Accessing a dialog from the frame hierarchy

Hi everyone,

I posted a similar question a few months back, but now I'm
more or less
running around the same problem. I've done some extra
research, so I
hope someone will be able to help.

I want to create and show a non-modal dialog from one macro
(I'm using
Python) and once it's open I want to access and modify its
controls from
another macro. I haven't found a way to store a global
reference to the
dialog window, so I'm trying to access it through the frame
hierarchy.
It's almost there, but I'm finally stuck.

First I create and display the dialog in one macro -- pretty
standard
stuff except that I pass the current frame's container
window as the peer:

smgr = XSCRIPTCONTEXT.getComponentContext().ServiceManager
ctx = XSCRIPTCONTEXT.getComponentContext()
dialogModel = smgr.createInstanceWithContext(
             
"com.sun.star.awt.UnoControlDialogModel", ctx)
dialogModel.Title = "FooBar"
controlContainer = smgr.createInstanceWithContext(
                  
"com.sun.star.awt.UnoControlDialog", ctx)
controlContainer.setModel(dialogModel)
toolkit = smgr.createInstanceWithContext(
          "com.sun.star.awt.Toolkit", ctx)
containerWin =
XSCRIPTCONTEXT.getDocument().getCurrentController()
               .getFrame().getContainerWindow()
controlContainer.createPeer(toolkit, containerWin)
controlContainer.setVisible(True)

Now the dialog is displayed (non-modally, because I used
setVisible()
instead of execute()), I want to access it via the frame
hierarchy from
another macro. Using through the same frame's toolkit and
going through
its TopWindows, in a separate macro I've managed to get hold
of what
seems to be the dialog's container window (it's the only one
with a
Title, and it's the same Title as for my dialog):

tk =
XSCRIPTCONTEXT.getDocument().getCurrentController().getFrame
()
     .getContainerWindow().getToolkit()
for i in range(0, tk.getTopWindowCount()):
    currWin = tk.getTopWindow(i)
    if "Title" in dir(currWin) and currWin.Title
== "FooBar":
        dialogRef = currWin
        break

(For non-Python speakers, dir() returns a sequence of
available
attributes). Now dialogRef is an XTopWindow and XDialog, and
a call to
its getWindows() shows an XWindow and XButton (presumably
the dialog
window and default close button). However, I can't find a
way of getting
the dialog model from dialogRef nor its inner XWindow, which
is what I
really need.

So my question: is it at all possible to achieve what I'm
doing, i.e.
access the controls of an open dialog window through the
frame
hierarchy? If so, am I going the right way? And if not, what
could I do
to get a similar effect (maybe abandon dialogs and create a
window some
other way)? For my original question, Mathias Bauer
suggested
implementing a singleton UNO service for the dialog, but I
was hoping
for some simpler way. I'm basically trying to create a
glossary window
for my app, acting something like the OOo Stylist
(non-modal,
always-on-top) and fully accessible to macros from the API.

Bit long for a question, but it seems to me a useful problem
to resolve.
Hope someone can help me out here.

Thanks in advance,

Zbigniew Banach

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Alle 12:27, mercoledì 10 ottobre 2007, Zbigniew Banach ha
scritto:
> Hi everyone,
>
> I posted a similar question a few months back, but now
I'm more or less
> running around the same problem. I've done some extra
research, so I
> hope someone will be able to help.
>
> I want to create and show a non-modal dialog from one
macro (I'm using
> Python) and once it's open I want to access and modify
its controls from
> another macro. I haven't found a way to store a global
reference to the
> dialog window, so I'm trying to access it through the
frame hierarchy.
> It's almost there, but I'm finally stuck.
>
> First I create and display the dialog in one macro --
pretty standard
> stuff except that I pass the current frame's container
window as the peer:
>
> smgr =
XSCRIPTCONTEXT.getComponentContext().ServiceManager
> ctx = XSCRIPTCONTEXT.getComponentContext()
> dialogModel = smgr.createInstanceWithContext(
>              
"com.sun.star.awt.UnoControlDialogModel", ctx)
> dialogModel.Title = "FooBar"
> controlContainer = smgr.createInstanceWithContext(
>                   
"com.sun.star.awt.UnoControlDialog", ctx)
> controlContainer.setModel(dialogModel)
> toolkit = smgr.createInstanceWithContext(
>           "com.sun.star.awt.Toolkit", ctx)
> containerWin =
XSCRIPTCONTEXT.getDocument().getCurrentController()
>                .getFrame().getContainerWindow()
> controlContainer.createPeer(toolkit, containerWin)
> controlContainer.setVisible(True)

This is the old way, when men were men and created their own
AWT-Windows 
Apart from jokes, is there any reasons for not using the
(relatively) new 
css.awt.DialogProvider ?
In this way you could design the dialog in the Starbasic IDE
and then recall 
it from anywhere.


>
> Now the dialog is displayed (non-modally, because I
used setVisible()
> instead of execute()), I want to access it via the
frame hierarchy from
> another macro. Using through the same frame's toolkit
and going through
> its TopWindows, in a separate macro I've managed to get
hold of what
> seems to be the dialog's container window (it's the
only one with a
> Title, and it's the same Title as for my dialog):
>
> tk =
XSCRIPTCONTEXT.getDocument().getCurrentController().getFrame
()
>      .getContainerWindow().getToolkit()
> for i in range(0, tk.getTopWindowCount()):
>     currWin = tk.getTopWindow(i)
>     if "Title" in dir(currWin) and
currWin.Title == "FooBar":
>         dialogRef = currWin
>         break
>
> (For non-Python speakers, dir() returns a sequence of
available
> attributes). Now dialogRef is an XTopWindow and
XDialog, and a call to
> its getWindows() shows an XWindow and XButton
(presumably the dialog
> window and default close button). However, I can't find
a way of getting
> the dialog model from dialogRef nor its inner XWindow,
which is what I
> really need.
>
> So my question: is it at all possible to achieve what
I'm doing, i.e.
> access the controls of an open dialog window through
the frame
> hierarchy? If so, am I going the right way? 

Perhaps I can propose an idea for a workaround, see below:

(Basic example - adapt to your context)
----------------------------------------------------
oDlg = CreateUnoDialog(DialogLibraries.Standard.Dialog1)
oFrame =
CreateUnoService("com.sun.star.frame.Frame")

'initialize the frame with a parent window
oFrame.initialize(StarDesktop.ActiveFrame.ContainerWindow)

'set the dialog as component (with no controller)
oFrame.setComponent(oDlg, Null)

'insert the new frame in desktop hierarchy
oFrame.Name = "MyOwnFrame" 'use an unique name
StarDesktop.Frames.append(oFrame)

'restore the pos&size of the dialog
With oDlg.Model
	.PositionX = 130
	.PositionY = 60
	.Width = 130
	.Height = 130
End With

'show the dialog
oDlg.execute
----------------------------------------------------


As you can see, the dialog is now attached to a frame that
belongs to the 
frames hierarchy.
In this way you can access to your dialog from anywhere in
(more or less) this 
way:

(Basic example - adapt to your context)
----------------------------------------------------
oMyFrame = StarDesktop.findFrame("MyOwnFrame", _
 com.sun.star.frame.FrameSearchFlag.GLOBAL)
oDialog = oMyFrame.ComponentWindow
----------------------------------------------------

Obviously, in the real world you should check if the result
of the findFrame 
method is not null before to access to its members


> And if not, what could I do 
> to get a similar effect (maybe abandon dialogs and
create a window some
> other way)? 

Of course you can use a TopWindow instead of an UnoDialog
this would give you 
more flexibility but at the cost of some more code lines,
especially for the 
UnoControls management


> For my original question, Mathias Bauer suggested 
> implementing a singleton UNO service for the dialog,
> but I was hoping 
> for some simpler way. I'm basically trying to create a
glossary window
> for my app, acting something like the OOo Stylist
(non-modal,
> always-on-top) and fully accessible to macros from the
API.
>
> Bit long for a question, but it seems to me a useful
problem to resolve.
> Hope someone can help me out here.

regards
Paolo Mantovani

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