<HTML
><HEAD
><TITLE
>The abstract message utility functions</TITLE
><META
NAME="GENERATOR"
CONTENT="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.44"><LINK
REL="HOME"
TITLE="Gnome Developers' Information"
HREF="book1.html"><LINK
REL="UP"
TITLE="Talking to the user: GnomeDialog, GnomeMessageBox,
    GnomeAppBar, and utility functions."
HREF="dialogapputil-docs.html"><LINK
REL="PREVIOUS"
TITLE="Using GnomeAppBar directly"
HREF="gnomeappbar.html"><LINK
REL="NEXT"
TITLE="Utility functions if a GnomeApp is available"
HREF="x2161.html"></HEAD
><BODY
><DIV
CLASS="NAVHEADER"
><TABLE
WIDTH="100%"
BORDER="0"
CELLPADDING="0"
CELLSPACING="0"
><TR
><TH
COLSPAN="3"
ALIGN="center"
>Gnome Developers' Information</TH
></TR
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="10%"
ALIGN="left"
VALIGN="bottom"
><A
HREF="gnomeappbar.html"
>Prev</A
></TD
><TD
WIDTH="80%"
ALIGN="center"
VALIGN="bottom"
>Chapter 9. Talking to the user: <SPAN
CLASS="TYPE"
>GnomeDialog</SPAN
>, <SPAN
CLASS="TYPE"
>GnomeMessageBox</SPAN
>,
    <SPAN
CLASS="TYPE"
>GnomeAppBar</SPAN
>, and utility functions.</TD
><TD
WIDTH="10%"
ALIGN="right"
VALIGN="bottom"
><A
HREF="x2161.html"
>Next</A
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
><HR
ALIGN="LEFT"
WIDTH="100%"></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="SECT1"
><H1
CLASS="SECT1"
><A
NAME="GNOME-APP-UTIL"
>The abstract message utility functions</A
></H1
><P
>      Gnome provides utility functions for relaying simple messages to
      the user and asking simple questions. The utility functions
      serve two purposes: first, they keep programmers from writing
      dozens of identical dialogs; second, they let the user choose
      whether messages should appear in dialogs or on the appbar. The
      main set of utility functions assume that your app uses the
      <SPAN
CLASS="TYPE"
>GnomeApp</SPAN
> widget, and that one is visible at the
      time they're called. These functions have a dialog backend and
      an appbar backend. The dialog backend is exposed, so you can use
      it directly if you have no GnomeApp widget available.  The
      <SPAN
CLASS="TYPE"
>GnomeApp</SPAN
> functions do <I
CLASS="EMPHASIS"
>not</I
>
      assume you have an appbar available; you should use them even if
      your app has no appbar. In some cases it makes a difference (for
      example, dialog can be positioned relative to the
      <SPAN
CLASS="TYPE"
>GnomeApp</SPAN
>).
    </P
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="NAVFOOTER"
><HR
ALIGN="LEFT"
WIDTH="100%"><TABLE
WIDTH="100%"
BORDER="0"
CELLPADDING="0"
CELLSPACING="0"
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="left"
VALIGN="top"
><A
HREF="gnomeappbar.html"
>Prev</A
></TD
><TD
WIDTH="34%"
ALIGN="center"
VALIGN="top"
><A
HREF="book1.html"
>Home</A
></TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="right"
VALIGN="top"
><A
HREF="x2161.html"
>Next</A
></TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="left"
VALIGN="top"
>Using <SPAN
CLASS="TYPE"
>GnomeAppBar</SPAN
> directly</TD
><TD
WIDTH="34%"
ALIGN="center"
VALIGN="top"
><A
HREF="dialogapputil-docs.html"
>Up</A
></TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="right"
VALIGN="top"
>Utility functions if a <SPAN
CLASS="TYPE"
>GnomeApp</SPAN
> is available</TD
></TR
></TABLE
></DIV
></BODY
></HTML
>