Messages Control File

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If you don't activate the "No DCT" checkbox, you'll need a second auxiliary file for storing the "don't ask again" feature and other data related to user's selections. In the "Messages Files" tab you will see this section:

 

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Messages Control file: This is the name of the file that will hold the secondary information. If you specify this file, you have to specify the Messages File.

You may import its definition into your DCT by copy and paste it from the example, or by importing the neatmessage.txd file from the examples folder.

Note: You may leave this file unspecified, but then you won't be able to use the "don't ask again" feature.

 

by "ID" key: This is the key of the Messages file that will identify each message for each user by an unique number. Each user choices and preferences will be saved individually.

 

"User" field: This is the field inside the file structure that will identify to which user belong this information. This could be a LONG or the field type you usually use for your users identification.

Note: If you system has no login system, you may assign a fixed value to this variable on program startup.

 

"ID" field: This is the field inside the file structure that will identify each message header's by a unique number. This should be a LONG.

 

"Ranking" field: This field will show how many times this message is shown to the user. You may arm statistics based on this. Also, if you have messages that the user sees "too much" compared with the other messages (i.e. its ranking number much higher value than the others), these are candidates for the "Do not ask again" switch. This should be a LONG.

 

"Do not ask again" field: This is the field inside the file structure that will hold each message flag regarding the "Do not ask again" status. If you enable the feature for a message, and your user mark the checkbox, this field will save a TRUE value. This should be a BOOLEAN, therefore a BYTE type field should be enough.

 

"Desired Answer" field: In this file you will save the user's answer when the "Do not ask again" feature is enabled. The next time this particular message pops up, this button will be auto-selected, unless you override the selection with the NMGLO:DesiredAnswer variable. This will hold a window control equate, therefore it should be a LONG type field.