Messages - Do you know what icons to use? (3/3 Icons)

Updated by Brady Stroud [SSW] 1 year ago. See history

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Icon

Including an icon is important because not only does it give the user a visual indication of the type of message, but without it only the Default beep sound is used. The icon should reflect the type of information being presented:

IconNameWhen to use
infoMessageBoxIcon.InformationNon-error information, e.g. Database connection test completed successfully
WarningMessageBoxIcon.WarningA non-critical error, e.g. The input was invalid
errorMessageBoxIcon.ErrorCritical error in the program, e.g. Program file was not found
MessageBoxIcon.QuestionNEVER use this.

According to Microsoft, the Question mark is being phased out, as any of the other three: Error, Warning or Information can easily be reworded into a Question, and Question does not show the user the severity of the issue that has just occurred. E.g. If you want to ask the user whether they want to save a file before closing, you should use the Warning Icon. |

We have a program called SSW CodeAuditorto check for this rule.

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