Nesting tell statements in this manner results in a savings of 2 lines of code and having to create 2 additional variables. The only time a variable is created is when an object reference is needed later in the code.

Use Loops

If you have a number of fields that are similar, use a repeat loop to create the fields. To reference the field later in the code, create either a name or object reference as part of its make statement. The following illustrates using a list to hold a reference to the text fields.

   set textFields to {} --list to hold object references
   set fieldList to {"First Name:", "Last Name", "Address:", "Address 2:", "City:", "Zip Code:"}
   tell application "Adobe InDesign CC 2014"
      set dlgRef to make dialog with properties {name:"Test Dialog", can cancel:true, label:""}
      tell dlgRef
	 tell (make dialog column)
	    tell (make dialog row)
		set col1 to make dialog column
		set col2 to make dialog column
	    end tell
	    repeat with i from 1 to length of fieldList
		tell col1
		   make static text with properties {static label:(item i of fieldList)}
		end tell
		tell col2
		   set end of textFields to make text editbox with properties {min width:200, edit contents:""}
		end tell
            end repeat
	 end tell --dialog column
      end tell --dlgRef
      set userResponse to show dlgRef
   destroy dlgRef
end tell 

Writing just this much code will allow you to test and see how your interface will look before you start adding all of the rest.

In running the code above, if the result of the variable userResponse is true the values can be returned using a similar loop construct. Add the following in place of the last two statements in the code above, and test filling in the text fields, and clicking OK.

      if userResponse is true then
         set stringValues to {}
         repeat with eachItem in textFields
            set end of stringValues to edit contents of eachItem
         end repeat
      end if
      destroy dlgRef
   end tell
   stringValues

If you attempted to test the code above and got an error instead of a dialog, the problem may be that script preferences need to be set. To finish off the custom dialog you need to make sure the user interaction level for script preferences is set to interact with all. As with other application preferences, the good neighbor policy is to place values for existing preferences in a variable before changing, then restoring the original value when you are through.

After the tell application statement in the code above, add the following:

   set origPrefs to user interaction level of script preferences
   set user interaction level of script preferences to interact with all

Then after the destroy dlgRef statement in the code above add:

   set user interaction level of script preferences to origPrefs

There is just one more thing you need to do to make the code useable. You need to take care of the problem that will arise if the user presses the Cancel button. Just to test, run the script as it now stands and press the Cancel button.

The best way to handle the problem is to generate an error if the value of userResponse is not true and handle the error in a try/end try block.

It would be nice if we could just add an else statement to the if userResponse is true statement. But we can’t simply because the destroy dlgRef statement needs to occur in either event (userResponse is true or false).

For this you will need to test for the value of userResponse after destroying the dialog. Have the script throw an error if true, or return the dialog result if false.

After the set user interaction level statement at the bottom of the script, add the following:

   --notice the first line is a one line if statement  
   if userResponse is false then error "User Cancelled"
   --if userResponse is true the code gets to the next line
   return stringValues
   --end tell statement follows

Handle the Error

Of course your script now needs to handle the error that is generated if the user cancels. To do this, you can place the custom dialog code in a handler and call the handler from within a try statement.

The script will now read as follows:

   set fieldList to {"First Name:", "Last Name:", "Address:", "Address 2:", "City:", "Zip Code:"}
   set dialogName to "Test Dialog"
   try
      set userResponse to userDialog (dialogName, fieldList, true)
   on error errStr
      activate
      display alert "Error: " & errStr
   end try
   --Handler for custom dialog
   on userDialog (dialogName, fieldList, canCancel)
      set textFields to {}
      --add the rest of the code from above here
   end userDialog 

Test this out to make sure the script works as expected.