One of the ways solidThinking communicates is through message boxes, of which there are four main types.
Info box
An info box provides information on operations that you have to perform before activating a new command. Click OK and follow instructions. An example of an info box is that appearing when you click a transformation Modeling Tool before selecting an object.
Decision box
A decision box provides information that allows you to make a Yes/No decision. A Cancel button is also displayed. Confirm by clicking the Yes button. Select no by clicking the No button. Click Cancel to cancel the command and remove the box. An example of a decision box is the one that appears when you quit the program.
Alert
An alert tells you something you need to know before proceeding with an operation. After reading the message carefully, you can press Yes to confirm the operation or No to cancel it. An example of alert is that appearing when you choose the NURBS Surface Editing tool.
Dialog box
A dialog box usually contains one or more controls through which you can enter text, choose options, or direct the action of the command. An example of dialog box is the Modeling Tool panel. Dialog panels share some components, and in particular:
Push
button. A button you have to push
to perform an action.
Check
button. A button you can switch
on/off to enable/disable an option.
Radio
button. A round button you can
use to choose from a set of related but mutually exclusive options. The
check mark for a radio button is a black dot. A radio button can assume
two states: checked (dot) or unchecked (no dot).
Slider
bar. A horizontal rectangle with
a sliding bar inside. By moving the sliding bar, you alter values.
Scroll
bar. Vertical rectangles with a
sliding bar inside used to shift the content of a window area. It is also
a visual hint of the length of the area.
Entry-fields. Two are the entry-field types: text fields that accept alphanumerical entries and numeric fields that accept only numbers. When a dialog box appears the first field has text/numbers highlighted. It means that any valid character you will type will replace the content of the field.
You can click the mouse to move the insertion point within or between fields or you can use the following keys to move around fields:
Tab
moves to the next field.
Tab
+ Shift moves
to the previous field.
Backspace deletes the character on the left of the cursor.
/
moves the cursor one character
left or right.
/ increases/decreases values of the active parameter.
Most command names in a dialog box have an underlined letter. If you press the corresponding letter key while holding the Alt key down, you can automatically move the insertion point to a such command field.