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Subject:RE: Have you seen this GUI element? From:"Mason, Catheryn" <CMason -at- INFINITEC-COM -dot- com> To:"'Peterson Karen'" <Peterson_Karen -at- prc -dot- com>, TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 25 Feb 2000 09:52:43 -0600
Karen says that her co-worker has designed "what looks like a
drop-down box, but instead of an arrow, the button at the right has
an
ellipsis. When you click the ellipsis, another window appears,
allowing you
to select multiple values for the box. Has anyone ever seen this
ellipsis button?"
Karen, I have seen this sort of control used, but only (in my
experience) in Visual Basic. Whereas a drop down list box, with an arrow on
the right side, will supply a pre-set list of choices, an ellipsis will open
up a secondary window. For instance, in VB, if you are setting a graphic to
be displayed in a command button and you click on "picture" in the
properties window, an ellipsis will appear to the right; if you click on the
ellipsis a file window opens so that you can browse your network and choose
the correct graphic to be displayed.
My experience may be limited, but I've never seen the ellipsis used
other than in this programming application. (I'm designing an interface now,
and doubt that I'll use this control ... if I can't fit the available
choices in a list box, a drive list box, or a file list box, I'll probably
take care of the action using a dialog box.)
Catheryn Mason, Technical Writer
Infinitec Communications
cmason -at- infinitec-com -dot- com
Winner, 1999 IABC Bronze Quill Award of Excellence for Technical Writing
