Question about a progress dialog...
[481 byte] By [noods] at [2007-11-18 1:38:29] 
Bsically I'm going to be doing some action which will take a while to complete and i want to show a progress dialog while this takes place. Now, I create the dialog and as i get further and further through my long process, i use the member variables of teh dialog to update the controls and show the user how long there is left, is it proper to do it that way? or should i be sending messages to the dialog instead of accessing it's member variables like i am doing now?
# 1 Re: Question about a progress dialog...
Sending a message is a better idea, it will require less processing than polling a variable.mwilliamson at 2007-11-10 8:53:59 >
# 2 Re: Question about a progress dialog...
Upto, developers convinience, or rather what suits more to the application.1. If the operational class has to give progress notification every 1% increase in the progress of operation, then sending(posting) messages will be good option.
2. Or else, there can be a timer which checks the operation status every 1 second. In that case accessing variables is the way to go.
pppsandeep at 2007-11-10 8:55:08 >
# 3 Re: Question about a progress dialog...
I am not sure I understand how you are using the member variables of the dialog to update the controls but probably updating the controls is a better idea since it would bypass calling Windows and therefore would require less processing.Sam Hobbs at 2007-11-10 8:56:07 >
# 4 Re: Question about a progress dialog...
well, this is sort of my code right now...void CSetupDlg::OnInstall()
{
CProgressDlg* pDlg = new CProgressDlg;
pDlg->Create(IDD_PROGRESS, this);
// install blah
pDlg->m_strMessage = "Installing blah...";
pDlg->UpdateData(FALSE);
Install("blah\\setup.exe", " /sp- /verysilent");
pDlg->m_pPC.StepIt();
// install blah1
pDlg->m_strMessage = "Installing blah1...";
pDlg->UpdateData(FALSE);
// Install("blah1\\blah1.exe", NULL);
Sleep(1000);
pDlg->m_pPC.StepIt();
// install blah2
pDlg->m_strMessage = "Installing blah2 drivers...";
pDlg->UpdateData(FALSE);
// Install("blah2\\setup.exe", " -s");
Sleep(1000);
pDlg->m_pPC.StepIt();
// install blah3
pDlg->m_strMessage = "Installing blah3...";
pDlg->UpdateData(FALSE);
// Install("blah3\\blah3.exe", " /silent /install");
Sleep(1000);
pDlg->m_pPC.StepIt();
// we're done
Sleep(250);
pDlg->EndDialog(IDOK);
// ::SendMessage(pDlg->m_hWnd, WM_CLOSE, 0, 0);
}
i'm just not quite sure if i should be sending messages to the dialog instead of accessing it's variables, i dunno if this causes problems between thrads and whatnot, if it's fine to just use the variables like that, then that's fine
noods at 2007-11-10 8:57:11 >
# 5 Re: Question about a progress dialog...
You are calling EndDialog for a modeless dialog. EndDialog must not be used for modeless dialogs.Sam Hobbs at 2007-11-10 8:58:04 >
# 6 Re: Question about a progress dialog...
Oops, OK i have changed it to call DestroyWindow() and also overriden PostNCDestroy to delete the this pointer; but is it OK to access the variables like i'm doing or should i be sending messages to it instead?noods at 2007-11-10 8:59:13 >
# 7 Re: Question about a progress dialog...
Personally I avoid sending messages within my application. If it is possible to call a function directly I would do that. If an application is a multiple-thread application then messages can be a good solution for communicating from a thread to another thread.Sam Hobbs at 2007-11-10 9:00:06 >
# 8 Re: Question about a progress dialog...
May I suggest that the progess dialog be implemented in a different thread, this way you won't have refresh problems.proxima centaur at 2007-11-10 9:01:09 >
# 9 Re: Question about a progress dialog...
As far as I know everything else you have is great. I assume the Sleep is just for testing purposes.I have a suggestion but it is only a suggestion. Instead of using a "Value" type member variable and using UpdateData you can use a "Control" type member variable as in:pDlg->m_ctlMessage.SetWindowText("Installing blah...");
pDlg->m_ctlMessage.UpdateWindow();
Sam Hobbs at 2007-11-10 9:02:16 >
# 10 Re: Question about a progress dialog...
Originally posted by proxima centaur May I suggest that the progess dialog be implemented in a different thread, this way you won't have refresh problems. What refresh problems?
Sam Hobbs at 2007-11-10 9:03:16 >
# 11 Re: Question about a progress dialog...
When you're in a single thread and you are doing a time consuming task and you switch application (ALT-TAB) then come back to your application, the WM_PAINT message is not processed until the time consuming task is finished. The progress bar will therefore only be updated when the task asks it to update.proxima centaur at 2007-11-10 9:04:14 >
