Message Box

Message Box

Type: message-box  ·  Package: UI Activities v1.0.4  ·  Output: string

Shows a Windows dialog box with a message and some buttons, and returns the button the user clicked. It is used to inform (a notice) or to ask for confirmation (“Do you want to continue?”).

Attended mode only

It blocks the execution until someone clicks a button. Don’t use it in unattended processes.

How it works

It shows message with the given buttons and icon, and waits with no time limit. It returns the name of the button clicked, which you can evaluate with an If, and logs Dialog closed with '…'.

• Windows labels the buttons in the computer’s language, but the returned value is always the English name from the table below.
• buttons and icon are picked from a list (they are not expressions) and are case-insensitive; an unknown value uses the default.
• It needs an interactive Windows desktop: it does not work when the Agent runs as a Windows service (Session 0).

Required parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
message	string	—	The message to show. Fixed text in quotes or an expression.

Optional parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
title	string	"Zoan Automation"	Window title.
buttons	string	"OK"	Buttons to show: OK, OKCancel, YesNo, YesNoCancel, RetryCancel, AbortRetryIgnore.
icon	string	"Information"	Icon: None, Information, Question, Warning, Error.

Output

Type	Description
string	The button clicked: OK, Cancel, Yes, No, Retry, Abort or Ignore.

What each combination can return:

buttons	Possible values
OK	OK
OKCancel	OK, Cancel
YesNo	Yes, No
YesNoCancel	Yes, No, Cancel
RetryCancel	Retry, Cancel
AbortRetryIgnore	Abort, Retry, Ignore

Closing the window with the X or Esc, when Windows allows it, is the same as Cancel (or OK if it is the only button).

Example

Ask for confirmation before an action:

Message Box   message = "Process " + total + " records?"   buttons = YesNo   icon = Question   → output: answer
If   condition = answer == "Yes"
 ├─ then:
 │    ... process ...
 └─ else:
      Log   level = warning   message = "Process cancelled by the user"

Common errors

Message	Cause and fix
Could not show the message box. UI activities (message-box, input-dialog) require an interactive desktop and do not work when the Agent runs as a Windows service (Session 0). …	There is no desktop to show the window on. Run the Agent in an interactive Windows session, or use Log to report without a dialog.
The condition is never met	You compared against the button’s label in another language ("Sí"). Compare against the returned value: "Yes", "No", "OK"…

Related activities

• Input Dialog — ask for a text.
• Log — record information without a dialog (suitable for unattended runs).