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I have made the following sentence
By selecting (or clicking on) an element, a dialogue opens in which one can ...
I used "By" just on my intuition, but I am not sure if it means as I expect. It should mean "after (or as a result of ) selecting or clicking on an element, a dialogue opens ....
Your sentence is correct. Your definition isn't perfect.
By does not mean after.
In this context it's similar to "how something is accomplished." So using by to mean as a result of is pretty reasonable.
By opening the windows you get fresh air.
"by+gerund" gives the act necessary to get a certain effect. What does your dictionary say about by + gerund? You also can google for by + gerund to get explanations and exercises.
As he select an element, a dialogue box will open up in which he can select various distinguish properties of the element
