Ask for user intervention during a macro - e.g., allow the user to select a ROI. Not needed with ImageJ 1.39r or later.

When called from a macro, this plugin halts the macro and displays a dialog box asking for user intervention. The macro proceeds as soon as the user clicks “OK”.

The argument passed in the macro is displayed as a text in the dialog box. Below this text, a line “Thereafter, press OK” and the OK button are shown.

With ImageJ 1.39r or later, the Plugin is not needed. Use the built-in macro command waitForUser(“Message”) orwaitForUser(“Title”, “Message”). Replace “Title” and “Message” with any text you like.

For older versions of ImageJ:

• Copy Wait_For_User.java into the ImageJ plugins folder or a subfolder thereof.
• Compile with “Compile and run” and press “OK”. Disregard any deprecation warning.
• Restart ImageJ.
• Now the plugin is loaded into ImageJ and can be used in a macro.

This macro asks the user to create a rectangular ROI in the image. Then, the image is inverted inside this ROI.

run("Blobs (25K)");                                  //open sample image
myImageID = getImageID();                            //remember the image
setTool(0);                                          //Rectangle tool 
beep();                                              //alert the user
run("Wait For User", "Select Rectangle to Invert");  //wait for user action
selectImage(myImageID);                              //make sure we have the same foreground image again
if (selectionType() != 0)                            //make sure we have got a rectangular selection
exit("Sorry, no rectangle");
run("Invert");                                       //invert the selection

With ImageJ 1.39r or later, use the built-in WaitForUserDialog class:

  new WaitForUserDialog("Do something, then click OK.").show();

This will bring up a dialog window with Title “Action Required”. You can also use

  new WaitForUserDialog("Title", "Do something, then click OK.").show();

for having a custom title (thanks to Wayne!).

Older ImageJ versions can use the following java code in a plugin:

  IJ.run("Wait For User","Select Rectangle to Invert");

This code requres that the Wait_For_User plugin is loaded and it must appear somewhere in a menu (e.g. Plugins menu) as menu item “Wait For User” (exactly like that).

How to run it from another PlugIn?
Posted by Dwight U Bartholomew at 2008-01-24 23:29

I've tried running it from another PlugIn (one that I'm writing) but I can't pass the TEXT 
message.

I've tried using the expression
IJ.runPlugIn("Wait_For_User", "Please select a ROI");
but that doesn't work. The only text I see is "Thereafter, press OK".
Well, it still waits for the User to perform the ROI selection but I'd really like the message 
to be more informative.

I'm suspecting the "Wait_for_User" is meant to be called from a macro. Is there a modification 
to allow it to be run from another PlugIn?

Dwight
dwight.bartholomew@l-3com.com

Re: How to run it from another PlugIn?
Posted by Michael Schmid at 2008-01-25 15:53

IJ.runPlugIn passes the second argument as 'arg', and not via Macro.setOptions as a macro Thus
 you don't see the text. The following should work (I have not tried):
IJ.run(("Wait_For_User", "Please select a ROI");
or
Macro.setOptions("Please select a ROI");
IJ.runPlugIn("Wait_For_User","");

Re: How to run it from another PlugIn?
Posted by Dwight U Bartholomew at 2008-01-25 19:54

Thanks for the fast reply. I tried both methods and neither worked.
The first displays an ImageJ dialog box with "Unrecognized command: Wait_For_User".
The second displays the Wait_For_User box appears but without the "Please select a ROI" string.

Re: How to run it from another PlugIn?
Posted by Michael Schmid at 2008-01-25 23:51

Sorry, the underscores were too much, it should be
IJ.run(("Wait For User", "Please select a ROI");
IJ.run(command, options) uses exactly the same commands as you find in the menu, where the 
underscores are replaced by spaces.

The alternative does not work because macro.getOptions returns the options only while a macro is 
running. I should have tried it. 

  
Why not simpler?
Posted by Johannes Schindelin at 2008-01-25 02:56

Why not use a PlugIn instead, which calls ij.gui.MessageDialog?

  
Why not simpler?
Posted by Johannes Schindelin at 2008-01-25 02:56

Why not use a PlugIn instead, which calls ij.gui.MessageDialog?

   
How to make it "Always On Top"?
Posted by Dwight U Bartholomew at 2008-02-01 20:08

I like the plugin and plan to use it but...

If my image is large on the screen then the Wait_For_User window disappears while I'm selecting a new 
ROI and then I need to hunt for it when I've finished my ROI selection. Is there a way to make it 
"always on top"?

    
Re: How to make it "Always On Top"?
Posted by Michael Schmid at 2008-02-01 20:52

Sorry, I have no really good idea. The only possibility I can think of has the disadvantage that it works
 only as long as your only actions are with the mouse in the foreground image. So it might be useful for 
selecting a ROI, but not in the general case:

In the "implements" line add ", MouseListener".
After the line
super("User Action Required:");
add the following;
ImagePlus fgImp = WindowManager.getCurrentImage();
if (fgImp != null) {
ImageWindow fgWin = fgImp.getWindow();
if (fgWin!=null)
for (int i=0; i<fgWin.getComponentCount(); i++)
fgWin.getComponent(i).addMouseListener(this);
}

And then somewhere near the end add:
// MouseListener of foreground image
public void mousePressed (MouseEvent e) { setFocusableWindowState(false); toFront(); }
public void mouseExited (MouseEvent e) {}
public void mouseEntered (MouseEvent e) {}
public void mouseReleased (MouseEvent e) { setFocusableWindowState(true); toFront(); }
public void mouseClicked (MouseEvent e) {} 

Re: How to make it "Always On Top"?
Posted by Dwight U Bartholomew at 2008-02-02 02:33

Wow, the solution turned out to be really trivial... at least on the version of Java I'm running.

I altered your Wait_For_User.java file in like so

// show();
setVisible(true);
setAlwaysOnTop(true);

and it works perfectly. But I suspect this new feature appeared in some later version of Java (for example, 
the show() method was replaced with the setVisible(true) method.

How to use from a plugin
Posted by Alberto Duina at 2008-02-18 01:10

I have tried Wait For User from a plugin, following the suggestion, but without good results. Anybody has 
other ideas?
Thanks
Alberto

How to use from a plugin
Posted by G. Landini at 2008-02-18 11:46

See http://rsbweb.nih.gov/ij/notes.html
This is now part of IJ and you can call it from a macro or plugin:

http://rsbweb.nih.gov/ij/developer/macro/functions.html#W

http://rsb.info.nih.gov/ij/macros/WaitForUserDemo.txt

  
How to use from a plugin
Posted by Alberto Duina at 2008-02-18 16:17

Still doubts, this is a mini-plugin with my tries and comments:
import ij.*;
import ij.process.*;
import ij.gui.*;
import java.awt.*;
import ij.plugin.*;
public class My_Plugin implements PlugIn {
public void run(String arg) {
// 1 ---> IJ.run("Wait For User", "Please select a ROI"); // run time message : Unrecognized command: Wait For User
// 2 ---> IJ.run("Wait_For_ User", "Please select a ROI"); // run time message : Unrecognized command: Wait_For_User
// 3 ---> IJ.runPlugIn("Wait_For_ User", "Please select a ROI"); // run time message : Plugin or Class not found: Wait_For_User (java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: Wait_For_ User), but it continues when you press ok
// 4 ---> IJ.runPlugIn("Wait For User", "Please select a ROI"); // with this the program continues but 
without the message and without waiting the user
IJ.showMessage("My_Plugin","Hello world!");
}
}
Ciao
Alberto

  
How to use from a plugin
Posted by Alberto Duina at 2008-02-22 14:10

Thanks to Waine for this explicative mail, now it functions!
You can use the WaitForUserDialog class that was added in ImageJ 1.39r. For example

new WaitForUserDialog("Do something, then click OK.").show();

or

new WaitForUserDialog("Title", "Do something, then clickOK.").show();

if you want to use a dialog title other than the default "Action Required".

In a macro, use waitForUser("Do something, then click OK");

or

waitForUser("Title", "Do something, then click OK");

Add new lines characters ("\n") to display multiple lines in the dialog, for example

waitForUser("Do something\nthen something else,\nthen click OK.");

-wayne