Attribute Dialogs were originally invented around the early/mid 2000s for export HIDs to store a static, flat list of options that are then presented both as command line options and as the GUI dialog box for export parameters.
DAD is the dyamically allocated version, extended with new widget types for providing tools for building more complex dialog boxes. It is not connected with command line options in any way at the moment.
The list of widgets is still a flat, growing C array, often called the table. But inside the table, widgets build as a logical tree structure. Widgets with name that includes "BEGIN" will open a new logical layout level that has to be closed with a PCB_DAD_END().
A table is always built incrementally and sequentially. In this sense the dialog box is static: once build and created, the number and type of widgets can not be modified. The dynamic aspect is that the code may create (and destroy) arbitrary DAD boxes, even with loops and runtime conditions on what widgets end up in the box.
There are two kind of widget calls: widget creation and property set. Property set calls always change the last created widget. This, by convention, is often indicated by code indentation as well. For example:
PCB_DAD_INTEGER(dlg, "foo"); PCB_DAD_MINVAL(dlg, 1); PCB_DAD_MAXVAL(dlg, 10); PCB_DAD_DEFAULT_NUM(dlg, 3); widget_id_foo = PCB_DAD_CURRENT(dlg); PCB_DAD_BUTTON(dlg, "update!"); PCB_DAD_CHANGE_CB(dlg, pcb_act_attr_chg);
PCB_DAD_INTEGER() and PCB_DAD_BUTTON() are (macro) calls to create new widgets (an integer entry and a button), the rest of the calls change the last created widget's properties.
The main widget of the box, the root widget of the widget tree is any widget. It is practical to make it a container widget (e.g. a HBOX, VBOX, TABLE, PANE, or TABBED) so that it can host children widgets.
After each creation, the caller can query and store the integer widget identifier using the PCB_DAD_CURRENT() macro. The widget identifier can be used, together with the table, to query or change widget properties and current value any time the dialog box is active.