I dont know if it is possible or not but.. Can you update an dialog while it is open? i've tried timer 10 1 /dialog -m first first but it says dialog "first" in use.
Depends on what you mean by update. If you mean changing the positions or sizes of the controls, then no, you have to re-open the dialog; if you mean modify values shown in controls, then yes, you can use /did to change almost all values displayed.
DALnet: #HelpDesk and #m[color:#FF0000]IR[color:#EEEE00]C
In addiction, you can use $show in an alias in order to know if this alias was initiated with a . (dot). If it was, $show returns $false, otherwise it returns $true.