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Microsoft Windows Vista introduced a new standard dialog
box, called task dialog, to present choices in a clear and
consistent way, with a standardized look and layout. Task
dialogs enable developers to create well-designed,
consistent dialogs boxes efficiently and it is a versatile
alternative to the old message box which has often been used
to create dialog boxes that are difficult to understand and
use. There are no standard classes in .NET framework to work
with task dialogs and in order to work with task dialogs on
Windows Vista operating system .NET developers needed to
work directly with the task dialog API (unmanaged code) that
is provided with Windows Vista operating system.
Applications written for .NET framework are supposed to work
on every platform (operating system) that is supported by
the .NET framework. Since task dialogs were introduced with
Windows Vista there was obviously a problem what to do when
an application is run on other operating systems like
Windows XP for example.
The TaskDialog.NET component provides classes .NET developers
can use to add Vista-style task dialogs to their .NET
applications that will work on any platform supported by the
.NET Framework. Developers simply use TaskDialog class in
their code to construct task dialogs as needed and when
showing the task dialog the TaskDialog.NET will either use native
task dialog API if available (on Windows Vista or higher) or
use standard .NET classes to construct task dialog with the
same look and feel as the native task dialog on operating
systems prior to Windows Vista (Windows XP for example). All
task dialog features available through TaskDialog.NET
classes work exactly the same no matter whether a task
dialog is currently using native API support or standard
.NET classes to operate. This saves a lot of effort and time
for developers and allows you to start using task dialogs
in your .NET applications within minutes.
For example, to create a simple task dialog shown below, the
following code can be used:
[C#]
// Create task dialog. WindowsTaskDialog.TaskDialog taskDialog = new WindowsTaskDialog.TaskDialog(); taskDialog.WindowTitle = "TaskDialog.NET Component Demo"; taskDialog.MainIcon = WindowsTaskDialog.TaskDialogIcon.Information; taskDialog.MainInstruction = "Becoming a Dog Owner. Would you like to have one?"; taskDialog.Content = "Dogs may have originated from wolves, but they have come a long way."; taskDialog.CommonButtons = WindowsTaskDialog.TaskDialogCommonButtons.Yes | WindowsTaskDialog.TaskDialogCommonButtons.No; List<WindowsTaskDialog.TaskDialogButton> buttons = new List<WindowsTaskDialog.TaskDialogButton>(); buttons.Add(new WindowsTaskDialog.TaskDialogButton(1000, "I need more information")); taskDialog.Buttons = buttons.ToArray(); taskDialog.UseCommandLinks = true; // Show task dialog. bool verificationFlagChecked; int radioButtonResult; int dialogResult = taskDialog.Show(this, out verificationFlagChecked, out radioButtonResult); [Visual Basic]
' Create task dialog. Dim taskDialog As New WindowsTaskDialog.TaskDialog() taskDialog.WindowTitle = "TaskDialog.NET Component Demo" taskDialog.MainIcon = WindowsTaskDialog.TaskDialogIcon.Information taskDialog.MainInstruction = "Becoming a Dog Owner. Would you like to have one?" taskDialog.Content = "Dogs may have originated from wolves, but they have come a long way." taskDialog.CommonButtons = WindowsTaskDialog.TaskDialogCommonButtons.Yes Or _ WindowsTaskDialog.TaskDialogCommonButtons.No Dim buttons As New List(Of WindowsTaskDialog.TaskDialogButton) buttons.Add(New WindowsTaskDialog.TaskDialogButton(1000, "I need more information")) taskDialog.Buttons = buttons.ToArray() taskDialog.UseCommandLinks = True ' Show task dialog. Dim verificationFlagChecked As Boolean Dim radioButtonResult As Integer Dim dialogResult As Integer = taskDialog.Show(Me, verificationFlagChecked, radioButtonResult)
To explore task dialog features, please download the
TaskDialog.NET Component Demo. The TaskDialog.NET Component
Demo includes a Windows application for testing various task
dialog settings and the complete documentation for the
TaskDialog.NET component with code examples to get you
started.
The
TaskDialog.NET component is licensed per individual
developer using the software for development purposes. The
TaskDialog.NET component can be installed on more than one
machine as long as only the licensed developer is working
with it. The licensed developer is allowed to use the
TaskDialog.NET component with an unlimited number of applications. The
licensed
TaskDialog.NET component is royalty free for use in compiled
applications only. This means that you may distribute your
programs compiled with the
TaskDialog.NET component incurring no royalty fee,
regardless of the number of copies you distribute or the
pricing of your product. You may not distribute the
TaskDialog.NET component in order to use it in development
environments. You can read the EULA here.
The TaskDialog.NET component comes with complete C# source code (Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 & 2008 solutions included).
Have a question or comment? Please contact us at support@wintaskdialog.com
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