Default and Close Keys in Confirm Slips

One of the Newton 2.x OS Q&As
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This document was exported on 7/23/97.

Default and Close Keys in Confirm Slips (2/28/97)

Q: Is there any way to put a keyboard default on a confirm dialog?

A: Yes. For both ModalConfirm and AsyncConfirm, the 2.0 Newton Programmer's Reference says you may pass three types of things as the buttonList argument: a symbol ('okCancel or 'yesNo), and array of strings, or an array of frames with 'value and 'text slots.

In the Newton 2.1 OS, this API has been extended to allow for default key and close key behavior. There are four new symbols that are allowed: 'okCancelDefaultOk, 'okCancelDefaultCancel, 'yesNoDefaultYes, and 'yesNoDefaultNo. They do the obvious thing, setting the default key as specified and the close key to Cancel or No if those aren't the default. However, using these symbols on a Newton 2.0 OS device will result in the "OK" and "Cancel" buttons always being displayed, even if you specify 'yesNoDefaultYes or 'yesNoDefaultNo.

The array-of-frames flavor for the buttonList argument allows an additional slot, called 'keyValue. Supported values for this slot are the symbols 'default and 'close, or NIL/not present. 'default makes the button the default key, and 'close makes the button activate with the close key. Any other value will cause a problem in the current Newton 2.1 implementation. The keyValue slot is ignored on the Newton 2.0 OS.

For compatibility, we recommend avoiding the 'yesNoDefaultYes and 'yesNoDefaultNo symbols if you intend to run on both Newton 2.0 and 2.1 devices. Instead, use one of these specifiers:
    '[{text: "Yes", value: TRUE, keyValue: default}, {text: "No", value: NIL, keyValue: close}]

 
    '[{text: "Yes", value: TRUE}, {text: "No", value: NIL, keyValue: default}]