ok, i've fixed my variable issue............. now i have a couple more questions.... here's what i have now (soory for the long code) :
Code:
 on *:start:{
  .hmake amacros 100
  if ($isfile(/amshdir(amsacros.hsh))) {
    .hload amacros $amshdir(amsacros.hsh)
  }
  else {
    /amsacros.start
    .hsave -o amacros dat\hsh\amsacros.hsh
  }
}
on *:EXIT: {
  .hsave -o amacros dat\hsh\amsacros.hsh
  .hfree amacros
}

on *:INPUT:*:{
  if ( $left($1,1) != / ) { acro $1- }
}
alias -l acro {
  var %i = $getacro($1-)
  if (%i) {
    msg $active %i
    halt
  }
}
alias -l getacro {
  if (!$hget(amacros)) { return }
  var %i = 1
  var %r
  while ($gettok($1-,%i,32)) {
    var %j = $v1
    if ($hget(amacros,%j)) { %j = $v1 }
    %r = %r %j
    inc %i
  }
  return %r
}
alias amshdir return (",$mircdirdat\hsh\,$1,")

alias amsacros.start {
  .hadd amacros afk Away From Keyboard
  .hadd amacros brb Be Right Back
  .hadd amacros gtg Got To Go
  .hadd amacros lol Laughing Out Loud
  .hadd amacros ttyl Talk To You Later
}

dialog acro_test {
  title "$amlogo ACRONYMS"
  size -1 -1 314 200
  option dbu
  list 1, 16 64 82 107, size vsbar
  edit "", 3, 16 46 82 10
  edit "", 4, 147 46 150 10
  list 2, 147 64 149 107, size vsbar
  button "Add Acro", 5, 91 25 37 9
  button "Del Acro", 6, 133 25 37 9
  text "Input TexT", 7, 41 35 27 8
  text "Output TexT", 8, 208 35 32 8
  text "A", 9, 120 56 4 8
  text "C", 10, 120 69 5 7
  text "R", 11, 120 81 5 7
  text "O", 12, 120 93 5 7
  text "N", 13, 120 105 4 7
  text "Y", 14, 120 117 4 8
  text "M", 15, 120 129 5 8
  text "S", 16, 120 141 4 8
  button "Okay", 17, 104 186 37 12, ok
  button "Ascii Table", 18, 111 13 37 9
}

on *:dialog:acro_test:*:*: {
  if ($devent == init) {
    if !$hget(amacros) { hamke amacros 100 | hload amacros $amshdir(amsacros.hsh) }
    var %x = 1
    while $hget(amacros,%x).item {
      did -a $dname 1 $v1
      inc %x
    }
    var %y = 1
    while $hget(amacros,%y).data {
      did -a $dname 2 $v1
      inc %y
    }
  }
  if ($devent == sclick) {
    if ($did == 5) {
      if ($hget(amacros)) {
        hadd amacros $did($dname,3).text $did(acro_test,4).text
        did -a acro_test 1 $did($dname,3).text
        did -a acro_test 2 $did($dname,4).text 
        did -r $dname 3,4
      }
    }
    if ($did == 6) {
      if ($did(acro_test,1).sel) {
        if ($hget(amacros)) {
          set %line $did(acro_test,1).sel
          hdel amacros $did(acro_test,1).seltext
          did -d acro_test 1 %line
          did -d acro_test 2 %line
        }
      }
    }
    if ($did == 18) { odialog ascii_table ascii_table }
  }
}
dialog ascii_table {
  title $amlogo Ascii  Table ( special characters) 
  size -1 -1 220 200
  option dbu
  list 1, 11 21 26 112 
  list 2, 62 50 26 104 
  list 3, 116 63 26 78
  list 4, 172 31 26 100
  button "Add", 5, 42 180 37 12
  button "Close", 6, 119 180 37 12, ok
  box "Upper Case", 7, 4 4 41 157
  box "Lower Case", 8, 56 36 38 126
  box "Numeric", 9, 109 29 40 133
  box "Other", 10, 160 5 50 157
}
on *:dialog:ascii_table:*:*:{
  if ($devent == init) {
    didtok $dname 1 44 %ascii.ucase
    didtok $dname 2 44 %ascii.lcase
    didtok $dname 3 44 %ascii.numeric
    didtok $dname 4 44 %ascii.other
    /set %ascii.ucase À,Á,Â,Ã,Ä,Å,ß,Ç,Ð,È,É,Ê,Ê,Ë,Ì,Í,Î,Ï,Ñ,Ò,Ó,Ô,Õ,Ö,Ù,Ú,Û,Ü,Ý,¥ 
    /set %ascii.lcase à,á,â,ã,ä,å,ç,è,é,ê,ë,ì,í,î,ï,ñ,ò,ó,ô,õ,ö,ù,ú,û,ü,ý,ÿ
    /set %ascii.numeric  ø,¹,²,³,×,÷,¢,£,¼,½,¾
    /set %ascii.other ª,º,°,©,®,¡,¿,¤,§,«,»,¬,±,µ,¶,þ,Þ,Æ,æ,ð,¸,‘,’
  }
  if ($devent == sclick) {
    if ($did == 5) { 
      if $did(1).seltext || $did(2).seltext || $did(3).seltext || $did(4).seltext {  
        did -a acro_test 4 $v1
      } 
    } 
  }
  if ($devent == close) {
    unset %ascii.*
  }
}
 


i've posted everything for show... but my questions are:
1. i'm having trouble with the ascii dialog portion of the script. i want to be able to select whatever in the listboxes and add them to editbox 4 of the acro_test dialog, right now it only adds the first item selected no matter what. how can i do this??
2. how would i be able to check to see if the ascii dialog is open, and if it is close it when the acro dialog is closed??