You'll want to check out all of the WIDGET_* functions, and also take a look at this document: http://www.exelisvis.com/...vent_Processing.html Basically, you'll need to write an IDL widget program, and an event handler to process events from the widget. Start with something like the following code. And then type "example_widget" at the IDL command line to test it out: pro example_widget_event, event compile_opt idl2 Widget_Control, event.top, GET_UVALUE=pState uName = Widget_Info(event.id, /UNAME) case (uName) of 'Save': begin openw, lun, 'testfile.txt', /GET_LUN, /APPEND Widget_control, (*pState).wText, GET_VALUE=text printf, lun, text close, lun free_lun, lun end else: begin end endcase end ;example_widget_event, event pro example_widget compile_opt idl2 wBase = Widget_Base(/COLUMN) wText = Widget_Text(wBase, /EDITABLE) wButton = Widget_Button(wBase, VALUE='Save', UNAME='Save') pState = Ptr_New({ $ wBase:wBase, $ wText:wText, $ wButton:wButton $ }) Widget_Control, wBase, SET_UVALUE=pState Widget_Control, wBase, /REALIZE XMANAGER, 'example_widget', wBase end ;example_widget

Dear Josh, thank you very much for your help. Now I'm trying to add a "Quit" button to your example but I cannot find the way to do it yet. I'll keep trying! Cheers

In general, all you need to do when creating a widget button, is give it a uname, which can then be identified in your event handler. So you can create other buttons like so: wButton1 = Widget_Button(wBase, value='Button 1 text', uname='b1') And then in your event handler, create another entry in the case-statement for that uname: case (uName) of 'Save': begin ; ... save code here end 'b1': begin ; ... button 1 operation here end else: begin end endcase In this way, you can add as many cases as you like to handle the events from each button, or other widget type. So for a "Quit" button, you could do the same thing, and close the widget using something like this: Widget_Control, id, /destroy -Josh Exelis VIS

Dear Josh, thanks again for your help. Obviously I'm doing something wrong since with my "Quit" bottom the program only closes the "Quit" bottom instead the whole window. The problem is probably due to the fact that I don't understand the code :) Specifically, I don't understand the following line: pState = Ptr_New({wBase:wBase,wText:wText,wButton:wButton}) My code now is: pro example_widget_event, event compile_opt idl2 Widget_Control, event.top, GET_UVALUE=pState uName = Widget_Info(event.id, /UNAME) case (uName) of 'Save': begin openw, lun, 'testfile.txt', /GET_LUN, /APPEND Widget_control, (*pState).wText, GET_VALUE=text printf, lun, text close, lun free_lun, lun end 'Quit': begin widget_control, (*pState).wQuit, /destroy end endcase end ;example_widget_event, event pro example_widget compile_opt idl2 wBase = Widget_Base(/COLUMN) wText = Widget_Text(wBase, /EDITABLE) wButton = Widget_Button(wBase, VALUE='Save', UNAME='Save') wQuit = widget_button(wBase, value='Quit', UNAME='Quit') pState = Ptr_New({wBase:wBase,wText:wText,wButton:wButton,wQuit:wQuit}) Widget_Control, wBase, SET_UVALUE=pState Widget_Control, wBase, /REALIZE XMANAGER, 'example_widget', wBase end ;example_widget Cheers

You are almost there. Sorry, I should have been more clear, the id that you want to /destroy is the main base widget id. So try doing this instead: 'Quit': begin widget_control, (*pState).wBase, /destroy end -Josh Exelis VIS

Nice!!! Thank you very much!!!! I successfully created a 'Load' bottom that reads a list of names. Now I want that the routine creates a WIDGET_LIST with those names. It seems complicated with my current "programing level". I'll let you know how I'm doing! Thank you very much for your help!!!!!

No problem, I'm happy to help. Good luck! -Josh Exelis VIS