min/max a non-modal form

I need to make a modification to an existing command-line version of a program that shows the progress of the processing happening.

Right now, the startup object is a basic module which instantiates a class and calls a function in the class that processes a number of files. No form is shown when this occurs.

I want a small form to show, with a progress bar and some text that describes what's happening. I invented a way to do this using WithEvents in the progress-form paired with raise events in the class and public subs in the progress-form called by the basic module.

This technique seems to work, except that since I have to show the form non-modally, I am not satisfied with how I cannot seem to minimize/maximize it while it's running. The problem is that I can minimize it, but I can never get it off the taskbar again.

If you set the form's initial state to 'minimized', it starts up in the taskbar minimized, you can maximize it, minimize it, and then that's it. You can't get it out of there again.

Any ideas? I am attaching a sample program that mimics the technique and shows the problem.

I am trying to do it this way so I don't have to move the setup before calling the class's processing code to a form.

I've read things like this before on this forum and always say "what the heck are they talking about?" . I hope I have made sense out of it.

If you have some loop(s) during processing then use DoEvents within each loop. This will release your form from being "locked", however your app will lose performance wise.