Dialog Filter Editor Technical Reference (Standard 7 SP1)

7/8/2014

The Dialog Filter Editor is a graphic utility you can use to create configuration files for the Dialog Box Filter. The Dialog Filter Editor is installed with the Windows Embedded Standard 7 tools in the EmbeddedSDK\bin folder. You can use the Dialog Filter Editor on any Windows 7 or Standard 7 computer (with the Dialog Box Filter installed) to create multiple configuration files for different scenarios. After you have created multiple configuration files, you can use the appropriate configuration-data file with the Dialog Box Filter if you named the configuration file “ConfigurationList.xml” and place it in the ProgramData\Microsoft\DialogFilter\ folder on the run-time image. For more information about using the Dialog Box Filter, see Add Message Blockers. The following illustration shows the Dialog Filter Editor user interface.

The Dialog Filter Editor user interface is described in the following sections:

• Dialog Filter Editor Panes
• Dialog Filter Editor Menus

Dialog Filter Editor Panes

The following sections describe the Dialog Filter Editor panes.

Visible Windows Pane

The Visible Windows pane displays a list of visible task dialogs, message boxes, property sheets, or other types of visible windows. When you start the Dialog Filter Editor, the Visible Windows pane contains the current list of open windows on the system. Periodically refresh the list by pressing F5, or by clicking Refresh from the Settings menu.

Settings Pane

The Settings pane displays a temporary list of windows that will be filtered through designated actions. When the Dialog Filter Editor starts, the list is empty. To start a new list, select windows from the Visible Windows Pane and add them to the Settings Pane. To add a window to the list, you can double-click the window in the Visible Windows pane, or highlight the window in the Visible Windows pane, and then click Add Window from the Settings menu. Remember to save the file when you finish changing the settings.

Note

When the feature is first installed, the runtime does not contain a default configurationlist.xml file.

You can also load the current list of filtered windows from the Dialog Filter Editor configurationlist.xml file. Click the File menu, and then click Open to locate a previous edit session.

The Settings pane shows the Process, Class, Title, and Action property for each window. To set the Action property, double-click the filtered window from the Settings pane. The Filter Options dialog box appears, as shown in the following illustration.

You can use the Filter Options dialog box to edit the Process Name, Class Name, Window Title, and Action properties. The default action is Close.

Important

The Dialog Box Filter and Dialog Filter Editor do not always capture the same information regarding a specific window because the Dialog Box Filter intercepts the window at its creation. Some windows change their title, process name, class, or buttons after they are created. An example of this is the Notepad application. Notepad updates its title to include the document name after the window is created. If a window fails to close after being configured with the Dialog Filter Editor, you should verify the XML created by using the log method described in Add Message Blockers.

Important

User Account Control (UAC) dialog boxes are not logged by the Dialog Box Filter and are not visible to the Dialog Filter Editor. This is by design and is meant to minimize potential security risks.

You can add comments on the Comments tab.

Warning

The comment field cannot contain XML control characters such as <, and > because those characters will corrupt the configuration file.

Dialog Filter Editor Menus

The following sections describe the Dialog Filter Editor menus.

File Menu

Command	Description
New	Creates a new configuration file.
Open	Opens an existing configuration file.
Save	Saves the currently open configuration file.
Save File As…	Opens a dialog box to enable naming of the configuration file that you are currently working with.
Exit	Closes the Dialog Filter Editor.

Settings Menu

Command	Description
Refresh	Updates the list of windows in the Visible Windows pane to the list of windows currently open on the system.
Add Window	Adds the window currently selected in the Visible Windows pane to the Settings pane.
Properties	Opens the Filter Options dialog box for the window selected in the Visible Windows pane or in the Settings pane. This item might be disabled if you do not select a window in the Settings pane.
Delete	Deletes the selected window from the Settings pane. This item might be disabled if you do not select a window in the Settings pane.

Help Menu

Command	Description
About	Displays version, copyright, and licensing information.

See Also

Tasks

Add Message Blockers

Concepts

Dialog Box Filter