As most of you know, one of the easiest ways to learn a new language or language feature is to hack it. So here is a quick 3 page hack which explains how to create a tabular dialog box.

A tabular dialog box is made up of multiple dialogs layered upon one another. So the first thing to do is create the individual dialogs.

The macro below creates a simple ABOUT dialog.

/***************************************************
* A simple ABOUT dialog box that can be executed alone
* or added to a tabular dialog box.
***************************************************/
void myAboutDialog ( ) Trans2
{
 
  int dlg = parse_int("/DLG=", mparm_str);
  int m   = parse_int("/M=", mparm_str);
  int res = parse_int("/RES=", mparm_str);
 
/********************************************************************
* When used from another function (such as a tabbed dialog box)
* The m variable would allow you to exclude the execution of the dialog
* and give control to the calling macro. 0 would build the 'stand alone'
* dialog while 1 would only build the controls for the dialog
* NOTE that the title will also be omitted so the tab can be used.
*********************************************************************/
  switch ( m ) {
    case 0 :
      call _BuildCtrls;
      call _EndDlg;
      DlgKill( dlg );
      return_int = 0;
      break;
 
    case 1 :
      call _BuildCtrls;
      break;
 
    case 2 :
      call _EndDlg;
      break;
  }
 
  return();
 
_BuildCtrls:
 
//If not already created, create the dialog
  if(!dlg)
    DlgCreate( dlg );
 
/************************************************************
  Here the controls to the newly created dialog are added.
  For a list of the available controls view the DIALOG.SH file located in
  the src subdirectory of your Multi-Edit install.
 
  int DlgAddCtrl( int dlg,    // the dialog handle create with DlgCreate
                  int ctrltype,   // the control type
                  str ctrltext,   // the control title
                  int x,          // the x coordinate or column number
                  int y,          // the y coordinate or row number
                  int width,      // the width of the control
                  int height,     // the height of the control
                  int ctrlid,     // the identifying number for the control
                  int flags,      // bit flags
                  str misc        // miscelaneous parameters
              );
 
  Please note the use of 'Dlg_PosOffset'.  This holds the positioning
  value of the last added control.  'Dlg_NegOffset' can also be used
  to position the next control in reverse reference to the previous.
*************************************************************/
 
  //Bitmap/icon - for information on DLG_Units, view Microsofts API help
  DlgAddCtrl( dlg, DLG_BitmapStatic, "WL_SETUP_WIZ",
              DLG_Units | 1, DLG_Units | 1, 0, 0, -1, 0, "");
 
 
  //Group box just to make it visually appealing..
  DlgAddCtrl( dlg, DLG_GroupBox, "About...", 5, 1, 35, 4, -1, 0, "" );
 
/************************************************************
The next three controls are static text labels.  These remain seperated
to allow easier positioning.
*************************************************************/
  DlgAddCtrl( dlg, DLG_Static, "How to create a Tabular Dialog",
      Dlg_PosOffset + 3, Dlg_PosOffset + 1, 0, 0,
      1000, 0, "");
  DlgAddCtrl( dlg, DLG_Static, "By",
      Dlg_PosOffset + 12, Dlg_PosOffset + 1, 0, 0,
      1000, 0, "");
  DlgAddCtrl( dlg, DLG_Static, "Dan Hughes - MESI",
      Dlg_NegOffset + 6, Dlg_PosOffset + 1, 0, 0,
      1000, 0, "");
 
  //If this is a stand alone dialog, add an OK button to it.
  if ( m == 0)
  {
    DlgAddCtrl( dlg, DLG_PushButton, "OK",
        38 - ((DLG_StanBtnWidth + 1) * 2), DLG_PosOffset + 3, DLG_StanBtnWidth, 0,
        2001, DLGF_DefButton, "/R=1");
 
    res = DlgExecute( dlg, 1000, "My About Dialog", "", "", 0 );
  }
  ret;
 
_EndDlg:
  if ( res )
  {
    //redraw the screen
    redraw;
  }
  ret;
}  // myAboutDialog

Onward to part 2: Creating a tabular dialog box