Dialog Editor

Last update: April 17, 2024

CREATED FOR:

  • Developer

The dialog editor provides a graphical interface for easily creating and editing dialog boxes and scaffolds.

To see how it works, go to CRXDE Lite, open the explorer tree to /libs/foundation/components/chart and double-clicking the node dialog:

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The dialog node opens in the dialog editor:

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User Interface Overview

The dialog editor interface is composed of four panes:

  • The palette, in the upper-left corner. This pane holds the widgets available for building a dialog box, such as tab panels, text fields, selection lists, and buttons. You can expand the different categories within the palette by clicking the desired divider bar.
  • The structure pane, in the lower-left corner. This pane shows the hierarchical structure of nodes that makes up the dialog definition. You can see the same structure by expanding the dialog node in either CRXDE Lite or CRX Content Explorer.
  • The render pane, in the center of the window. This pane shows how the dialog definition defined in the structure pane is rendered as an actual dialog box.
  • The properties pane. This pane shows the properties of the node highlighted in the structure pane.

Using the Dialog Editor

To build a dialog box, the user drags and drops elements from the palette to the structure pane into position within the dialog definition hierarchy.

Once the desired structure is completed, the user clicks Save, at the top of the render pane.

CAUTION
The dialog editor is for creating simple dialogs. It may not be able to edit more complex dialog definitions. In cases where the dialog editor does not allow the editing of a dialog structure, the dialog definition must be created, or edited, or both, manually. You do so by directly editing the node structure using CRXDE Lite or CRX Content Explorer, for example.

Creating a New Dialog

To create a dialog box, select the required component, click Create… and then Create Dialog….

Enter the required details then click Save All - now you can double-click the dialog so it opens with the editor.

Using the Dialog Editor for Scaffolds

A scaffold is a special page containing a form that can be filled in and submitted in one step. This lets you rapidly create a page using the content entered.

The form that makes up a scaffold is defined by a dialog definition, just like a normal dialog, though it appears on the scaffolding page in a different form. Because dialog definitions are used to define scaffolds, scaffolds can be designed using the dialog editor. When using the dialog editor in this fashion, the render pane still displays the dialog definition in the form of a dialog box not as a scaffold.

See Scaffolding for more information on using the dialog editor to create scaffolds.

Experience Manager