ask

Type

command

Summary

Displays a dialog box with a prompt, a text box for the user to enter a response, and OK and Cancel buttons.

Syntax

ask [<iconType>] <prompt> [with <defaultResponse>] [titled <windowTitle>] [as sheet]

Description

Use the ask command when a handler needs to get information from the user before continuing.

If the ask...as sheet form is used, the dialog box appears as a sheet on OS X systems. On other systems, the as sheet form has no effect and the dialog box appears normally. Attempting to open a sheet from within another sheet displays the second stack as a modal dialog box instead.

You can format the prompt text using HTML-style tags as described in the HTMLText property.

Cross-platform note

On OS X systems, there is no image for the question icon. Therefore, the information icon appears instead. In addition, the image specified by the gRevAppIcon appears if you do not specify an iconType. If you specify an iconType, the image specified by the gRevSmallAppIcon appears instead, along with the standard icon specified by the iconType.

Cross-platform note

Mobile does not support iconType and 'as sheet'.

The ask...as sheet form was introduced in LiveCode 2.0. The ability to provide formatted text for the prompt was introduced in LiveCode 2.0.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
iconType	enum	The icon that is displayed on the left side of the dialog box. If you do not specify an icon, none is displayed. iOS and Android do not support iconType.
prompt	string	A string of formatted (or unformatted) text.
defaultResponse	string	A string, and is placed in the text box when the dialog box appears. If no defaultResponse is specified, the text box is empty when the dialog box appears.
windowTitle		Appears in the title bar of the dialog box. If no windowTitle is given, the title bar is blank.

Examples

ask "What is your name?"

ask "Please enter your occupation:" with "Geek"

ask field "Prompt" with firstGuess titled "Guess!"

ask myPrompt as sheet

ask "Please say hello:" with "DEFAULT" titled "Hello World"

ask information "Please enter your user name." 

# formatted prompt text
put "Enter your <font color='red'><b>last name only</b></font>." into tPromptText
ask tPromptText

Related

property: dialogData, HTMLText

command: answer, ask file, ask password, modal, sheet, ask file with type

control structure: function

function: result

glossary: return, OS X, variable, handler, modal dialog box, dialog box, command, HTML

keyword: gRevAppIcon, it, gRevProfileReadOnly, gRevSmallAppIcon

Compatibility and Support

Introduced

LiveCode 1.0

OS

mac

windows

linux

ios

android

Platforms

desktop

mobile