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Mathematica's system information display (click Help>AboutMathematica>SystemInformation to see it) is nicely packaged. Is it just a notebook with a TabView and other controls in a notebook with options set to size it just larger than the controls? Does it take any special tricks to keep the functions hidden and make it work the way it does?

This occured to me after having asked the base question, which was really about interface mechanisms. Couldn't System Information be written as a CDF? (I realize these are two unrelated questions)

George Wolfe
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1 Answers1

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Does this answer your question?

CreateDialog[SystemInformation[], 
 WindowTitle -> "Mathematica System Information"]

Another example

man = Manipulate[Plot[#[k t], {t, 0, 10}], {k, 0.1, 10}] & /@ {Cos,Sin, Exp} // TabView

Now you can put it in a dialog

CreateDialog[man, WindowTitle -> "My manipulate"]
Rojo
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  • I don't think so. I'm not interested in how to create SystemInformation. I'm interested in its packaging - it looks like an "application" I might write for non-Mathematica users, as opposed to an unfamiliar (to them) Mathematica notebook. – George Wolfe Nov 26 '12 at 02:39
  • @GeorgeWolfe I tried to show you how with CreateDialog you can turn a tab view, or a manipulate, or whatever you are used to seing embedded in a document, as a dialog looking notebook, something that "looks like an application" – Rojo Nov 26 '12 at 02:41
  • @GeorgeWolfe is the "creating the tab view" part what's missing, or the "exporting the dialog to cdf"? – Rojo Nov 26 '12 at 02:41
  • Oh, I didn't understand. That's all I have to do? (now checking CreateDialog help). And then you save the resulting dialog notebook? – George Wolfe Nov 26 '12 at 02:43
  • @GeorgeWolfe edited – Rojo Nov 26 '12 at 02:43
  • Wow! Pretty easy. I remember something about "... file contains potentially unsafe ..." warning for CDF files, but I don't remember the details. Is that easy to turn off for a dialog notebook? – George Wolfe Nov 26 '12 at 02:50
  • @GeorgeWolfe, some evaluations trigger that warning. CDF player is more sensitive, and in full Mathematica you can set it up not to trigger them. But, if you are the one creating the notebooks that will distribute it to others with CDF player, all you can do is try to avoid those evaluations. Such as function definitions, Compress, and others. I don't have a clear list in my mind – Rojo Nov 26 '12 at 02:55
  • Thanks. I didn't know about CreateDialog[]. – George Wolfe Nov 26 '12 at 03:07