UI::Dialog(3pm)

📦

version 1.21 · 3 versions

1.21 · ubuntu jammy, ubuntu noble (latest)
1.21 · ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking
1.21 · debian bookworm, debian trixie

💖 UI::Dialog 💖

okay bestie, so this is UI::Dialog for Perl — a wrapper for various dialog applications. it's a 3pm page, part of the User Contributed Perl Documentation, and it is genuinely iconic. let's get into it 🫶

✨ NAME ✨

UI::Dialog — wrapper for various dialog applications. that's it, that's the name, slay.

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

use UI::Dialog;
my $d = new UI::Dialog ( backtitle => 'Demo', title => 'Default',
                         height => 20, width => 65 , listheight => 5,
                         order => [ 'zenity', 'xdialog' ] );

# Either a Zenity or Xdialog msgbox widget should popup,
# with a preference for Zenity.
$d->msgbox( title => 'Welcome!', text => 'Welcome one and all!' );

so like, either a Zenity or an Xdialog msgbox widget should pop up, with a preference for Zenity. the vibes are choosing for you 💅

✨ ABSTRACT ✨

UI::Dialog is a OOPerl wrapper for the various dialog applications. no cap. these dialog backends are currently supported: Zenity, XDialog, GDialog, KDialog, CDialog, and Whiptail. there's also an ASCII backend provided as a last resort interface for the console based dialog variants — it's giving emergency backup bestie 😭

UI::Dialog is a class that provides a strict interface to these various backend modules. by using UI:Dialog (with it's imposed limitations on the widgets) you can ensure that your Perl program will function with any available interfaces. that's the dream fr fr ✨

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

UI::Dialog supports priority ordering of the backend detection process. so if you'd prefer that Xdialog should be used first if available, simply designate the desired order when creating the new object. main character energy, honestly 👑

the default order for detecting and utilization of the backends are as follows:

(with DISPLAY env): Zenity, GDialog, XDialog, KDialog
(without DISPLAY): CDialog, Whiptail, ASCII

UI::Dialog is the result of a complete re-write of the UDPM CPAN module. this was done to break away from the bad choice of name (UserDialogPerlModule) and to implement a cleaner, more detached, OOPerl interface. glow-up of the century 🦋

✨ EXPORT ✨

None

literally nothing. we gatekeep 🎀

✨ INHERITS ✨

None

nobody. it's independent, it's self-made 💅

✨ CONSTRUCTOR ✨

✨ `new( @options )` ✨

EXAMPLE

my $d = new( title => 'Default Title', backtitle => 'Backtitle',
             width => 65, height => 20, listheight => 5,
             order => [ 'zenity', 'xdialog', 'gdialog' ] );

DESCRIPTION

this is the Class Constructor method. it accepts a list of key => value pairs and uses them as the defaults when interacting with the various widgets. set it and forget it, bestie.

RETURNS

a blessed object reference of the UI::Dialog class. it's alive, it's blessed, it's thriving ⭐

OPTIONS

the (...)'s after each option indicate the default for the option. an * denotes support by all the widget methods on a per-use policy defaulting to the values decided during object creation. iykyk.

debug = 0,1,2 (0)
order = [ zenity, xdialog, gdialog, kdialog, cdialog, whiptail, ascii ] (as indicated)
PATH = [ /bin, /usr/bin, /usr/local/bin, /opt/bin ] (as indicated)
backtitle = "backtitle" ('') *
title = "title" ('') *
beepbefore = 0,1 (0) *
beepafter = 0,1 (0) *
height = \d+ (20) *
width = \d+ (65) *
listheight = \d+ (5) *

✨ STATE METHODS ✨

✨ `state( )` ✨

EXAMPLE

if ($d->state() eq "OK") {
    $d->msgbox( text => "that went well" );
}

DESCRIPTION

returns the state of the last dialog widget command. the value can be one of "OK", "CANCEL", "ESC". the return data is based on the exit codes (return value) of the last widget displayed. so like, it's reading the room 📖

RETURNS

a single SCALAR.

✨ `ra( )` ✨

EXAMPLE

my @array = $d->ra();

DESCRIPTION

returns the last widget's data as an array.

RETURNS

an ARRAY.

✨ `rs( )` ✨

EXAMPLE

my $string = $d->rs();

DESCRIPTION

returns the last widget's data as a (possibly multiline) string.

RETURNS

a SCALAR.

✨ `rv( )` ✨

EXAMPLE

my $string = $d->rv();

DESCRIPTION

returns the last widget's exit status, aka: return value.

RETURNS

a SCALAR.

✨ `yesno( )` ✨

EXAMPLE

if ($d->yesno( text => 'A binary type question?') ) {
    # user pressed yes
} else {
    # user pressed no or cancel
}

DESCRIPTION

present the end user with a message box that has two buttons, yes and no. the classic binary moment 🎀

RETURNS

TRUE (1) for a response of YES or FALSE (0) for anything else.

✨ `msgbox( )` ✨

EXAMPLE

$d->msgbox( text => 'A simple message' );

DESCRIPTION

pesent the end user with a message box that has an OK button. (yes, "pesent" — i'm quoting the original's typo, it's canon, it's part of the lore 🙈)

RETURNS

TRUE (1) for a response of OK or FALSE (0) for anything else.

✨ `inputbox( )` ✨

EXAMPLE

my $string = $d->inputbox( text => 'Please enter some text...',
                           entry => 'this is the input field' );

DESCRIPTION

present the end user with a text input field and a message.

RETURNS

a SCALAR if the response is OK and FALSE (0) for anything else.

✨ `password( )` ✨

EXAMPLE

my $string = $d->password( text => 'Enter some hidden text.' );

DESCRIPTION

present the end user with a text input field, that has hidden input, and a message. secretive. mysterious. ✨

⚠️ note that the GDialog backend will provide a regular inputbox instead of a password box because gdialog doesn't support passwords. GDialog is on it's way to the proverbial software heaven so this isn't a real problem. use Zenity instead :) 🕊️

RETURNS

a SCALAR if the response is OK and FALSE (0) for anything else.

✨ `textbox( )` ✨

EXAMPLE

$d->textbox( path => '/path/to/a/text/file' );

DESCRIPTION

present the end user with a simple scrolling box containing the contents of the given text file.

RETURNS

TRUE (1) if the response is OK and FALSE (0) for anything else.

✨ `menu( )` ✨

EXAMPLE

my $selection1 = $d->menu( text => 'Select one:',
                           list => [ 'tag1', 'item1',
                                     'tag2', 'item2',
                                     'tag3', 'item3' ] );

DESCRIPTION

present the user with a selectable list. choose your fighter 💅

RETURNS

a SCALAR of the chosen tag if the response is OK and FALSE (0) for anything else.

✨ `checklist( )` ✨

EXAMPLE

my @selection1 = $d->checklist( text => 'Select one:',
                                list => [ 'tag1', [ 'item1', 0 ],
                                          'tag2', [ 'item2', 1 ],
                                          'tag3', [ 'item3', 1 ] ]
                              );

DESCRIPTION

present the user with a selectable checklist. pick as many as you want, no judgement 🫶

RETURNS

an ARRAY of the chosen tags if the response is OK and FALSE (0) for anything else.

✨ `radiolist( )` ✨

EXAMPLE

my $selection1 = $d->radiolist( text => 'Select one:',
                                list => [ 'tag1', [ 'item1', 0 ],
                                          'tag2', [ 'item2', 1 ],
                                          'tag3', [ 'item3', 0 ] ]
                              );

DESCRIPTION

present the user with a selectable radiolist. one choice only, it's giving monogamy 💀

RETURNS

a SCALAR of the chosen tag if the response is OK and FALSE (0) for anything else.

✨ `fselect( )` ✨

EXAMPLE

my $text = $d->fselect( path => '/path/to/a/file/or/directory' );

DESCRIPTION

present the user with a file selection widget preset with the given path.

RETURNS

a SCALAR if the response is OK and FALSE (0) for anything else.

✨ `dselect( )` ✨

EXAMPLE

my $text = $d->dselect( path => '/path/to/a/file/or/directory' );

DESCRIPTION

present the user with a file selection widget preset with the given path. unlike fselect() this widget will only return a directory selection. directories only, we're being specific 🎯

RETURNS

a SCALAR if the response is OK and FALSE (0) for anything else.

✨ SEE ALSO ✨

✨ PERLDOC ✨

UI::Dialog::GNOME
UI::Dialog::KDE
UI::Dialog::Console
UI::Dialog::Backend
UI::Dialog::Backend::ASCII
UI::Dialog::Backend::CDialog
UI::Dialog::Backend::GDialog
UI::Dialog::Backend::KDialog
UI::Dialog::Backend::Nautilus
UI::Dialog::Backend::Whiptail
UI::Dialog::Backend::XDialog
UI::Dialog::Backend::XOSD
UI::Dialog::Backend::Zenity

✨ MAN FILES ✨

dialog(1), whiptail(1), zenity(1), gdialog(1), Xdialog(1), osd_cat(1), kdialog(1) and nautilus(1)

the whole squad 🫂

✨ BUGS ✨

please email the author with any bug reports. include the name of the module in the subject line. don't be shy, bestie, the author wants to know 🙈

✨ AUTHOR ✨

Kevin C. Krinke, <kevin@krinke.ca> — the icon, the legend, the moment 👑

✨ COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE ✨

 Copyright (C) 2004-2016  Kevin C. Krinke <kevin@krinke.ca>

 This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
 modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
 License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
 version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

 This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
 Lesser General Public License for more details.

 You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
 License along with this library; if not, write to the Free Software
 Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307 USA

and that's the whole page, bestie 🌈 this one shipped as perl v5.28.0, dated 2018-10-27 — vintage, lowkey timeless, fr fr 💜

📦 where this page comes from

ubuntu jammy: libui-dialog-perl 1.21-0.1 · LGPL-2.1-or-later
ubuntu noble: libui-dialog-perl 1.21-0.1 · LGPL-2.1-or-later
💖 girlified by deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash on 2026-10-14: a language model's rewrite of the original, under its terms

UI::Dialog(3pm)

💖 UI::Dialog 💖

✨ NAME ✨

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

✨ ABSTRACT ✨

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

✨ EXPORT ✨

✨ INHERITS ✨

✨ CONSTRUCTOR ✨

✨ new( @options ) ✨

✨ STATE METHODS ✨

✨ state( ) ✨

✨ ra( ) ✨

✨ rs( ) ✨

✨ rv( ) ✨

✨ WIDGET METHODS ✨

✨ yesno( ) ✨

✨ msgbox( ) ✨

✨ inputbox( ) ✨

✨ password( ) ✨

✨ textbox( ) ✨

✨ menu( ) ✨

✨ checklist( ) ✨

✨ radiolist( ) ✨

✨ fselect( ) ✨

✨ dselect( ) ✨

✨ SEE ALSO ✨

✨ PERLDOC ✨

✨ MAN FILES ✨

✨ BUGS ✨

✨ AUTHOR ✨

✨ COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE ✨

✨ `new( @options )` ✨

✨ `state( )` ✨

✨ `ra( )` ✨

✨ `rs( )` ✨

✨ `rv( )` ✨

✨ `yesno( )` ✨

✨ `msgbox( )` ✨

✨ `inputbox( )` ✨

✨ `password( )` ✨

✨ `textbox( )` ✨

✨ `menu( )` ✨

✨ `checklist( )` ✨

✨ `radiolist( )` ✨

✨ `fselect( )` ✨

✨ `dselect( )` ✨