaseSensitive := True)

         tree = dlg.Controls('myTreeControl')
         node = FindNode('*Sophie*', casesensitive=True)
         if node is None:
             # ...

## SetFocus

Set the focus on the control. Return True if focusing was successful.

This method is often called from a dialog or control event.

### Syntax:

svc.SetFocus(): bool

### Example:

          Dim oControl As Object
          Set oDlg = CreateScriptService("SFDialogs.Dialog",,, "myDialog")
          Set oControl = oDlg.Controls("thisControl")
          oControl.SetFocus()

          dlg = CreateScriptService('Dialog', None, None, 'myDialog')
          ctrl = dlg.Controls('thisControl')
          ctrl.SetFocus()

## WriteLine

Add a new line at the end of a multiline text field. A newline character will be inserted when appropriate. The method returns True when successful.

An error is raised if the actual control is not of the type TextField or is not multiline.

### Syntax:

svc.WriteLine(opt line: str): bool

          oControl.WriteLine([Line As String]) As Boolean

### Parameters:

Line: The string to insert. Default is an empty line.

### Example:

          Dim oDlg As Object, oControl As Object
          Set oDlg = CreateScriptService("SFDialogs.Dialog",,, "myDialog")
          Set oControl = oDlg.Controls("thisControl")
          oControl.WriteLine("a new line")

         dlg = CreateScriptService('SFDialogs.Dialog', None, None, 'myDialog')
         ctrl = dlg.Controls('thisControl')
         ctr.WriteLine("a new line")

All ScriptForge Basic routines or identifiers that are prefixed with an underscore character "_" are reserved for internal use. They are not meant be used in Basic macros.

Related Topics

SFDialogs.Dialog service

ScriptForge.String service

ScriptForge.UI service