Use a Dialog Box, Sheet, or Window

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Dialog boxes present choices to enable you to take actions. A dialog box uses a common set of features called controls to accomplish its purpose. For example, a typical Print dialog box (see Figure 1-6) presents choices such as the various printers available, the range of pages to print, and how many copies to print.

Figure 1-6: A typical Print dialog box enables you to make choices and take actions. This dialog box uses many of the standard controls.

Unlike some other operating systems (such as Windows), Mac OS X doesn’t draw a very distinct line between dialog boxes and small windows. As you work with Mac OS X, you’ll find that many features use windows not only to present information but also to allow you to make configuration choices. There are two main differences between a dialog box and a window in this type of usage:

• You can leave the window displayed and return to the application to continue work. (By contrast, you usually must close a dialog box before you can return to the application that displayed it.)

• Most windows of this type are for setting preferences or choosing configurations rather than executing a command. You close a window by clicking its close button (the red button in its title bar) rather than by clicking a command button.

Figure 1-7 shows the General sheet of the Preferences window for Safari, Mac OS X’s default web browser.

Figure 1-7: Mac OS X uses smaller windows in a similar way to dialog boxes, particularly for setting preferences..

A sheet is a special type of dialog box that’s attached to a particular document rather than floating free on the screen. A sheet prevents you from working further in that document until you close it, but you can work in other documents in the same application. Most sheets don’t have a title bar and remain attached to their documents, but otherwise they behave like dialog boxes. For simplicity, this book refers to this type of sheet as “dialog box” after this chapter, to distinguish it from the other type of sheet: one of the major sets of controls in a dialog box or window.

Figure 1-8 shows an example of a Save sheet for a workbook file in Microsoft Excel.

Figure 1-8: shows an example of a Save sheet for a workbook file in Microsoft Excel.

The common controls in dialog boxes, windows, and sheets are used in these ways:

• The title bar usually contains the name of the dialog box or window and is used to drag the dialog box or window around the desktop. On Mac OS X, some dialog boxes and windows do not have names—instead, they simply have a title bar. Most sheets don’t have a title bar.

• Tab buttons let you select from among several sheets or tabs in a dialog box.

• A drop-down list box opens a list from which you can choose one item that will be displayed when the list is closed.

• A list box lets you select one or more items from a list; it may include a scroll bar if the list contains many items.

• Option buttons, also called radio buttons, let you select one among mutually exclusive options.

• A text box lets you enter and edit text.

• Command buttons perform functions such as closing the dialog box and accepting the changes (the OK button) or closing the dialog box and ignoring the changes (the Cancel button).

• A spinner lets you select from a sequential series of numbers.

• A slider lets you select from several values.

• Check boxes let you turn features on or off.

• The Help button displays the Help Viewer and makes it show a topic appropriate to the dialog box.

Tip

Instead of using the mouse to click a command button in a dialog box or sheet, you can sometimes “click” it from the keyboard. Press return to click the default button—the button that has the blue highlight. Press esc to click the Cancel button. In a dialog box that provides only Yes, No, and Cancel buttons, press y to click Yes, n to click No, or c to click Cancel.

You will have many opportunities to use dialog boxes, windows, and sheets. For the most part, you can try the controls in these interface elements and see what happens. If you don’t like the outcome, you can return and change the setting back to what it was before you changed it.

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