Progress Indicator

Guys,

Whats the best way of informing users of task progress. I want this to be really visual, something in the middle of the screen rather than hour glass on cursor or something in the status bar.

In Excel, I would show a small user form with the text "Task in Progress, please wait", and then I would put all the working code on the activate event of that form.

Is there an easy way to do this in .NET ?

Thanks
Bob

How about a small form with a progress bar on it?

Or use this custom status bar which hosts a progress bar in it:

VB Code:

#Region "Imports"
Imports System.ComponentModel
#End Region
<ToolboxBitmap(GetType(ProgressStatusBar))> Public Class ProgressStatusBar : Inherits StatusBar
    Private _progressBar As System.Windows.Forms.ProgressBar
    Private _progressPosition As Integer = -1
#Region "Instantiation"
    Public Sub New()
        'instantiate the progress bar
        _progressBar = New ProgressBar
        'don't allow it to display yet
        _progressBar.Hide()
        'add to the controls collection of the status bar
        Controls.Add(ProgressBar)
    End Sub
#End Region
#Region "Property Procedures"
    <Description("Gets or sets the position of the progress bar."), Category("Appearence")> _
    Public Property ProgressPosition() As Integer
        Get
            Return _progressPosition
        End Get
        Set(ByVal Value As Integer)
            'check to see if a valid value has been passed
            If Value > PanelCount - 1 Then
                Throw New ArgumentOutOfRangeException(ProgressPosition, Value, "Enter a value that is within the bounds of the panel count.")
                Exit Property
            End If
            Dim panel As StatusBarPanel
            _progressPosition = Value
            'reset all the panels to text
            Try
                For Each panel In Panels
                    panel.Style = StatusBarPanelStyle.Text
                Next
            Finally
                panel = Nothing
            End Try
            'set the property of the selected panel to owner drawn
            Panels(_progressPosition).Style = StatusBarPanelStyle.OwnerDraw
        End Set
    End Property
 
    <Description("Gets the progress bar object."), Browsable(False)> _
    Public ReadOnly Property ProgressBar() As System.windows.forms.ProgressBar
        Get
            'returns the progress bar as an object allowing its properties to be set as normal
            Return _progressBar
        End Get
    End Property
 
    <Browsable(False), Description("Gets the number of panels in the status bar.")> _
    Public ReadOnly Property PanelCount() As Integer
        Get
            Dim panel As StatusBarPanel
            Dim count As Integer = 0
            Try
                For Each panel In Panels
                    count += 1
                Next
            Finally
                panel = Nothing
            End Try
            Return count
        End Get
    End Property
#End Region
#Region "Private Procedures"
    Private Sub Reposition(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As StatusBarDrawItemEventArgs) Handles MyBase.DrawItem
        'set the location of the status bar to the x and y of the eventargs
        _progressBar.Location = New Point(e.Bounds.X, e.Bounds.Y)
        'set the size to fill the panel
        _progressBar.Size = New Size(e.Bounds.Width, e.Bounds.Height)
        'display the progress bar
        _progressBar.Show()
    End Sub
#End Region
End Class

Thanks Squizz, your the greatest. . . or was that dangermouse ?

Anyway, how do I implement this ? Does it go into its own module, if so how do I then call and show it from my current code . .

Ta
Bob

Hi Squirrel,

Can I use this same technique for embedding a combo into a toolbar??

Sorry for hijaking your thread Staticbob!

Create a new windows controls project.

Delete any default controls .NET adds then add a new component control.

Delete everything in the code window and paste in the stuff from above.

Build the project.

In your actual project, right click the toolbox, choose add/remove (or whatever it says) then navigate to the bin folder for your controls project. Select the .dll file and it should add itself to your toolbox.

To use it, do something like this: (this is an example where I was iterating through bookmarks in a word document)

VB Code:

'work out how much to progress each time
            mdiForm.sbrMain.ProgressBar.Step = CType(100 / doc.Bookmarks.Count, Integer)
For Each bookmark In doc.Bookmarks
   'do your processing here
    'then increment the progress bar
    mdiForm.sbrMain.ProgressBar.PerformStep()
Next

Lee,

I've never tried it but probably....

<...sound of squirrel paws scampering off to try it out>

Will report back later :cool:

One more thing....lose the bit at the top about the toolbox bitmap unless you add a bitmap to your project called ProgressStatusBar.bmp

Lee,

Yes you can.

It should work for hosting any control...

Wow! I'm gonna try that next week.
Thanks.

:D

Thanks A Million!

I cant seem to get it to work..

i have created the DLL but i cant seem to use the
progressbar.step = (whatever)

Help..

OK got it to work now..

how do i set the max and the min bound for the progress bar?