OpenOffice.org is an invaluable asset on a computer in any home or office; it's Writer component can be used to write any documents (such as a letter to the bank manager, or even an article for Suite101); and the Calc component can be used to produce spreadsheets for everything from daily household cash management to to multi-million dollar business proposals (and hence using Writer to put together a letter to the bank manager). Unfortunately, it doesn't take long for these spreadsheets to become very complicated, often much too complicated for new users; fortunately a spreadsheet designer can make life much easier by introducing custom dialog boxes.

Creating a Custom Dialog Box

There are three stages to creating a custom dialog box:

  • design the dialog using OpenOffice's IDE (Integrated Design Environment)
  • write the code that provides functionality to the dialog
  • associate code to any objects such as buttons

So, the first job to do is to create the dialog box itself (using the OpenOffice Basic IDE); and to do this click on: