suggestions for improved MessageBox on Photon

a suggestion for the MSFT Mobile shell team:

it would be nice to provide an improved/extended version of MessageBox -
let's call it MessageBoxEx - with at least the following feature:

- two additionnal optional parameter to customise the soft-keys strings

if those parameters are NULL, the default strings are used (i.e. same as the
current MessageBox).

if one or both of those parameters are not NULL, they are pointer to strings
used for the left and right soft-keys, and overwrite the default.

optionally it could be nice to specify command-id's to overwrite the
defaults, but that's not necessary, since MessageBox is a modal dialog.

this extension would allow using the same internal features as MessageBox
(i.e. Alerts sound & icons, etc), while changing the soft-key text to
something custom, more appropriate than the default limited set of choices
such as Ok/Cancel , Yes/No etc.

Choices such as Now/Later, "Cancel/I Agree" (e.g. for a licencing
agreement), etc would be possible.

what do you think?

also, naturally, MessageBox needs to be fixed on Pocket PC, since it is
seriously broken especially when Pocket PC's are used in Landscape
orientation. in case you missed it, here is a recap of the problems:

On Pocket PC WM5, soft-keys cannot be used to answer the question from a
MessageBox (or to close it).

On Pocket PC WM5 and 2003 Second Edition, when in Landscape orientation,
MessageBox does not use the full width of the display, so you messages
usually get truncated, and in some cases the buttons get truncated or
totally hidden. The only workaround is to reduce the size of your messages,
which may be a problem with localized applications. MsgBox can use the full
width of the display in Landscape orientation, so you can see longer
messages. This is especially useful in applications localized in other
languages.

On Pocket PC, MessageBox just truncates the text if it is too long to be
entirely displayed (not the case on Smartphone). Sometimes, MessageBox even
displays the buttons outside of the screen, making the dialog completely
un-usable. MsgBox makes text scrollable if text is too long to be entirely
displayed (like on Smartphone). This is very useful, especially on the new
square-screen Pocket PC WM5 and 2003 Second Edition devices. A vertical
scroll-bar or the UP/DOWN D-pad buttons can be used to scroll the text when
it is scrollable.

On Pocket PC WM5 and 2003 Second Edition, MessageBox does not handle the SIP
correctly. For example, if the SIP is up, MessageBox sometimes display a
dialog with the OK/Cancel buttons hidden under the SIP. This can be very
confusing to average users, and it also violates MSFT's own guidelines for
Logo-certified applications. MsgBox handles the SIP correctly, and it
automatically lowers the SIP when it activates.

Majerus
Mon Mar 13 09:21:39 CST 2006


> - two additionnal optional parameter to customise the soft-keys strings
>
> if those parameters are NULL, the default strings are used (i.e. same as
> the current MessageBox).
>
> if one or both of those parameters are not NULL, they are pointer to
> strings used for the left and right soft-keys, and overwrite the default.

I would use an array of strings to be able to provide more than 2 choices,
the standard 1st on left softkey, others in a menu on right softkey if there
are more than 2. This could support any number of choices and follow the
standard GUI.
The return value could simply be the index of the choice in that array.

I would also make dialogs fullscreen, or add a bool to get them fullscreen
if needed, everything seems fullscreen except dialogs, and it would be less
confusing when their answers are in the bottom bar.

--
Philippe Majerus

The
Thu Mar 16 04:45:33 CST 2006

yes, i would definitely support all that!

although more than two choices would require using a menu with the right
Soft-Key, and therefore involve a string for the menu itself... so
mersonally I think two choices may be enough.

People get confused when ther have to make choices between more than two
answers :)


"Philippe Majerus" <Use: http://www.phm.lu/?action=email> wrote in message
news:eFIvUHrRGHA.4264@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...
>
>> - two additionnal optional parameter to customise the soft-keys strings
>>
>> if those parameters are NULL, the default strings are used (i.e. same as
>> the current MessageBox).
>>
>> if one or both of those parameters are not NULL, they are pointer to
>> strings used for the left and right soft-keys, and overwrite the default.
>
> I would use an array of strings to be able to provide more than 2 choices,
> the standard 1st on left softkey, others in a menu on right softkey if
> there are more than 2. This could support any number of choices and follow
> the standard GUI.
> The return value could simply be the index of the choice in that array.
>
> I would also make dialogs fullscreen, or add a bool to get them fullscreen
> if needed, everything seems fullscreen except dialogs, and it would be
> less confusing when their answers are in the bottom bar.
>
> --
> Philippe Majerus
>
>

tamberg
Fri Mar 17 07:35:56 CST 2006

A minimal (platform independent) solution could make the system's
bitmaps accessible in a way similar to System.Drawing.SystemColors.

Majerus
Sat Mar 18 07:22:53 CST 2006

> although more than two choices would require using a menu with the right
> Soft-Key, and therefore involve a string for the menu itself... (...)

The string for the menu should always be the localized "Menu" string, the
dialog manager can take care of that for us.

> People get confused when ther have to make choices between more than two
> answers :)

I think it depends, closing a game could ask you if you want to "Abort game
and quit", "Keep game and quit", or "Cancel and return to game".
Having explicit buttons is much better than the typical "Do you want to quit
now? Tap abort to abort game and quit, tap ok to keep game and quit, or tap
cancel to return to game. [abort] [ok] [cancel]".
Look at Vista's dialogs for more "explicit buttons" samples.

--
Philippe Majerus
Software, Documentation and stuff - http://www.phm.lu