Animation on a form

[RLN]

Hello.

My situation has to with keeping the user informed of what's going on while
some processing gets done.
Per the code below, I have a series of tasks in my Access app and I am using
"SysCmd acSysCmdSetStatus" to tell the user which of the steps is currently
processing. These messages are static and stay on the screen so long as the
process runs.

Is there a way to display some sort of animation (like a status bar changing
colors) that would show them that in addition to the static message sitting
on the screen that there is something actually going on "under the hood"?

I don't know if this would be more complicated but would it be easier to
display a percentage completed, with numbers changing in real time?

If you've ever done this sort of thing, I'm open to suggestions.
(I know there are 3rd party products out there that do this but I need to do
it with code as mgmt won't buy 3rd party controls right now)
Thanks.

<begin code>
strText = "Executing Part 1 of 3...please wait...."
SysCmd acSysCmdSetStatus, strText
Call Step1LoadPSData
DoEvents

strText = "Executing Part 2 of 3...please wait...."
SysCmd acSysCmdSetStatus, strText
Call Step2LoadWorkTable
DoEvents

strText = "Executing Part 3 of 3...please wait...."
Call Step3MainProcessing
SysCmd acSysCmdSetStatus, strText
DoEvents
<end code>

 

[Dorian]

Best way is to just display Hourglass, users should know what that means. If
you have very long running processes, I'd look at the design of your
application.

-Dorian

 

[Clifford Bass]

Hi,

If using Access 2007 do a search for "status bar progress meter" in the
Visual Basic Editor's help to get information on using the progress meter.
Otherwise go to <http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/210474>.

Or, create a status message box (form) that contains a label. Open up
the form at the start, then update the label frequently and finally close at
the end. You will need to use the DoEvents method after you update the
caption of the label to get the new information to show. You can also
include a cancel button and check every once in a while to see if the user
has clicked it. If you do that, use the DoEvents frequently in your code,
followed by the check on whether it has been clicked or not.

Clifford Bass

 

[Stuart McCall]

Hello.

My situation has to with keeping the user informed of what's going on
while
some processing gets done.
Per the code below, I have a series of tasks in my Access app and I am
using
"SysCmd acSysCmdSetStatus" to tell the user which of the steps is
currently
processing. These messages are static and stay on the screen so long as
the
process runs.

Is there a way to display some sort of animation (like a status bar
changing
colors) that would show them that in addition to the static message
sitting
on the screen that there is something actually going on "under the hood"?

I don't know if this would be more complicated but would it be easier to
display a percentage completed, with numbers changing in real time?

If you've ever done this sort of thing, I'm open to suggestions.
(I know there are 3rd party products out there that do this but I need to
do
it with code as mgmt won't buy 3rd party controls right now)
Thanks.

You could give this a try:

http://www.smccall.demon.co.uk/Downloads.htm#ProgBarForm

It's a form designed to be used as a subform, which provides a percentage
bar containing the percentage display or any text in any color you like.
Just drag it from the db window and drop it on your form, set a few
properties and you're ready to rock 'n roll. The enclosed demo mdb has
explicit instructions.

 

[RLN]

Stuart,

The Animation of the Progress Bar worked great. Thank you!