Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!mailrus!ames!sgi!shinobu!odin!modernlvr!bc
From: bc@modernlvr.sgi.com (Bill Coderre)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: When to use a _real_ moda
Message-ID: <5470@odin.SGI.COM>
Date: 20 Mar 90 14:00:32 GMT
References: <31.25FE3449@imagery.FIDONET.ORG>
Sender: news@odin.SGI.COM
Reply-To: bc%modernlvr.wpd@sgi.com (Bill Coderre)
Organization: Guest of SGI TechPubs
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Jim.Spencer@p5.f22.n282.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Jim Spencer) writes:
|You use type (b) Modal dialogs all the time.  For a couple of trivial
|examples, take a look at your page setup and print dialogs in any
|application.  

Tying this to an earlier thread begs an interesting question.

We were told, ala "Don't Abuse the Managers," that the limit for
ModalDialogs was about 20 items. We were then told that dialogs with
more than 8 items were bad, and then that dialogs with too many items
cause strange bugs (only hinted at).

Well, I count 13 items (plus many more static text labels) in the Page
Setup box, and about the same for Print. (Obviously, the static text
items don't really count since they could be done with a PICT.) Page
Setup also provides live icons and clever graphics (Mr Dogcow), all of
which have been suggested as "Bad" to use For Compatibility Reasons.


On another topic, let me point out how irksome it is to have to have
four programming strategies to handle dialogs, and how repugnant I
find it to have to do bizarre special casing in one's event loop to
handle such simple concepts as modeless dialogs.

Now that Apple HIG has come up with a swank Movable Modal, it too
requires event loop chicanery, and different chicanery at that.


bill coderre,
fledgling consultant

Please note that I am not employed by SGI. Or, for the conceptually
impaired, "My girlfriend works for SGI and all I got was this stinkin'
login."