A Better Way to Present and Organize Error Messages in Your Delphi Applications

I'm in the process of totally redesigning an application I wrote 25 years ago. Today, I decided to look for a better way to present error messages to my customers. In the past I simply littered my code with bunch of technical speak ShowMessage('bla bla bla technical speak bla bla bla'); code fragments.

With the help of Google, it didn't take long to find out that the best approach is to use "Apologetic" language in error messages. This has a positive effect on your customers.

http://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/31359/should-error-messages-apologize
http://www.faqoverflow.com/ux/31359.html
http://freshsparks.com/user-experience-tips-best-error-messages/

I've never liked the idea that the standard ShowMessage gets positioned centered on the screen. I'd rather have a messaged display centered on the window where the error occurs. I also don't want my error messages scattered all over the place. So, I set out to do two things;

1. Display error messages that are centered on the form where the error occurs
2. Centralize all the error messages in one place

I created a separate unit for the express purpose of managing and displaying error messages:

unit ZilchMessages; interface uses Vcl.Forms, Vcl.Dialogs, System.UITypes, Winapi.Windows; const zmsg_00010 = 'Sorry, we can''t save a plan with a blank Plan Name.' +#13#10+ 'Please enter a Plan Name and try again.'; zmsg_00100 = 'Sorry, we couldn''t find any existing Debt Management Plans.'; zmsg_00101 = 'Sorry, we couldn''t find any Debt Management Plans to Delete.'; zmsg_00102 = 'Sorry, we couldn''t find any Debt Management Plans to Undelete.'; function ZilchMsgDlg(const AOwner: TForm; const Msg: string; DlgType: TMsgDlgType; Buttons: TMsgDlgButtons; HelpCtx: Integer = 0): Integer; implementation function ZilchMsgDlg(const AOwner: TForm; const Msg: string; DlgType: TMsgDlgType; Buttons: TMsgDlgButtons; HelpCtx: Integer): Integer; begin if DlgType in [mtError] then MessageBeep(MB_ICONERROR) else MessageBeep(MB_OK); with CreateMessageDialog(Msg, DlgType, Buttons) do try Left := AOwner.Left + (AOwner.Width - Width) div 2; Top := AOwner.Top + (AOwner.Height - Height) div 2; Result := ShowModal; finally Free; end end; end.

This makes it very easy to keep track of all the error messages. It also lets me easily create similar but slightly different error messages for any given situation. I can also group related error messages by using a simple number scheme.

I'm a big fan of code completion Ctrl+Space. When I need to include an error message I simply type zmsg Ctrl+Space and up pops the code completion window with all the available error messages that I can choose from.

Enjoy,
Semper Fi
Gunny Mike

P.S. As far as using "we" inside the error messages. I asked my wife if she was okay with an application giving this type of feedback and she said it was fine with her.