Dialog boxes and list Boxes

Many commands require you to specify the taxa and/or characters upon which the command is to act, and some also require you to specify character states. These commands automatically display a "dialog box" from which you can make your selection. Inside the dialog box are various buttons, and a "list box" containing taxa, characters, or states. Clicking on an item in the list selects the item (or deselects it if it was already selected). You can also drag the cursor to select or deselect multiple items. Some dialog boxes contain "SelectAll" and "DeselectAll" buttons, which select or deselect all the items in the list.

The item currently at the "focus" of a list box is enclosed in a dotted rectangle, and is also indicated by an arrow. If you press the "OK" button (or its equivalent) without having selected any items from the list, then the item at the focus is automatically selected.

Taxa and characters may be selected in groups from "keyword" dialog boxes, or individually from taxon and character dialog boxes. To switch between these dialog boxes, use the "Keywords" and "List" buttons.

Using the keyboard in list boxes

You can move the focus in list boxes by pressing the up-arrow, down-arrow, PageUp, PageDown, Home, and End keys, or by typing the number of the required item. The space bar selects or deselects the item at the focus.

Advanced selection methods

A set of taxa or characters may be built up by repeated selections or deselections in the keyword and taxon or character dialog boxes. The rules governing the process are as follows.
  1. When a keyword dialog box is deactivated by pressing an "OK" or "List" button, the taxa or characters corresponding to the selected keywords are added to the set.
  2. When a taxon or character dialog box is deactivated by pressing an "OK" or "Keywords" button, the selected taxa or characters are added to the set, and the deselected taxa or characters are removed from the set.
Note that taxa or characters cannot be removed from the set via the keyword dialog box. As control passes to and fro between the keyword and taxon or character dialog boxes, the keywords and taxa or characters that are currently in the set are automatically marked as selected. The fact that a keyword is not automatically marked as selected implies only that at least one of its taxa or characters is not in the set.