# Detatched Dialog how to interact

**URL:** https://resource.dopus.com/t/detatched-dialog-how-to-interact/40032
**Category:** Help & Support
**Created:** [December 8, 2021, 6:01am UTC](https://resource.dopus.com/t/detatched-dialog-how-to-interact/40032 "2021-12-08T06:01:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![slouw](https://resource.dopus.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@slouw](https://resource.dopus.com/u/slouw)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2021, 6:01am UTC](https://resource.dopus.com/t/detatched-dialog-how-to-interact/40032/1 "2021-12-08T06:01:24Z")

</div>

I am like a bad smell wont go away  
Now I am trying to get something intelligent from a Detached Dialog

I see a sample code fragment [Scripting \> Example Scripts \> Script Dialog Example](https://www.gpsoft.com.au/help/opus12/index.html#!Documents/Scripting/scriptdialogexample.htm) in VB (Soooo passe OMG!) which relies on msg.control to interact. I cannot get anything presently from my mock up see below.  
First I tried using Dlg.Control which I have successfully used in a simple dialog setup see related [post](https://resource.dopus.com/t/script-dialog-simple-dialog-dlg-control-combo-box-dialoglistitem-access/40006). This does not work for me.  
Upon reading the instructions (I know I know. Desperate times) for the [Msg property](https://www.gpsoft.com.au/help/opus12/index.html#!Documents/Scripting/Msg.htm)  
I then added various .Msg methods see also below. Nothing.  
What am I doing wrong?

 ![image](https://resource.dopus.com/uploads/default/original/3X/2/d/2dc7747eeffbd71be7a19ab5034574d98b599e6e.png)

```auto
function OnClick(clickData) 
{
    DOpus.ClearOutput;
	DOpus.Output("001000 Start");
// 001000
// 001000 Start
// 001000
//
	var Dlg = DOpus.Dlg;
    Dlg.window = clickData.func.sourcetab;
    Dlg.template = "Dialog_1";
    Dlg.detach = true;
    Dlg.Show();
// 002000
// 002000 Msg Loop
// 002000
	DOpus.Output("002000 Msg Loop");
    while (true) {
        var Msg = Dlg.GetMsg();
        if (!Msg.result) break;
        DOpus.Output(" 000 Combo_Box_Alpha1 index = "& Dlg.Control("Combo_Box_Alpha1").value);
		//
        DOpus.Output(" 010 Msg Event = = " + Msg.event);
        DOpus.Output(" 020 Msg.Control = " & Msg.Control);
        DOpus.Output(" 030 Msg.Dialog = " & Msg.Dialog);
        DOpus.Output(" 040 Msg.Index = " & Msg.Index);
    }
// 002000
// 002000 Exit Loop
// 002000
	DOpus.Output("002000 Exit Loop");
    DOpus.Output(" 010 Return code = " + Dlg.result);
	DOpus.Output(" 020 Combo_Box_Alpha1 index = " & Dlg.Control("Combo_Box_Alpha1").value);
    DOpus.Output("009000 End");
}

```

```auto
<resources>
	<resource name="Dialog_1" type="dialog">
		<dialog fontsize="8" height="60" lang="english" standard_buttons="ok,cancel" title="Prepare to Go" width="252">
			<control height="40" name="Combo_Box_Alpha1" type="combo" width="78" x="12" y="24">
				<contents>
					<item text="ComboBox Primary" />
					<item text="ATOTaxInv" />
					<item text="BloodP" />
					<item text="CCP Timesheet" />
					<item text="CCP Payslip" />
					<item text="CCP Exp" />
					<item text="CCP Photos" />
					<item text="COD" />
					<item text="CSA" />
					<item text="Dogs Ellie" />
					<item text="Dogs Kirra" />
					<item text="Dogs Both" />
					<item text="Dogs Tiny" />
					<item text="Dogs Nala" />
					<item text="Dogs" />
					<item text="Daily Telfast" />
					<item text="Dinner" />
					<item text="E" />
					<item text="F" />
					<item text="Gym" />
					<item text="Hint" />
					<item text="House" />
					<item text="Inv" />
					<item text="Ingrid" />
					<item text="J" />
					<item text="Kids" />
					<item text="Luke" />
					<item text="Maxalt 1.0" />
					<item text="mDaily" />
					<item text="Maxalt 0.5" />
					<item text="Maxalt STOCK" />
					<item text="Netbank" />
					<item text="ODempsey" />
					<item text="o1Poster" />
					<item text="o2 Books" />
					<item text="PCCET" />
					<item text="Post RTS" />
					<item text="Quotes" />
					<item text="Research Furnature" />
					<item text="RJ" />
					<item text="RJ Netball" />
					<item text="Research" />
					<item text="StC" />
					<item text="Tomb" />
					<item text="ThumbLHS" />
					<item text="Trading" />
					<item text="u1History" />
					<item text="u2Culture" />
					<item text="vMovies" />
					<item text="Vaya" />
					<item text="Work" />
					<item text="xStorage" />
					<item text="Y" />
					<item text="zxc" />
					<item text="1ThumbF" />
					<item text="2Twice" />
					<item text="3" />
					<item text="0" />
				</contents>
			</control>
			<control halign="left" height="12" name="Suffix" tip="Suffix" type="edit" width="64" x="168" y="24" />
			<control height="40" name="Combo_Box_Beta2" type="combo" width="54" x="102" y="24">
				<contents>
					<item text="ComboSec" />
				</contents>
			</control>
		</dialog>
	</resource>
</resources>

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Jon](https://resource.dopus.com/user_avatar/resource.dopus.com/jon/32/12713_2.png) [@Jon](https://resource.dopus.com/u/Jon)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2021, 6:07am UTC](https://resource.dopus.com/t/detatched-dialog-how-to-interact/40032/2 "2021-12-08T06:07:20Z")

</div>

VBScript uses & to concatenate strings but JScript uses +. You seem to have a mix there.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![slouw](https://resource.dopus.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@slouw](https://resource.dopus.com/u/slouw)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2021, 4:21am UTC](https://resource.dopus.com/t/detatched-dialog-how-to-interact/40032/3 "2021-12-09T04:21:12Z")

</div>

Ah thx @Jon mybad  
Notice I am at long last converting this script to JS from VB!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![slouw](https://resource.dopus.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@slouw](https://resource.dopus.com/u/slouw)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2021, 9:08am UTC](https://resource.dopus.com/t/detatched-dialog-how-to-interact/40032/4 "2021-12-09T09:08:44Z")

</div>

Thanks for the help so far.  
Below represents my efforts to extract more meaningful information out of my dialog...unsuccessfully as you can see.  
My efforts are based around what I understand to be the relevant object namely the [DialogListItem](https://www.gpsoft.com.au/help/opus12/index.html#!Documents/Scripting/DialogListItem.htm)  
In particular I am after the entry that is selected from the pulldown menu in the Combo\_Box referenced.  
When I try using the [Control](https://www.gpsoft.com.au/help/opus12/index.html#!Documents/Scripting/Control.htm). **GetItemByName** method I get the error shown.

```auto
function OnClick(clickData) 
{
    DOpus.ClearOutput;
	DOpus.Output("001000 Start");
// 001000
// 001000 Start
// 001000
//
	var Dlg = DOpus.Dlg;
    Dlg.window = clickData.func.sourcetab;
    Dlg.template = "Dialog_1";
    Dlg.detach = true;
    Dlg.Show();
// 002000
// 002000 Msg Loop
// 002000
	DOpus.Output("002000 Msg Loop");
	i = 0;
    while (true) 
	{
        DOpus.Output(" 000 Iteration ======================================================"+ i);
        var Msg = Dlg.GetMsg();
        if (!Msg.result) break;
        DOpus.Output(" 000 Combo_Box_Alpha1 index = "+ Dlg.Control("Combo_Box_Alpha1").value);
		//
        DOpus.Output(" 010 Msg Event = " + Msg.event);
// DOpus.Output(" 020 Msg.Checked = " + Msg.Checked);
        DOpus.Output(" 020 Msg.Data = " + Msg.Data);
        DOpus.Output(" 020 Msg.Icon = " + Msg.Icon);
        DOpus.Output(" 020 Msg.Selected = " + Msg.Selected);
        DOpus.Output(" 020 Msg.Subitems = " + Msg.Subitems);
        DOpus.Output(" 020 Msg.Control = " + Msg.Control);
        DOpus.Output(" 030 Msg.Dialog = " + Msg.Dialog);
        DOpus.Output(" 040 Msg.Index = " + Msg.Index);
        DOpus.Output(" 040 Msg.Name = " + Msg.Name);
//
        Combo_Box_1 = Control.GetItemByName("Combo_Box_Alpha1")
		
    }
// 002000
// 002000 Exit Loop
// 002000
	DOpus.Output("002000 Exit Loop");
    DOpus.Output(" 010 Return code = " + Dlg.result);
	DOpus.Output(" 020 Combo_Box_Alpha1 index = " + Dlg.Control("Combo_Box_Alpha1").value);
    DOpus.Output("009000 End");
}

```

This is the error I am getting currently:  
 ![image](https://resource.dopus.com/uploads/default/original/3X/a/6/a6a6cdc4d3654b241d3e57f3a0ef34e6454325cc.png)

I have left off more information e.g. the dialog XML for brevity. Happy to add if needed.  
Appreciate any hints or suggestions....

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Felix.Froemel](https://resource.dopus.com/user_avatar/resource.dopus.com/felix.froemel/32/68705_2.png) [@Felix.Froemel](https://resource.dopus.com/u/Felix.Froemel)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2021, 9:37am UTC](https://resource.dopus.com/t/detatched-dialog-how-to-interact/40032/5 "2021-12-09T09:37:56Z")

</div>

Have a look at my [SelectByDate command](https://resource.dopus.com/t/command-select-bydate-select-items-by-various-dates-and-parameters-update-v1-31-2021-10-30/39697) which uses a detached dialog.

I advise you to create variables for your dialog controls before going into the msg loop so that you can interact with them later on easily without always referencing the dialog

```auto
var Combo_Box_Alpha1 = dlg.Control("Combo_Box_Alpha1");
while(true) {
var val = Combo_Box_Alpha1.value;
...

```

You already did it the right way when printing the combo index.  
In the end you use `Control` without referencing the dialog. [Docs](https://www.gpsoft.com.au/help/opus12/index.html#!Documents/Scripting/Control.htm) say

> Use the **[Dialog](https://www.gpsoft.com.au/help/opus12/Documents/Scripting/Dialog.htm).Control** method to obtain a **Control** object

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![slouw](https://resource.dopus.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@slouw](https://resource.dopus.com/u/slouw)
#### Post date: [December 13, 2021, 5:10am UTC](https://resource.dopus.com/t/detatched-dialog-how-to-interact/40032/6 "2021-12-13T05:10:03Z")

</div>

So my question above was about getting the text for the selected combo box entry:  
"_In particular I am after the entry that is selected from the pulldown menu in the Combo\_Box referenced_"  
It seems I have a solution as per below.  
It is necessary to dig into the DailogListItem to get its name.  
I was looking at the parent Control object.

The hierarchy of objects is as follows

[DOpus](https://www.gpsoft.com.au/help/opus12/index.html#!Documents/Scripting/DOpus.htm) \> [Dialog](https://www.gpsoft.com.au/help/opus12/index.html#!Documents/Scripting/Dialog.htm) \> [Control](https://www.gpsoft.com.au/help/opus12/index.html#!Documents/Scripting/Control.htm) \> [DialogListItem](https://www.gpsoft.com.au/help/opus12/index.html#!Documents/Scripting/DialogListItem.htm)

```auto
function OnClick(clickData)
{
    DOpus.ClearOutput;
	DOpus.Output("001000 Start Rev_003");
// 001000
// 001000 Start
// 001000
//
	var Dlg = DOpus.Dlg;
    Dlg.window = clickData.func.sourcetab; // Parent Window of the dialog
    Dlg.template = "Dialog_1"; // GUI Script Dialog defined in Resources
    Dlg.detach = true;
    Dlg.Show();
// 002000
// 002000 Msg Loop
// 002000
	DOpus.Output("002000 Msg Loop");
	Control_Combo_BoxA1 = Dlg.Control("Combo_Box_Alpha1") // Returns a Control object
	i = 0;
    while (true) 
	{
        DOpus.Output(" 000 Iteration ======================================================"+ i);
        var Msg = Dlg.GetMsg();
        if (!Msg.result) break;
        DOpus.Output(" 000 Combo_Box_Alpha1 value = "+ Dlg.Control("Combo_Box_Alpha1").value);
        DOpus.Output(" 005 Control_Combo_Box_Al value = "+ Control_Combo_BoxA1.value);
        DOpus.Output(" 006 Control_Combo_Box_Al count = "+ Control_Combo_BoxA1.count);
		DialogListItem_Combo_BoxA1 = Control_Combo_BoxA1.value; // Returns a DialogListItem
        DOpus.Output(" 007 DialogListItem.name = "+ DialogListItem_Combo_BoxA1.name);
        DOpus.Output(" 008 DialogListItem.index = "+ DialogListItem_Combo_BoxA1.index);
		//
        DOpus.Output(" 010 Msg Event = " + Msg.event);
// DOpus.Output(" 020 Msg.Checked = " + Msg.Checked);
        DOpus.Output(" 020 Msg.Data = " + Msg.Data);
        DOpus.Output(" 020 Msg.Icon = " + Msg.Icon);
        DOpus.Output(" 020 Msg.Selected = " + Msg.Selected);
        DOpus.Output(" 020 Msg.Subitems = " + Msg.Subitems);
        DOpus.Output(" 020 Msg.Control = " + Msg.Control);
        DOpus.Output(" 030 Msg.Dialog = " + Msg.Dialog);
        DOpus.Output(" 040 Msg.Index = " + Msg.Index);
        DOpus.Output(" 040 Msg.Name = " + Msg.Name);
//
// Combo_Box_1 = Control.GetItemByName("Combo_Box_Alpha1")
		
    }
// 002000
// 002000 Exit Loop
// 002000
	DOpus.Output("002000 Exit Loop");
    DOpus.Output(" 010 Return code = " + Dlg.result);
  	DOpus.Output(" 020 Combo_Box_Alpha1 index = " + Dlg.Control("Combo_Box_Alpha1").value);
    DOpus.Output(" 030 Control_Combo_Box_Al value = " + Control_Combo_BoxA1.value);
// DOpus.Output(" 040 Control_Combo_Box_Al count = " + Control_Combo_BoxA1.count); // Outside loop not work for some reason?
    DOpus.Output(" 040 DialogListItem.name = "+ DialogListItem_Combo_BoxA1.name);
    DOpus.Output(" 050 DialogListItem.index = "+ DialogListItem_Combo_BoxA1.index);
    DOpus.Output("009000 End");
}

```

This is the Dialog Box that pops up and the debug output for selecting **Item4** and clicking ok

 ![image](https://resource.dopus.com/uploads/default/original/3X/1/0/10b0f6d9c54acd2e20ad45c9b5868bd7705eb19e.png)