The HotDocs Computation Archive

0114 - Warning Dialog

Description:

Creates a warning dialog that will allow the user to either go back and change an answer or to proceed.

• Code •

(Warning Dialog Script)

SET WarningDialogText-t TO WarningDialogText-t
// This makes the text uneditable, so that the user can't change anything.
 
 
(Computation)

""
SET Mistake-b TO UNANSWERED
ASK Dialog

IF Variable = "Some bad value"
   SET Warning-t TO "Your answer was: «Variable». This is not recommended.\r\r-\To-t keep this answer, click NEXT\r-\To-t change your answer, please select MISTAKE"
   ASK WarningDialog
END IF

IF Mistake-b
   ThisComputation   // Substitute with the name of this computation
END IF
 
 
Example:

SET WarningDialogMistake-b TO UNANSWERED
SET MainDialogSubTotal-n TO UNANSWERED
ASK MainDialog
SET MainDialogSubTotal-n TO SUM( Loan-n )

IF MainDialogSubTotal-n != LoanAmount-n
   SET WarningDialogText-t TO "The sum of loans entered was «MainDialogSubTotal-n». However, the total amount of your loan was «LoanAmount-n». If this is correct please hit NEXT. If this is a mistake please select MISTAKE."
   ASK WarningDialog
   IF WarningDialogMistake-b
      ThisComputation   // Substitute with the name of this computation
   END IF
END IF

• Explanation •

This is similar to Computation #0017: Message Box. Its purpose is to warn the user when one of their answers is problematic. The user is then given the option of going back and changing their answer, or keeping their answer and proceeding.

Requires:

• WarningDialog - A dialog box containg two variables, WarningDialogText-t and WarningDialogMistake-b. The dialog also needs the script provided above.
• WarningDialogText-t - This variable contains the warning message. Be sure to allow it plenty of lines (at least five). Also, you may want to use "@" as the variable's prompt (without quotation marks). This will cause the prompt to be suppressed so that the only thing that displays on the dialog is the text of WarningDialogText-t.
• WarningDialogMistake-b - Clicking on this variable on the WarningDialog will allow the user to go back and change their answer.

Example. The example provided creates a warning for a repeated dialog. The dialog is used to gather loan amounts. When the user hits Finish, the warning dialog will appear if conditions are met to trigger a warning.

It is set up as follows:

1. The user enters the total loan amount beforehand.
2. If the amounts entered in the repeating dialog do not equal the total loan amount, the warning is triggered. (These two numbers are usually equal, but not always).
3. From the warning dialog, the user may select Mistake and be returned to the repeating dialog so that they can make corrections. Or they may hit Next or Finish to ignore the error and continue with assembly.

Some of the variables are initially set to UNANSWERED so that everything is reset prior to the computation. It is especially important for MainDialogSubTotal-n to not have a value when the main dialog is asked. That is why the ASK command is before the "SET MainDialogSubTotal-n..." command. As a result, "SET MainDialogSubTotal-n..." uses the results from the "ASK..." command. Make sure that definitions like that are always after the ASK so that they are based on the previous results.

The ASK works well. A REPEAT isn't necessary, and might create havoc (I found it troublesome, in fact).

The "IF MainDialogSubTotal-n != PreviousNumberEntered-n" is the condition that determines whether or not the warning dialog should be triggered and sets it correctly.

If the user selects Mistake, the computation will call itself. This repeats the whole process.

If you would like to make the warning text more dynamic and complex, see Computation #0017: Message Box. This one uses only dynamic numbers.

• Contributors •