Creating a Simple Dialog

This guide will walk you through creating your first dialog step by step.

Step 1: Create the Dialog File

Create a new file in your dialogs/ folder with a .yml extension:

plugins/zMenu/dialogs/welcome-dialog.yml

Step 2: Basic Configuration

Start with the essential dialog properties:

name: "&6&lWelcome Dialog"
external_title: "Welcome to our server!"
type: notice

Required Fields

• name - The internal name of the dialog (supports color codes)

• external_title - The title shown in the dialog window

• type - The dialog type (notice, confirmation, multi_action, server_links)

Step 3: Behavior Settings

Configure how the dialog behaves:

can-close-with-escape: true
pause: false
after_action: CLOSE

Behavior Options

• can-close-with-escape - Allow players to close with ESC key

• pause - Pause the game while dialog is open

• after_action - What happens after interaction: CLOSE, PAUSE, or NONE

Step 4: Add Content

The body section contains what players see:

body:
  welcome_message:
    type: plain_message
    messages:
      - "&6&lWelcome to our server!"
      - ""
      - "&7Thanks for joining us, &f%player_name%&7!"
      - "&7Current players online: &f%server_online%"
      - ""
      - "&eEnjoy your stay!"
    width: 400

Step 5: Configure the Action Button

For a notice dialog, add the button configuration:

notice:
  text: "&a&lI Understand"
  tooltip: "&7Click to continue"
  width: 200

Complete Simple Dialog Example

Here's a complete working dialog:

name: "&6&lWelcome Dialog"
external_title: "Welcome to our server!"
type: notice

can-close-with-escape: true
pause: false
after_action: CLOSE

body:
  welcome_message:
    type: plain_message
    messages:
      - "&6&lWelcome to our server!"
      - ""
      - "&7Thanks for joining us, &f%player_name%&7!"
      - "&7Current players online: &f%server_online%"
      - ""
      - "&eEnjoy your stay and have fun!"
    width: 400

notice:
  text: "&a&lI Understand"
  tooltip: "&7Click to continue"
  width: 200

actions:
  1:
    success:
      - type: message
        messages:
          - "&aWelcome message acknowledged!"

Step 6: Test Your Dialog

To test your dialog, you can:

1. Use the dialog command: /zmenu dialogs open welcome-dialog

2. Trigger it through an action

Tips for Simple Dialogs

• Keep messages concise - Players don't like to read walls of text

• Use placeholders - Make content dynamic with player/server data

• Choose appropriate widths - 300-500 pixels work well for most content

• Add visual breaks - Use empty lines ("") to separate content sections

• Test on different screen sizes - Ensure your dialog looks good everywhere

Next Steps

Once you're comfortable with simple dialogs, explore:

• Different dialog types for various use cases

• Adding interactive inputs for data collection

• Using items and advanced body elements

• Creating complex multi-action dialogs