[AdamSpeight2008]

Challenge: Message Box(Easy - Advanced)

Following on from the Pro & Cons of MessageBox Discussion Thread.

You have been tasked to create an alternative.

Requirements.

• Taking care of some/all of the Cons.
  State which, then we can assess if it is solution.
  
• Must be able to be used as a direct replacement of MessageBox. (Ok mostly compatible.)
  
• You must state the minimum .net framework it works on.
  
• Source code must be provided.
  
• A Zipped DLL / or NuGet Package.

This post has been edited by AdamSpeight2008: 15 October 2011 - 09:40 AM

[smohd]

Nice creativity AdamSpeight2008, it is a nice challenge.

_HAWK_, on 12 October 2011 - 08:55 AM, said:

I see your point Adam! I like the way you think.

[AdamSpeight2008]

Asynchronous Wrapper around standard MessageBox.

Spoiler

Requires at least .net 4.0 Client Profile

Public Class Async_MessageBox
#Region "Non owner"
    Public Shared Function Show(msg As String) As Task(Of Windows.Forms.DialogResult)
      Return Task.Factory.StartNew(Function() Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(msg))
    End Function
    Public Shared Function Show(msg As String, caption As String) As Task(Of Windows.Forms.DialogResult)
      Return Task.Factory.StartNew(Function() Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(msg, caption))
    End Function
    Public Shared Function Show(msg As String, caption As String, buttons As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxButtons) As Task(Of Windows.Forms.DialogResult)
      Return Task.Factory.StartNew(Function() Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(msg, caption, buttons))
    End Function
    Public Shared Function Show(msg As String, caption As String,
                                buttons As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxButtons, icon As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxIcon) As Task(Of Windows.Forms.DialogResult)
      Return Task.Factory.StartNew(Function() Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(msg, caption, buttons, icon))
    End Function
    Public Shared Function Show(msg As String, caption As String,
                               buttons As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxButtons, icon As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxIcon,
                               defaultbutton As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxDefaultButton) As Task(Of Windows.Forms.DialogResult)
      Return Task.Factory.StartNew(Function() Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(msg, caption, buttons, icon, defaultbutton))
    End Function
    Public Shared Function Show(msg As String, caption As String,
                              buttons As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxButtons, icon As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxIcon,
                              defaultbutton As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxDefaultButton,
                              options As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxOptions) As Task(Of Windows.Forms.DialogResult)
      Return Task.Factory.StartNew(Function() Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(msg, caption, buttons, icon, defaultbutton, options))
    End Function
    Public Shared Function Show(msg As String, caption As String,
                          buttons As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxButtons, icon As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxIcon,
                          defaultbutton As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxDefaultButton,
                          options As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxOptions, displayHelpButton As Boolean) As Task(Of Windows.Forms.DialogResult)
      Return Task.Factory.StartNew(Function() Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(msg, caption, buttons, icon, defaultbutton, options, displayHelpButton))
    End Function
    Public Shared Function Show(msg As String, caption As String,
                             buttons As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxButtons, icon As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxIcon,
                             defaultbutton As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxDefaultButton,
                             options As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxOptions,
                             helpFilePath As String) As Task(Of Windows.Forms.DialogResult)
      Return Task.Factory.StartNew(Function() Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(msg, caption, buttons, icon, defaultbutton, options, helpFilePath))
    End Function
    Public Shared Function Show(
                          msg As String,
                          caption As String,
                          buttons As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxButtons,
                      icon As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxIcon,
                      defaultbutton As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxDefaultButton,
                      options As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxOptions,
                      helpFilePath As String,
                      navigator As Windows.Forms.HelpNavigator, param As Object) As Task(Of Windows.Forms.DialogResult)
      Return Task.Factory.StartNew(Function() Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(msg, caption, buttons, icon, defaultbutton, options, helpFilePath, navigator, param))
    End Function
    Public Shared Function Show(msg As String,
                      caption As String,
                      buttons As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxButtons,
                  icon As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxIcon,
                  defaultbutton As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxDefaultButton,
                  options As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxOptions,
                  helpFilePath As String,
                  navigator As Windows.Forms.HelpNavigator) As Task(Of Windows.Forms.DialogResult)
      Return Task.Factory.StartNew(Function() Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(msg, caption, buttons, icon, defaultbutton, options, helpFilePath, navigator))
    End Function
    Public Shared Function Show(msg As String,
                        caption As String,
                        buttons As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxButtons,
                    icon As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxIcon,
                    defaultbutton As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxDefaultButton,
                    options As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxOptions,
                    helpFilePath As String,
                    keyword As String) As Task(Of Windows.Forms.DialogResult)
      Return Task.Factory.StartNew(Function() Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(msg, caption, buttons, icon, defaultbutton, options, helpFilePath, keyword))
    End Function
#End Region
#Region "owner"
    Public Shared Function Show(owner As Windows.Forms.IWin32Window, msg As String) As Task(Of Windows.Forms.DialogResult)
      Return Task.Factory.StartNew(Function() Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(owner, msg))
    End Function
    Public Shared Function Show(owner As Windows.Forms.IWin32Window, msg As String, caption As String) As Task(Of Windows.Forms.DialogResult)
      Return Task.Factory.StartNew(Function() Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(owner, msg, caption))
    End Function
    Public Shared Function Show(owner As Windows.Forms.IWin32Window, msg As String, caption As String, buttons As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxButtons) As Task(Of Windows.Forms.DialogResult)
      Return Task.Factory.StartNew(Function() Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(owner, msg, caption, buttons))
    End Function
    Public Shared Function Show(owner As Windows.Forms.IWin32Window, msg As String, caption As String,
                                buttons As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxButtons, icon As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxIcon) As Task(Of Windows.Forms.DialogResult)
      Return Task.Factory.StartNew(Function() Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(owner, msg, caption, buttons, icon))
    End Function
    Public Shared Function Show(owner As Windows.Forms.IWin32Window, msg As String, caption As String,
                               buttons As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxButtons, icon As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxIcon,
                               defaultbutton As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxDefaultButton) As Task(Of Windows.Forms.DialogResult)
      Return Task.Factory.StartNew(Function() Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(owner, msg, caption, buttons, icon, defaultbutton))
    End Function
    Public Shared Function Show(owner As Windows.Forms.IWin32Window, msg As String, caption As String,
                              buttons As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxButtons, icon As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxIcon,
                              defaultbutton As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxDefaultButton,
                              options As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxOptions) As Task(Of Windows.Forms.DialogResult)
      Return Task.Factory.StartNew(Function() Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(owner, msg, caption, buttons, icon, defaultbutton, options))
    End Function
    Public Shared Function Show(owner As Windows.Forms.IWin32Window, msg As String, caption As String,
                             buttons As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxButtons, icon As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxIcon,
                             defaultbutton As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxDefaultButton,
                             options As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxOptions,
                             helpFilePath As String) As Task(Of Windows.Forms.DialogResult)
      Return Task.Factory.StartNew(Function() Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(owner, msg, caption, buttons, icon, defaultbutton, options, helpFilePath))
    End Function
    Public Shared Function Show(owner As Windows.Forms.IWin32Window,
                          msg As String,
                          caption As String,
                          buttons As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxButtons,
                      icon As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxIcon,
                      defaultbutton As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxDefaultButton,
                      options As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxOptions,
                      helpFilePath As String,
                      navigator As Windows.Forms.HelpNavigator, param As Object) As Task(Of Windows.Forms.DialogResult)
      Return Task.Factory.StartNew(Function() Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(owner, msg, caption, buttons, icon, defaultbutton, options, helpFilePath, navigator, param))
    End Function
    Public Shared Function Show(owner As Windows.Forms.IWin32Window,
                      msg As String,
                      caption As String,
                      buttons As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxButtons,
                  icon As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxIcon,
                  defaultbutton As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxDefaultButton,
                  options As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxOptions,
                  helpFilePath As String,
                  navigator As Windows.Forms.HelpNavigator) As Task(Of Windows.Forms.DialogResult)
      Return Task.Factory.StartNew(Function() Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(owner, msg, caption, buttons, icon, defaultbutton, options, helpFilePath, navigator))
    End Function
    Public Shared Function Show(owner As Windows.Forms.IWin32Window,
                        msg As String,
                        caption As String,
                        buttons As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxButtons,
                    icon As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxIcon,
                    defaultbutton As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxDefaultButton,
                    options As Windows.Forms.MessageBoxOptions,
                    helpFilePath As String,
                    keyword As String) As Task(Of Windows.Forms.DialogResult)
      Return Task.Factory.StartNew(Function() Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(owner, msg, caption, buttons, icon, defaultbutton, options, helpFilePath, keyword))
    End Function
#End Region
  End Class

[AdamSpeight2008]

Create a NuGet Package for Async_MessageBox. So you can play around with it.

[dawmail333]

I've been wanting to learn how to use GitHub, so I put this challenge up there. I also did it because I'm undoubtedly going to make changes later, and that way I won't have to keep bugging a moderator.

Requires: .Net 3.5 Client Profile (uses WPF)

Cons I've dealt with (as of the first version):

• Custom Icons/Buttons
  
• Custom Layout Support
  
• Asynchronous Messages
  
• Restricts its size scaling (native MessageBox can potentially cover the entire screen, my version puts the message in a scrollable textbox to keep things sane)

You also may find interesting:

• You can use a static method to display your message, or you can create an instance of the message class, and set the properties, and then display it.
  
• Because the new static Show method uses optional parameters, you don't have to set all the in-between ones, meaning you could just set the message, and the settings, and none of the in-between parameters.

You can use it much the same way as the old message box, intellisense should let you know what's different. I'll work on better documentation a little later, as it's 12:05PM, and I figured the coding was the most important part. There's a lot to this implementation, and I want to do a fair bit more.

However, I will put a couple of examples here that fit the current syntax:

        ' Run-of-the-mill call
        Message.Show("Hello World!")
        ' Asynchronous call. Also showcases the support for non-standard exits (press 'x', 'esc', alt + f4 etc)
        Message.Show(Sub(o, r)
                         ' Looks like they didn't use a button.
                         If r < 0 Then Message.Show("You didn't use one of the buttons.")
                         ' Uses a few 'MessageBox' style parameters
                         Message.Show("You need to be an administrator to perform this task.", "Administrator Privileges Required", MessageButtons.RetryCancel, MessageIcons.Shield)
                         ' Prevents the user from giving any non-button answer (in case there's no 'safe default' answer, for example)
                         Message.Show("Are you sure you wish to format TOSHIBA?", "Confirmation", MessageButtons.YesNo, MessageIcons.Exclamation, MessageSettings.DisableStandardClose)
                     End Sub, "Asynchronous example", buttons:=MessageButtons.OK)

System.Windows.Dialogs.Message - Repo

Downloads (zipped binaries/source zip)

[dawmail333]

Nice to see the D.I.C. community going all out on this challenge.