I got tired of the limits of alert() & confirm(), which are all Javascript has for collecting user responses.
I wanted the power of VB/VBA/VBScript's Msgbox function (rather than just mixing VBScript with Javascript, which often isn't an option).
So I rolled my own and called it jsMsgbox. It can do nearly everything a native VBScript Msgbox can, including
full icon/buttons choices, control of the dialog title, and keyboard accessibility. Check it out..
In msgbox.js, path to js_msgbox.html will need to be adjusted to your application
(haven't found a way to make the path relative to the script file itself, rather than to the page which includes it).
jsMsgbox makes Msgbox constants like vbYes, vbNo, vbCancel, vbOK, etc. available to Javascript.
Use these to compare to the value returned from the Msgbox function.
Differences/limitations:
Unlike a real VBScript Msgbox, jsMsgbox can't accept the actual constants.
Instead, it takes a string of the constant names.
This may change in a future version (when I figure out how to pull apart "or"-ed constants).
With particularly odd or large sizes of prompt text, there might be strange text flow artifacts
as the function tries to guess how large to make the dialog.
(Unfortunately there's just no good way to detect the true size used by text in the browser.) Update:jsMsgbox now resizes itself to the size of the text much more accurately.
A VBScript Msgbox disables the dialog window "X" button when vbAbortRetryIgnore is chosen (since cancel isn't an option).
jsMsgbox cannot do this.
The vbSystemModal constant has no effect. Only vbApplicationModal is possible (default).
XP SP2 Compatibility:
Unfortunately, Service Pack 2 for Windows XP slightly uglifies jsMsgbox when used on public websites. When run in IE's Internet Zone, jsMsgbox shows a status bar at the bottom (which look strange on a dialog). This is because SP2 now forces status bars on on all popup windows (ignoring the "status:no" directive), including the modal/modeless dialogs on which jsMsgbox relies (ref, ref). Note that this only happens in IE's Internet Zone, so Intranet web apps (which it's best for anyway) running in IE's Local Intranet or Trusted Zones are unaffected.
Update:jsMsgbox now automatically detects if it is likely to be affected by these changes, and pads the dialog's height to suit.
history
2004-09-24 - auto-detect & vertical pad for XPSP2, improved dialog sizing, demo improvements, miscellaneous tweaks
2004-01-22 - version 1.0
support
As-is, etc. If you ask nicely, I may provide support via email.
credits/author
-Rob (@slingfive) Eberhardt, Slingshot Solutions
Use freely, but be honest about it. I just ask for credit.