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XMESSAGE(1)		    General Commands Manual		   XMESSAGE(1)

NAME
       xmessage	- display a message or query in	a window (X-based /bin/echo)

SYNOPSIS
       xmessage	[ -buttons label1[:value1],label2[:value2], ...	 ] [ options ]
       -file filename
       xmessage	[ -buttons label1[:value1],label2[:value2], ...	 ] [ options ]
       message ...
       xmessage	[ -help	| -version ]

DESCRIPTION
       The  xmessage  program  displays	a window containing a message from the
       command line, a file, or	standard input.	 Along the lower edge  of  the
       message	is  row	 of  buttons; clicking the left	mouse button on	any of
       these buttons will cause	xmessage to exit.  Which button	was pressed is
       returned	in the exit status and,	optionally, by writing	the  label  of
       the button to standard output.

       The  program  is	typically used by shell	scripts	to display information
       to the user or to ask the user to make a	choice.

       Unless a	size is	specified, xmessage sizes itself to fit	 the  message,
       up  to a	maximum	size.  If the message is too big for the window, xmes-
       sage will display scroll	bars.

OPTIONS
       These are the command line options that xmessage	understands, in	 addi-
       tion to the standard ones listed	in X(7).

       -buttons	button,button,...
	       This  option  will cause	xmessage to create one button for each
	       comma-separated button argument.	 The corresponding resource is
	       buttons.	 Each button consists of a label  optionally  followed
	       by  a  colon  and  an exit value.  The label is the name	of the
	       Command button widget created and will be the default text dis-
	       played to the user.  Since this is the name of  the  widget  it
	       may be used to change any of the	resources associated with that
	       button.	 The  exit  value will be returned by xmessage if that
	       button is selected.  The	default	exit value  is	100  plus  the
	       button  number.	 Buttons  are  numbered	from the left starting
	       with one.  The default string if	no -buttons option is given is
	       okay:0.

       -default	label
	       Defines the button with a matching label	to be the default.  If
	       not specified there is no default.  The corresponding  resource
	       is  defaultButton.   Pressing  Return  anywhere in the xmessage
	       window will activate the	default	button.	  The  default	button
	       has a wider border than the others.

       -file filename
	       File  to	display.  The corresponding resource is	file.  A file-
	       name of `-' reads from standard input.  If this option  is  not
	       supplied, xmessage will display all non-option arguments	in the
	       style  of  echo.	 Either	-file or a message on the command line
	       should be provided, but not both.

       -print  This will cause the program to write the	label  of  the	button
	       pressed	to  standard output.  Equivalent to setting the	print-
	       Value resource to TRUE.	This is	one way	to get feedback	as  to
	       which button was	pressed.

       -center Pop  up	the window at the center of the	screen.	 Equivalent to
	       setting the center resource to TRUE.

       -nearmouse
	       Pop up the window near the mouse	cursor.	 Equivalent to setting
	       the nearMouse resource to TRUE.

       -timeout	secs
	       Exit with status	0 after	secs  seconds  if  the	user  has  not
	       clicked	on  a button yet.  The corresponding resource is time-
	       out.

       -help   Print a usage message and exit.

       -version
	       Print version info and exit.

WIDGET HIERARCHY
       Knowing the name	and position in	the hierarchy of each widget is	useful
       when specifying resources for them.  In the following chart, the	 class
       and name	of each	widget is given.

       Xmessage	(xmessage)
	    Form form
		 Text message
		 Command (label1)
		 Command (label2)
		 .
		 .
		 .

RESOURCES
       The  program  has a few top-level application resources that allow cus-
       tomizations that	are specific to	xmessage.

       file    A String	specifying the file to display.

       buttons A String	specifying the buttons to display.  See	 the  -buttons
	       command-line option.

       defaultButton
	       A String	specifying a default button by label.

       printValue
	       A  Boolean  value  specifying  whether  the label of the	button
	       pressed to exit the program is written to standard output.  The
	       default is FALSE.

       center  A Boolean value specifying whether to pop up the	window at  the
	       center of the screen.  The default is FALSE.

       nearMouse
	       A  Boolean  value  specifying whether to	pop up the window near
	       the mouse cursor.  The default is FALSE.

       timeout The number of seconds after which to exit with status  0.   The
	       default is 0, which means never time out.

       maxHeight (class	Maximum)
	       The  maximum  height  of	the text part of the window in pixels,
	       used if no size was specified in	the geometry.  The default  is
	       0, which	means use 70% of the height of the screen.

       maxWidth	(class Maximum)
	       The  maximum  width  of	the text part of the window in pixels,
	       used if no size was specified in	the geometry.  The default  is
	       0, which	means use 70% of the width of the screen.

ACTIONS
       exit(value)
	       exit  immediately  with	an  exit  status of value (default 0).
	       This action can be used with translations to provide  alternate
	       ways of exiting xmessage.

       default-exit()
	       exit  immediately with the exit status specified	by the default
	       button.	If there is no default button, this action has no  ef-
	       fect.

EXIT STATUS
       If it detects an	error, xmessage	returns	1, so this value should	not be
       used with a button.

SEE ALSO
       X(7), echo(1), cat(1)

AUTHORS
       Chris Peterson, MIT Project Athena
       Stephen Gildea, X Consortium

X Version 11			xmessage 1.0.7			   XMESSAGE(1)

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