A/UX® System Administrator's Reference Sections 1M, 7, and 8

macquery(lM) macquery(lM)
NAME
macquery - post a Macintosh® alert box to query the user
SYNOPSIS
macquery [-t timeout] [-a] [-c] [-n] [-s] resource-file
alertID [parmi ... parm4]
DESCRIPTION
macquery is invoked by shell scripts or commands that do not
directly use the Macintosh Toolbox but still need to present a
Macintosh interface when asking the user simple questions or giving
the user information. It is used to post an alert box that asks a
question or supplies information. The alert box may include static
text, icons, and QuickDraw pictures, but should not include
check boxes, radio buttons, editable text fields, or other more complex
controls. (See Chapter 13 of Inside Macintosh, Volume I, for
more information about alerts and controls.) Typically, Apple's
ResEdit utility is used to create alert resource definitions.
The command that invokes macquery must supply a resource
filename resource-file and the ID alertID of an alert resource
defined in that file. The alert is posted exactly as it is defined in
the resource, unless a flag option indicates that one of the standard
alert icons should also be displayed in the alert box. (See Inside
Macintosh, Volume I, for more discussion of the various types of
standard alerts.)
Up to four parameter strings may be included in the arguments.
These replace the corresponding special strings '''0' through '''3'
in the strings in the alert definition. (See the discussion of the
ParamText call in Inside Macintosh, Volume I, for further discussion
of parameter strings usage.)
When the user chooses an enabled button, macquery closes the
alert and exits. The exit status indicates which button the user
chose (or that an error occurred). See the section "EXIT
CODES" for more information.
FLAG OPTIONS
The following flag options are interpreted by macquery:
1
-t timeout
Select the default button automatically if the user has not
selected a button in the alert box after timeout seconds. The
default button must be the first item in the alert definition and
is indicated visually by a bold outline.
February, 1990
Revision C