Identifying Dialog Box Elements
Dialog boxes appear when Windows XP needs information from you to execute a command. In a word processing program, for example, a dialog box appears when you choose the Print command. To print a document, you use the dialog box to specify which printer to use, which pages to print, and how many copies to print. In some dialog boxes, default choices are already filled in for you and you simply need to confirm these selections.
Parts of typical dialog boxes are shown in Figure M2-16 and Figure M2-17. Windows XP dialog boxes incorporate easy-to-use features that allow you to select the options you want to use. The parts of a dialog box and their uses are described in Table M2-5.
Figure M2-16: A Typical Dialog Box
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Figure M2-17: Dialog Box Elements
Element |
Description |
OK button |
Click to close the dialog box and accept the changes you made. |
Cancel button |
Click to close the dialog box, ignoring any changes you made. |
Apply button |
Click to accept the changes you made and leave the dialog box open. |
Tab |
Click to choose different pages of a dialog box. |
Option buttons |
Click the desired button to select an option. Only one option button in a given area can be selected at a time. |
Check boxes |
Click the desired box to select an option. Click again to deselect the option. More than one check box in a given area can be selected at a time. |
Combo box |
Type the desired information into this box, or click the arrow to the right to display a drop-down list, and then click the desired option from the list. |
Drop-down list box |
Click the arrow to the right to display a drop-down list, and then click the desired option from the list. |
Text box |
Type the desired information into this box. |
Spin box |
Click the up or down arrow to the right of the box to increase or decrease the value in the box. |
Table M2-5: Dialog Box Elements Described