JavaTM Look and Feel Design Guidelines: Advanced Topics > Part II: Special Topics > 2: Windows > Alerting Users After an Object's State Changes

Alerting Users After an Object's State Changes

In some applications, an object's state can change outside a user's control--even while the user is editing the object's property window.

If the state of an object changes while a user is editing that object, display an alert box if the user tries to apply changes to the object. In that alert box, inform the user that the object's state has changed.

In alert boxes for informing users of object-state changes, provide text at least as specific as this:

Object Name changed while you were editing it. To update it with the values you entered, click Update. To discard the values you entered and use the new ones instead, click Discard. To cancel your attempt to edit this object, click Cancel.

Replace Object Name with the actual name of the changed object. If your application can detect how the object changed, display text that describes the change precisely.

Java Look and Feel Design Guidelines: Advanced Topics. Copyright 2001. Sun Microsystems, Inc. All Rights Reserved.