Message

Information displayed in a window in response to an unexpected event, a situation in which something undesirable could occur, or when there is additional status information on a process that has completed. The three types of messages are information message, warning message, and action message.

When To Use

Guidelines

	Display a warning message to indicate that an undesirable situation could occur but that the user can allow the process to continue.
	Display an action message to indicate that a condition has occurred and that the user must correct the situation and retry, choose an alternative action, or withdraw the request.
	Display an information message to indicate that a condition has occurred that the user can do nothing about or that the user must see additional information about the status of normal completion.
	If a progress indicator is displayed in a separate window, display information about the status of a process in the progress-indicator window.
	Phrase message text so that a user clearly understands what caused the message as well as what action, if any, can be taken to correct the situation that caused the message.
	Provide access to help information from each message window by providing a push button labeled Help.
	If an associated window is open, display a message in a secondary window that is dependant on the associated window.
	If no associated window is open for which a message must be displayed, augment that object's icon with a small version of the message symbol.
	Use Figure 1 to determine which symbol to use to visually identify each type of message.

Essential Related Topics

Supplemental Related Topics

Symbol Windows 3.1	Symbol Windows 95	Message Type
		Information Message
		Warning Message
		Action Message (When a user's immediate attention is not required, such as when the situation will not worsen with time.)
		Action Message (When a user's immediate attention is required.)

	Display the message symbol to the left of the message text.
	Include in the window title the name of the object and the action or situation that caused the message to appear. For example, "Drive A:
	Make messages as modeless as possible. For example, if a message is associated with an entry field in a window, make the message modeless.
	Use Figure 2 to determine when and how to display messages.

	Use a message to report unexpected or undesirable situations to the user.
	Use a message to indicate that a process has completed successfully, but there is additional information about the status of the completion that the user must see.