Dev Tools: simplest Progress Bar

**twinnyfo** · Jun 9 '14, 01:18 PM

jimatqsi,

I have been using a Progress Bar which operates on much simpler principles:

On your Form, you have three objects:

A Rectangle (rctProgressBar ), with your choice of colors.
A Label (lblWorkingBott om), which is placed on top of the Rectangle.
Another Label (lblWorkingTop) , whihc is placed on top of the other two controls. These are not Vivisble when the Form opens.

All three of these Objects will have a maximum width, set as a Private Constant (expressed in twips) when the Form opens:

Code:

Option Explicit
Option Compare Database

Private Const ProgressMax = 3600

Then, you need three brief Procedures in the VBA used to manipulate these objects:

Code:

Private Sub ShowProgressBar()
    Me.rctProgressBar.Visible = True
    Me.lblWorkingTop.Visible = True
    Me.lblWorkingBottom.Visible = True
End Sub
Private Sub HideProgressBar()
    Me.rctProgressBar.Visible = False
    Me.lblWorkingTop.Visible = False
    Me.lblWorkingBottom.Visible = False
End Sub
Private Sub UpdateProgressBar(Max As Integer, Current As Integer)
    Dim x
    Me.rctProgressBar.Width = ProgressMax * (Current / Max)
    Me.lblWorkingTop.Width = ProgressMax * (Current / Max)
    Me.lblWorkingBottom.Caption = "           Working...." & Format(Current / Max, "0%")
    Me.lblWorkingTop.Caption = "           Working...." & Format(Current / Max, "0%")
    x = DoEvents
End Sub

Finally, when you are performing repeating actions in the Form, you must call the functions appropriately:

Code:

Private Sub PerformActions()
On Error GoTo EH
    Dim intCount As Integer
    Dim intProgress As Integer

    ShowProgressBar

    intCount = DCount("*", "tblMyData")
    For intProgress = 1 to intCount
        'Perform Your actions here
        UpdateProgressBar intCount, intProgress
    Next intProgress

    HideProgressBar
    Exit Sub
EH:
    MsgBox "There was an error performing these actions!  " & _
        "Please contact your Database Administrator.", vbCritical, "Error!"
    Exit Sub
End Sub

This method is incredibly simple and highly customizable. It also manages all your Progress Bar needs in the space of only a few lines of Code, which can be added to almost any process, as long as you know the total number of processes, and the current process you are on.

I may be way off mark, but this code has worked flawlessly for me for more than two years!

**jimatqsi** · Jun 9 '14, 02:00 PM

twinnyfo,
We are using essentially the same methodology. What I intended to demonstrate was that one can make a progress bar without resorting to Active/X objects or even class definitions. We just need references to a few objects (as few as 1 for my implementation, as many as 3 for yours and mine) to make it work.

The pertinent thing from my point of view is that the developer has complete control over the progress bar's position and appearance. It doesn't have to be a pop-up, it can be embedded within the active form. Controls can even do double-duty as part-time progress bar elements, such as the button I used to launch my test and also show the progress %.

Admittedly, I threw everything including the kitchen sink into my progress bar. Most folks are going to use only one type. Who needs to be able to use rectangles and lines and labels and text boxes for that purpose? Probably nobody, but it's nice to have those options available. I've standardized on using two lines, bright red on black, but sometimes I like to put some interesting text into an expanding label.

I like your solution because of the points I made in the first paragraph. Two points, however. I prefer keeping the show, hide and updating all in one subroutine. And I pass the controls to a public subroutine so the logic can be made available to all forms rather than be made a part of each form. For my example, however, I embedded the code in the form.

Thanks for your comments.

Jim

Dev Tools: simplest Progress Bar

Dev Tools: simplest Progress Bar

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