Customizable Splash Screen GUI with progress bar

[BrewManNH 986]

I have created a UDF that will allow you to easily create a customizable GUI with either a standard progress bar or a marquee style progress bar. You can change the size and back ground color of the GUI, as well as the font, font size, and color of the text. The function doesn't require any parameters to operate, but the default text is very generic so you probably would want to set that at the very least.

The function returns the handle/control id of the created GUI in the return value and the @extended macro holds the value of the control id of the progress bar so that you can update it. See update notes below for changes to the most recent version There is no functionality to close the GUI, so once you're done using it you need to GUIDelete the GUI using the return value.

The default size is relatively small, only 290 x 100, which is sufficient for it's usage. The other default values are 14 for the font size, Arial for the font, the GUI background is Blue, and the label text is yellow.

I created this function when I discovered that I needed a way to display something on the screen while my program was performing a lengthy operation that didn't require any screen output. I was using it to read ID3 tag information for about 4000 songs and it took some time to do that. Having a small gui with a configurable label and parameters allowed me to hide the program while informing the user that something was still going on. The only include needed to use this is the Send.au3 file that comes with AutoIt, so that the marquee style progress bar would work. I have changed the function for the marquee style progress bar to use GUICtrlSendMsg instead of _SendMessage so now it's completely stand-alone with no need for any external includes.

UPDATED: 03/30/2012

I've gotten rid of most of the "magic numbers" in the script so that it's using constants for everything, and you'll have a better idea of what the code is doing.

I've added the ability to set the background and label colors using the Default keyword, and -1. If you wish this GUI to use the color scheme of your Windows theme, or your skin theme, use "" as this will not set a color for the label text or the GUI background.

I've limited the Y dimension of the GUI to no less than 100 pixels tall, as this would cause several issues with displaying things properly.

I've updated the UDF header information so that things are a bit clearer as to how to use this.

None of these changes should be script breaking, just added functionality and usage.

UPDATED: 5/6/2011

Removed the need for any external includes, doesn't change the functionality in any way though so it will work as it did previously

UPDATED: 5/6/2011

Updated the return values, it now returns an array on success. The array contains the handles to the GUI(array[0]), Progress Bar (array[1]), and the label (array[2]). So now you will be able to update the controls on the fly now. This version is incompatible with the previous versions because of the change.

I have updated the example code below to match the newest version.

Here is a short demo program showing how the 2 different progress bars would show up, and showing some of the custom features of the function.

#include "_ProgressGUI.au3"
$Return = _ProgressGUI("This is a test message xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxx", 1, 30, "", 400, 300);, 4, 6)
For $I = 1 To 100
    GUICtrlSetData($Return[1], $I)
    Sleep(100)
    If Mod($I, 2) Then GUISetBkColor(Random(0, 32767, 1), $Return[0])
Next
Sleep(2000)
GUIDelete($Return[0])
$Return = _ProgressGUI()
Sleep(4000)

And here's a link to the actual UDF

_ProgressGUI.au3

Please let me know if you find it useful or have suggestions. Thanks for reading.

Edited March 30, 2012 by BrewManNH

[guinness 1,434]

Just popped by quickly! Will test the UDF later.

I thought I would let you know that you don't have to use _SendMessage() instead you can use GUICtrlSendMsg() have a look here >> and then "Simple Marquee Progress"

[BrewManNH 986]

Thanks guiness, good to know. That eliminates using any external "#include" functions.

[guinness 1,434]

Brilliant! I look forward to your update and from there I will test. Plus, I edited a post I made in the AutoIt Portable forum as I suggested your update of the AutoItWrapper was insignificant which it isn't So sorry about that.

[BrewManNH 986]

I have updated the file in the link to the latest version. I have replaced the need for the Send.au3 include by using the GUICtrlSendMsg as suggested, so now this function is a completely stand-alone function. I have also updated the Remarks section and corrected a typo or 2 in there.

EDIT:

If I knew of a way to return 3 parameters from a function I'd probably include a way to return the label's handle so that could be updated on the fly, but other than adding yet another parameter to an already lengthy function call or using Global variables, I don't know how I'd do that.

Edited May 6, 2011 by BrewManNH

[guinness 1,434]

Array?

[BrewManNH 986]

hmmm...good idea, why didn't I think of that LOL

[guinness 1,434]

I don't know?! Lets hope you know how to use Arrays (I'm kidding of course!)

[BrewManNH 986]

Ok, updated once again. The current version is linked in the OP and I have updated the description to reflect that the return value is now an array.

[guinness 1,434]

How about this? Nice update as well.

$PBMarquee[2] = GUICtrlCreateLabel($MsgText, 20, 20, $_iXSize - 40, $_iYSize - 45, -1, $GUI_WS_EX_PARENTDRAG)

and I'm using this for the GUI (hope you don't mind)

$PBMarquee[0] = GUICreate("", $_iXSize, $_iYSize, -1, -1, BitOR($WS_DLGFRAME, $WS_POPUP), $WS_EX_TOPMOST)

Edited May 6, 2011 by guinness

[BrewManNH 986]

The parentdrag could be a nice addition. I suppose if you wanted to move it elsewhere it would be better to have the option to do so.

I think the best way to do it though would be to use GUICtrlSetStyle for the label control, this gives you the option of whether you want it movable or not, plus you can set other styles that way. One issue with the parentdrag style is that the script freezes as long as you're moving the GUI around.

Here's a modified version of the example script in the OP with the ParentDrag option on the first box.

#include "_ProgressGUI.au3"
$Return = _ProgressGUI("This is a test message xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxx", 1, 30, "", 400, 300);, 4, 6)
GUICtrlSetStyle($Return[2], -1, 0x00100000) ;<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< This makes the first GUI movable with the mouse
For $I = 1 To 100
    GUICtrlSetData($Return[1], $I)

    Sleep(200)
    If Mod($I, 2) Then GUISetBkColor(Random(0, 32767, 1), $Return[0])
Next
Sleep(2000)
GUIDelete($Return[0])
$Return = _ProgressGUI()
Sleep(4000)

Now that I have a way, thanks to your suggestion, of accessing all of the elements of the GUI, they can be modified as the user sees fit, without having to over do the function itself.

Edited May 6, 2011 by BrewManNH

[guinness 1,434]

Valid point! Thanks.

[BrewManNH 986]

I added a bug to the last update when I changed the return values to an array. The marquee style broke because I forgot to update one of the variables in the function to use the array.

GUICtrlSendMsg($PBMarquee, 1034, True, 20)

Needed to be changed to this:

GUICtrlSendMsg($PBMarquee[1], 1034, True, 20)

Link has been updated, but if you don't feel like downloading it again, it's a simple fix.

[JScript 67]

Perfect!!!

[ZeeDream 0]

Well done

[BrewManNH 986]

I have updated the code in the original thread. It doesn't change anything in the functionality of the function, but it does add some minor tweaks and eliminates the use of "magic numbers" in the code. It now uses constants instead of explicit integers so that it more closely adheres to some better coding practices. I also added a constraint to the Y dimension of the GUI that wasn't there before, now the minimum setting for the Y dimension is 100 so that you can't inadvertently make the GUI too short. See the change notes in the first post for all the major changes, which as stated don't include any major script breaking changes, just corrections that shouldn't be noticed if you used it before.

[guinness 1,434]

Nice update. The code is a lot cleaner. Thanks.

[BrewManNH 986]

Yeah, it was a bit messy before, and I've added in-line comments so people will be able to figure out what's going on in it. Switching to a monospace font also cleaned up the spacing in the header.

[guinness 1,434]

We're the same, our style of coding develops organically overtime. It's just a suggestion but personally I would have just used the Constants from the respective files e.g. ProgressConstants. Because then you don't have to keep on top of these constants (if for whatever reason they change) as the Dev's are usually quick to notice this.

[BrewManNH 986]

I tried to make this as standalone as possible without adding includes to it just for a few variables. Window's constants might change in the future, but at least the constants are labeled as to what they're for so it can be quickly fixed if this happens. Adding in 20+ constants just so I can use 3 seemed overkill.