Pop-up messages and questions

A number of other functions exist to pop up messages, questions, a menu with choices, or a dialog in which the player can enter a number, a string, or indicate a color or file name:

show_message(str) Displays a dialog box with the string as a message.
show_message_ext(str,but1,but2,but3) Displays a dialog box with the string as a message and up to three buttons. But1, but2 and but3 contain the button text. An empty string means that the button is not shown. In the texts you can use the & symbol to indicate that the next character should be used as the keyboard shortcut for this button. The function returns the number of the button pressed (0 if the user presses the Esc key).
show_question(str) Displays a question; returns true when the user selects yes and false otherwise.
get_integer(str,def) Asks the player in a dialog box for a number. str is the message. def is the default number shown.
get_string(str,def) Asks the player in a dialog box for a string. str is the message. def is the default value shown.
message_background(back) Sets the background image for the pop-up box for any of the functions above. back must be one of the backgrounds defined in the game. Unfortunately, alpha values are not taken into account. However, if the left-bottom pixel has an alpha value of 0, all pixels with that color will be considered transparent.
message_alpha(alpha) Sets the alpha translucence for the pop-up box for any of the functions above. alpha must lie between 0 (completely translucent) and 1 (not translucent) (only for Windows 2000 or later).
message_button(spr) Sets the sprite used for the buttons in the pop-up box. spr must be a sprite consisting of three images, the first indicates the button when it is not pressed and the mouse is far away, the second indicates the button when the mouse is above it but not pressed and the third is the button when it is pressed. Unfortunately, alpha values are not taken into account. However, if the left-bottom pixel has an alpha value of 0, all pixels with that color will be considered transparent.
message_text_font(name,size,color,style) Sets the font for the text in the pop-up box. (This is a normal Windows font, not one of the font resources you can out in your game!) style indicates the font style (0=normal, 1=bold, 2=italic, and 3=bold-italic).
message_button_font(name,size,color,style) Sets the font for the buttons in the pop-up box. style indicates the font style (0=normal, 1=bold, 2=italic, and 3=bold-italic).
message_input_font(name,size,color,style) Sets the font for the input field in the pop-up box. style indicates the font style (0=normal, 1=bold, 2=italic, and 3=bold-italic).
message_text_charset(type,charset) This function allows you to specify which character set the dialogs will use. type can be one of:

text_type
button_type
input_type

charset can be one of the standard windows character set types:

ANSI_CHARSET
DEFAULT_CHARSET
EASTEUROPE_CHARSET
RUSSIAN_CHARSET
SYMBOL_CHARSET
SHIFTJIS_CHARSET
HANGEUL_CHARSET
GB2312_CHARSET
CHINESEBIG5_CHARSET
JOHAB_CHARSET
HEBREW_CHARSET
ARABIC_CHARSET
GREEK_CHARSET
TURKISH_CHARSET
VIETNAMESE_CHARSET
THAI_CHARSET
MAC_CHARSET
BALTIC_CHARSET
OEM_CHARSET

message_mouse_color(col) Sets the color of the font for the buttons in the pop-up box when the mouse is above it.
message_input_color(col) Sets the color for the background of the input filed in the pop-up box.
message_caption(show,str) Sets the caption for the pop-up box. show indicates whether a border must b e shown (1) or not (0) and str indicates the caption when the border is shown.
message_position(x,y) Sets the position of the pop-up box on the screen. Use -1, -1 to center the box.
message_size(w,h) Fixes the size of the pop-up box on the screen. If you choose -1 for the width the width of the image is used. If you choose -1 for the height the height is calculated based on the number of lines in the message.
show_menu(str,def) Shows a popup menu. str indicates the menu text. This consists of the different menu items with a vertical bar between them. For example, str = 'menu0|menu1|menu2'. When the first item is selected a 0 is returned, etc. When the player selects no item, the default value def is returned.
show_menu_pos(x,y,str,def) Shows a popup menu as in the previous function but at position x,y on the screen.
get_color(defcol) Asks the player for a color. defcol is the default color. If the user presses Cancel the value -1 is returned.
get_open_filename(filter,fname) Asks the player for a filename to open with the given filter. The filter has the form 'name1|mask1|name2|mask2|...'. A mask contains the different options with a semicolon between them. * means any string. For example: 'bitmaps|*.bmp;*.wmf'. If the user presses Cancel an empy string is returned.
get_save_filename(filter,fname) Asks for a filename to save with the given filter. If the user presses Cancel an empy string is returned.
get_directory(dname) Asks for a directory. dname is the default name. If the user presses Cancel an empy string is returned.
get_directory_alt(capt,root) An alternative way to ask for a directory. capt is the caption to be show. root is the root of the directory tree to be shown. Use the empty string to show the whole tree. If the user presses Cancel an empy string is returned.
show_error(str,abort) Displays a standard error message (and/or writes it to the log file). abort indicates whether the game should abort.