Change size of Alert window

Hi,

Does anyone know if it is possible to change the size of the window that gets popped up as part of an Alert action?

I currently have an alert w/ a long sentence that is getting wrapped. I would really like to increase the width so that the whole thing fits on one line.

Thanks!

No, there is no control over the sizing of the Alert or Prompt For User Input windows.

If you want more control over UI things like that, the only solution would be to use some other tool to display the UI in the way you desire (eg AppleScript, although I’m not sure how expressive its UI controls are, or perhaps some other UI scriptable tool).

AppleScript provides no size or font control over dialogs whatsoever.

AppleScriptObjectiveC on the other hand should let you do pretty much what you want, although it's a great deal more complex to use than plain AppleScript.

Another option is Pashua.

It seems to me like there's one more, but I can't think of it at the moment.

-Chris

This is a free association from your question... I wanted to be able to display text in a BIG box. Analogous to the the Large Type option in Alfred. So, I just used it. I trigger an AppleScript and execute a workflow in Alfred, passing the text as a variable. I can explain details if there is interest. It's pretty dang cool - I also like it because Alfred has the option of displaying Large Type as an overlay over the whole screen - and it doesn't go away until you "acknowledge" it (I pop a message full screen when my machine connects to a wifi network that isn't my home network - just want to be mindful of what I have just logged in to...). Hint... it would be fantastic if Keyboard Maestro had this functionality natively.

I would also love this kind of functionality in Keyboard Maestro!

I could also find a lot of uses for a better dialog with:

Font control.
Type-selectable pick-lists.
Type-selectable radio buttons and/or checkboxes.
Etcetera…

-Chris

MacUpdate/MUPromo gives Pashua and Platypus as script wrappers. Perhaps Chris could advise which is better, or which to look at first. Pashua is on 0.1 whilst Platypus is 4.9. Both are free. BUT I have no idea if I need them or need to understand them.

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Hey Jonathon,

I've played with Pashua & Platypus just enough to discover they were complicated enough that I didn't really want to mess with them. I would have if I really had the need, but I've managed to do most of what I want with AppleScript dialogs or Keyboard Maestro dialogs.

Both of these apps are going to be simpler than building dialogs with ASObjC.

So it really depends what your needs are and your willingness to invest the time to learn how to use the tools.

Way back in the day I used the Dialog Director OSAX to great effect, but it too was not for the faint of heart.

Another option is Smile [link] — an AppleScript Editor that can produce sophisticated dialogs. But there too the learning curve is pretty steep.

-Chris

Something like this?

Or something entirely unlike that, depending on what you do.

Is this one more version 7 tease?

Peter,

That looks super.

Does type-select work with the various widgets?

-Chris

You're not suggesting this wasn't just a nice picture are you?

It appears to. Popup menus still have the weird delay until they accept typing, but I doubt I can resolve that.