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Motif and CDE 2.1 Style Guide Reference

Push Button (Predefined)

Reference

Description

Push buttons can provide predefined functions. The predefined push buttons are Apply, Cancel, Close, Continue, Help, More, No, OK, Pause, Reset, Reset To Default, Resume, Retry, Save As Default, Stop, Undo, and Yes.

When to Use

Required
Use a push button with the predefined label when you provide the function defined as follows:

Apply
An action choice that appears in a window and makes the changes indicated in the window without closing it.

Cancel
An action choice that removes a secondary window without applying any changes made in that window.

Close
An action choice that removes a window and all of the windows associated with it from a screen.

Continue
An action choice that resumes a task that has been interrupted by the application operating environment when the user can proceed as originally requested.

Help
An action choice used on push buttons in secondary windows to provide help specific to that window.

A cascading choice that appears as a menu-bar item and provides access to other menu items that contain information related to the use of the application.

More
An action choice that displays additional controls in a separate window.

An action choice that expands the current dialog to show more value choices and replaces itself with the current dialog.

No
An action choice that indicates a negative response to a question presented in a message.

OK
An action choice that accepts the information in a window and closes it. If the window contains changed information, those changes are applied before the window is closed.

Pause
An action choice that temporarily suspends a task without ending it.

RESET
An action choice that resets the values displayed in a dialog or property window to the values they had when the window became displayed or when the values were last saved as defaults, whichever is most recent.

Reset To Default
An action choice that resets the values displayed in a dialog or property window to the values they had when default values were last saved.

Resume
An action choice that resumes a task that the user paused.

Retry
An action choice that attempts to complete an interrupted task.

Save As Default
An action choice that saves the values displayed in a dialog or property window as defaults to be used when the same (or similar) window is subsequently displayed to the same user by the application.

Stop
An action choice that ends a task and removes the message window.

Undo
An action choice that undoes the effect of the last Apply.

Yes
An action choice that indicates a positive response to a question presented in a message by an application or the system.

Guidelines

Required
If you provide the Cancel and Help push buttons, place them to the right of all other push buttons. For information on bidirectional and vertical language support, see Chapter 11.

Required
Do not use both a Close push button and a Cancel push button in the same window.

Required
Provide a Resume push button whenever you provide a Pause push button.

Required
When the user makes changes in a dialog or property window and then activates Reset before committing them, return the application to the state that it was in before the user made the changes. Do not reset changes that have been previously committed, for example when the user has selected Apply or OK.

Required
When the user selects Reset, restore the settings of values only in the window where Reset was activated.

Required
Provide a Reset push button whenever you provide an Apply or OK push button.

Recommended
When Apply and Undo are both provided as push buttons in a window, unless the Undo label is augmented to indicate otherwise, make Undo undo the effects of the last Apply. If you support only a single-level Undo, then after the user selects Undo, restore the changes undone if the user selects Undo again.

Recommended
Provide an Undo push button whenever you provide an Apply push button.

Recommended
Provide a Save As Default push button if you expect the user to save the values just set.

Recommended
When the user selects the Help push button, provide access to help information that directly relates to the user's current situation. For example, when the user encounters an error message, provide easy access to information that will assist the user in solving the problem that caused the error message.

Recommended
When the user selects the Help push button, display help information in a separate primary window.

Essential Related Topics

For more information, see the Push Button (Control) reference page.

Supplemental Related Topics

For more information, see the Action Message, Close (Choice), Default Action, Help Menu, and Primary Window reference pages.

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