AutocloseAlert, CustomConfirm, and CustomPrompt Messages

Report · Apr 07, 2025

I found this thread: https://community.adobe.com/t5/illustrator-discussions/auto-close-alert-message/td-p/9398258

Images here: https://github.com/Marshall-Brooks/Sandbox/issues/2

See also:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/simulate-button-press-in-script-ui/m-...

I'm somewhat spoiled by the Enhanced Message Box add-on for Microsoft Access which shows a standard Msgbox with a countdown of seconds until the box closes.

I used @Peter Kahrel's Scipt UI guide to modify the first linked script as follows:

function AutocloseAlert(message, delaySeconds, title){
    title = title || 'Alert';
    var alertWindow = new Window('palette', title);
//    var control_text = alertWindow.add('edittext', [0, 0, 500, 200], message, {multiline: true});
//  var control_text = alertWindow.add('edittext', , message, {multiline: true});   
    var control_text = alertWindow.add('edittext', undefined, message, {multline:true})
//    if(delaySeconds === 0){
        var control_close = alertWindow.add('button', undefined, 'OK');       
        control_close.onClick = function(){
            if(alertWindow){
                alertWindow.hide();
                alertWindow = null;
            }
        };
 // }

    alertWindow.show();
    alertWindow.update();
   
    if(delaySeconds > 0){
        $.sleep(delaySeconds * 1000);
        alertWindow.hide();
        alertWindow = null;
    }  
}

I'm having the following issues:

I don't like that the window shows grayed out (disabled) - presumably b/c of the sleep function. I'd prefer it to look like the zero second but disappear when I clicked OK or when the timer expired. I tried commenting out the line "$.Sleep(DelaySeconds * 1000) and replacing it with:

        var startTime = new Date().getTime();
        while ( new Date().getTime() - startTime < delaySeconds * 1000 ) {alertWindow.update()}

But it didn't change how it worked - i.e. the window was still grayed out, and clicking the OK button did not close the window, but it did disappear after the delaySeconds interval.

I would prefer to have the OK button show the seconds remaining, but I think I need two timers for this and I'm not sure how to implement them.
Probably easiest - I'd prefer to have a minimum size for the window and a maximum before it wraps to two lines, but I can basically set my "message" text to achieve this. (An alert that is more than one line is probably too long anyway).

Thank you in advance!!!

Report · Nov 20, 2025

I'm back again. I decided to try to make my own script to replace the prompt command for three reasons:

Mice type is hard to read and "set font" won't work with the built-in commands.
Built-in pop-up truncates if more than 4 or 5 lines are needed.
Built-in pop-up doesn't match with my other custom pop-ups.

I actually have the window working the way I want, but my code returns "undefined" whether you click Ok or Cancel instead of the inputbox text or null, and I don't know why.

Code:

var result;
result = CustomPrompt("test","input","title");
alert (result);
result = prompt("test","input","title");
alert (result);

function CustomPrompt(message, defaultinput, title)
{
    title = title || "Script Alert";
    defaultinput = defaultinput || "";
    var win = new Window("dialog", title, undefined, {closeButton:false});
    win.orientation = "row"; // not deprecated and required here, despite what VS Code says.
    win.alignChildren = "top";
    win.margins = 10;

    var myInputGroup = win.add ("group");
    myInputGroup.orientation = "column";
    myInputGroup.alignChildren = "left";
    // Dialog Width To Be Defined:
    var w_width = 250;

    //  150 below is somewhat arbitrary. Run the script and see where the first line ends. Adjust w_static text to a bit longer than that. Uncomment the line below to get the text length,
    // Use that in the "if" statement.
//    alert (message.length)
    if (message.length < 15 && message.indexOf("\r")===-1 && message.indexOf("\n")===-1)
    {
    // single line
         var msg = myInputGroup.add('statictext', undefined, message);
    }
    else
    
    {
    // multiline
        var msg = myInputGroup.add('statictext', undefined, 'X', {multiline: true});
        // if not using standard font size, Font must be defined below, even if using set_font, or the message will truncate unpredictably.
        msg.graphics.font="Tahoma:14";

        var X_width = msg.preferredSize[0];
        msg.preferredSize = [-1,-1];
        msg.characters = ~~(w_width/X_width);
        msg.preferredSize[1] = -1;
        msg.text = message;
    }
    var InputBox = myInputGroup.add ("edittext", undefined, defaultinput);
    InputBox.characters = 30;
    InputBox.active = true;
    var myButtonGroup = win.add ("group");
    myButtonGroup.orientation = "column";
    var btnOk = myButtonGroup.add ("button", undefined, "OK", {name: "ok"});
    var btnCancel = myButtonGroup.add ("button", undefined, "Cancel", {name: "cancel"});
    btnOk.onClick = function ()
    {
        alert (InputBox.text);
        var answer = InputBox.text;
        alert (answer);
        win.close();
        alert (answer);
        return answer;
    }
    btnCancel.onClick = function ()
    {
        win.close();
        var answer = null;
        return answer;
    }
    set_font (win, "Tahoma:14");
    win.show ();
}

function set_font (control, font)
{
    for (var i = 0; i < control.children.length; i++)
    {
        if ("GroupPanel".indexOf (control.children[i].constructor.name) > -1)
        {
            set_font (control.children[i], font);
        }
        else
        {
        control.children[i].graphics.font = font;
        }
    }
}//--end set_font

Thank you in advance!

Report · Nov 20, 2025

I think I see the problem, but not the solution.

"answer" is being returned by the .onClick of either button, but nothing is being returned by CustomPrompt(), but I don't see how to pass "answer" to CustomPrompt() so that it can then be passed to the calling function.

Solved - I'll update the code above in a minute ...

Report · Nov 20, 2025

CustomPrompt Code:

var result;
result = CustomPrompt("test","input","title");
alert (result);
result = prompt("test","input","title");
alert (result);

function CustomPrompt(message, defaultinput, title)
{
    var usercancelled = false;
    title = title || "Script Alert";
    defaultinput = defaultinput || "";
    var win = new Window("dialog", title, undefined, {closeButton:false});
    win.orientation = "row"; // not deprecated and required here, despite what VS Code says.
    win.alignChildren = "top";
    win.margins = 10;

    var myInputGroup = win.add ("group");
    myInputGroup.orientation = "column";
    myInputGroup.alignChildren = "left";
    // Dialog Width To Be Defined:
    var w_width = 275;

    //  50 below is somewhat arbitrary. Run the script and see where the first line ends. Adjust w_static text to a bit longer than that. Uncomment the line below to get the text length,
    // Use that in the "if" statement.
//    alert (message.length)
    if (message.length < 50 && message.indexOf("\r")===-1 && message.indexOf("\n")===-1)
    {
    // single line
         var msg = myInputGroup.add('statictext', undefined, message);
    }
    else
    
    {
    // multiline
        var msg = myInputGroup.add('statictext', undefined, 'X', {multiline: true});
        // if not using standard font size, Font must be defined below, even if using set_font, or the message will truncate unpredictably.
        msg.graphics.font="Tahoma:14";

        var X_width = msg.preferredSize[0];
        msg.preferredSize = [-1,-1];
        msg.characters = ~~(w_width/X_width);
        msg.preferredSize[1] = -1;
        msg.text = message;
    }
    var InputBox = myInputGroup.add ("edittext", undefined, defaultinput);
    InputBox.characters = 30;
    InputBox.active = true;
    var myButtonGroup = win.add ("group");
    myButtonGroup.orientation = "column";
    var btnOk = myButtonGroup.add ("button", undefined, "OK", {name: "ok"});
    var btnCancel = myButtonGroup.add ("button", undefined, "Cancel", {name: "cancel"});
    btnOk.onClick = function ()
    {
        win.close();
    }
    btnCancel.onClick = function ()
    {
        win.close();
        usercancelled = true;
    }
    set_font (win, "Tahoma:14");
    win.show ();
    if (usercancelled ===true)
    {
        return null;
    }
    else
    {
        return InputBox.text
    }
} // end CustomPrompt

function set_font (control, font)
{
    for (var i = 0; i < control.children.length; i++)
    {
        if ("GroupPanel".indexOf (control.children[i].constructor.name) > -1)
        {
            set_font (control.children[i], font);
        }
        else
        {
        control.children[i].graphics.font = font;
        }
    }
}//--end set_font

Minor edits above. I had "if message.length < 15" instead of "if message.length < 50". Also I changed w_width to 275. Script was truncating after 6 lines of text with 250, but I don't know why and I am not sure why 275 works better.

AutocloseAlert, CustomConfirm, and CustomPrompt Messages

4 Correct answers