Method

MsgBox

Warning

This item was deprecated in version 2019r2. Please use MessageBox or MessageDialog as a replacement.

Description

Displays message box showing the string passed. With the exception of simple message boxes, you should use the MessageDialog class instead.

Usage

Web Apps

MsgBox(message)

Displays message in a browser dialog with a single OK button.

Console Apps

MsgBox(message)

Works the same as Print. The message is output to the console/terminal.

Desktop Apps

result = MsgBox(message [,buttons][,title])

Part

Type

Description

result

Integer

Indicates which button was pressed.

message

String

Any valid string expression.

buttons

Integer

Optional code indicating the icon and choice of buttons displayed in the Message box.

title

String

Optional text displayed in the Title bar (Windows and Linux).

Notes

Warning

MsgBox remains for Visual Basic (VB) compatibility-only. Instead use MessageBox.

Warning

You should avoid using MsgBox for displaying debugging messages. The displaying of the Message Box will alter event order and may give unexpected results. Instead use the Debugger, System.DebugLog or your own logging mechanism.

A message can be presented to the user with either the MsgBox function or the MessageDialog class. The MsgBox function is recommended for simple informational messages only. For other situations, the MessageDialog class is more appropriate. It enables you to add up to three buttons, label them in any way, and take any action after the user clicked a button. MsgBox is also ideally suited for porting VisualBasic programs to Xojo.

The Message box opened by MsgBox has a Title bar. On Windows, the dialog also has a Close widget in its Title bar. The dialog can be closed either by clicking OK or clicking the Close widget. On Windows and Linux, the width increases to accommodate the longest paragraph. On Macintosh, the Message box has a fixed width and the text word-wraps to fit the width of the MsgBox.

Multiple paragraphs can be passed in the message parameter by separating each paragraph with the EndOfLine function.

Closing a MsgBox gives the focus back to the window, which calls its Activate event.

On macOS only the Caution icon is displayed. This is the result of changes made by Apple in HID specs. See here for details.

The MsgBox buttons are not localized — this is a known bug (feedback report 4665).

The buttons parameter

Buttons is an optional parameter that enables you to customize the buttons and icon displayed in the message box to a limited extent. You get a fixed choice of button text and button positions. The value of Buttons is the sum of values that describe the number and labelling of the buttons, the icon, and the default button.There are three groups of button values; each group offers choices for a particular feature.

roup 1: Number and Type of Buttons.

Value

Description

0

Display OK button only.

1

Display OK and Cancel buttons.

2

Display Abort, Retry, and Ignore buttons.

3

Display Yes, No, and Cancel buttons.

4

Display Yes and No buttons only.

5

Display Retry and Cancel buttons.

The second group of values specifies the icon to be displayed.

roup 2: Icon to be Displayed.

Value

Description

0

No icon.

16

Stop sign icon.

32

Question icon.

48

Caution triangle icon.

64

Note Icon.

The third group of values pertains to the selection of the default button. The terms first, second, and third in the following table do not necessarily refer to the physical positions of the buttons, which may vary among platforms. It refers to the ordering in the Group 1 table.

roup 3: Selection of Default Button.

Value

Description

0

First button of Group 1 list is the default.

256

Second button of Group 1 list is the default.

512

Third button of Group 1 list is the default.

768

No button is the default.

Since the value of the button parameter is the sum, you make a selection from each of the three tables, add up their values and pass that value. For example, if you want the buttons to be the "Abort, Retry, and Ignore" set, with a Caution icon, and Retry as the default, you would add up 2 + 48 + 256 = 306. This also illustrates why you should be using the MessageDialog class for a message dialog such as this. In contrast, the MessageDialog class allows you to set button text to any string and set the default property via a Boolean property.

Sample code

This code displays a one line Message box.

MsgBox("Hello, world!")

The following desktop code displays a multiline Message box. The text after the two EndOfLine functions appears in plain type and a smaller font size. Please note that it is entered as one line in the Code Editor.

MsgBox("Please enter all your credit card info, bank accounts, and trust funds before proceeding to run my shareware application." _
  + EndOfLine + EndOfLine + "Any additional voluntary contributions are gratefully accepted.")

This desktop code displays a Message box with "Yes" and "No" buttons.

Var n As Integer
n = MsgBox("Do you want to rebuild this mailbox?", 36)
If n = 6 Then
  ' user pressed Yes
ElseIf n = 7 Then
  ' user pressed No
End If

Compatibility

All project types on all supported operating systems.