METHOD FOR EXTENDING A COMMON USER INTERFACE

A method for extending a common user interface in a windowing environment of a programmed computer system. To customize a common dialog box, an application provides a sub-dialog box template defining application-specific extensions to the common dialog box, and a sub-dialog procedure for controlling the behavior of the application-specific extensions. An operating system processes input to the extended version of the common dialog box depending on where user input occurs. In response to input at application-specific controls, the system sends a message to the sub-dialog procedure. In response to input at standard controls, the system sends a message to a common dialog procedure provided in the operating system.