At the heart of working with almost any operating system (hereinafter referred to as the OS) is the ability to manage windows. They represent a rectangular area of the screen where this or that information is displayed. Windows can be opened, closed, and also minimized, maximized, resized. In open form, they can occupy both the entire screen and its very small area. If the windows are minimized, they will be displayed in the taskbar as buttons: click the one you need, everything will expand again.
There are four types of windows:
1) software - all programs and applications loaded into the OS memory work in them;
2) windows of disks and folders that help to see the entire file structure on disks;
3) secondary - these are windows where documents created in programs are displayed;
4) dialog boxes. It is about them, also called query windows, that will be discussed later.
So, they appear in the process of working with the OS and its applications and are located on top of other windows on your screen. They contain a request for information of interest to the user, or confirm his actions. The dialog box cannot be resized or minimized, it can only be closed. It can be closed automatically after it answers the request, or forcibly, that is, with one click on the close button. To respond to a request in full, windows have a variety of buttons and fields.
By type, they are divided into modal ones, which block work with a document or application (for example, for entering various parameters or informing the user of a completed operation), and non-modal ones that do not stop work and allow you to return to them as necessary (for example, windows help system or the Assistant command).
Let us consider in more detail the elements of the dialog box: depending on what its functions are, the set of tools can vary over a fairly wide range. But still, most of these funds can be clearly classified. So, the typical elements include:
1) command buttons (“OK”, “Save”, “Cancel”, “Default”, etc.) - pressing them will accept or cancel the selected parameters, and also close the dialog box;
2) bookmarks indicate that the window you requested contains several pages containing the information or settings you are interested in;
3) the switches are empty white squares designed to select one or more of the options proposed;
4) the switches make it possible to select only one necessary mode from several mutually exclusive each other;
5) the input field allows you to enter information in the dialog box by typing it on the keyboard (for example, the name of a file or folder);
6) the list field contains a minimized list of something, and you can expand it by clicking on the button next to the arrow. After you make your choice by clicking on the item you need, the list will automatically collapse, displaying in your field what you have selected;
7) the slider (sliding button) serves to increase or decrease a particular numerical value of the field by moving it;
8) the “Sample” field is intended to preview all the changes made to the corrected object;
9) context-sensitive help is called up using the button of the same name: first you need to click on it, and then on an element that is unknown to you: you will receive detailed information about it.
These were the main elements that this or that dialog box contains most often. Using and understanding them correctly, you will greatly facilitate your work with the computer and will be able to independently set all the necessary settings.