Show "please wait" message box

Question

I want to show a 'please wait' message box while my main form is doing a lengthy task. As for my case, the lengthy task is transmitting serial protocol. Below is my code:

public void transmitprotocol()
{    
    try
    {
         MessageBox.Show("Please wait. Uploading logo.", "Status");

         // Transmitting protocol coding here. Takes around 2 minutes to finish.

    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        Debug.WriteLine(ex.ToString());
    }
}

I've tried the above method using MessageBox like the above coding, but I always have to close the MessageBox only it will start transmitting protocol. Is there any method I can do to still show the 'please wait' MessageBox while it transmit protocol?

Answer 1

You will need to do the expensive operation on a background thread. For that, use either a BackgroundWorker or the new Parallelization Library (.NET 4 and so on).

Actually you need to close the dialog because it blocks the execution until you, well, close it. What you do is that you start the operation, then show the dialog and then, once the operation is done, you close the dialog.

Now, if you're using WPF I will strongly suggest you to don't use a Dialog Box and instead use a Busy Indicator, it's free, pretty easy to use and not so ugly as the Message Box.

EDIT: Now that you specify you're using WinForms, then go ahead, implement the background worked and, why not, a transparent window without chrome whose purpose is to show a Busy label. Once the background worker ends you close that window.

Answer 2

You have to prepare a backgroundworker and use a windows form instead of MessageBox. Something like this as simple as copy/paste:

    Form1 msgForm;
    public void transmitprotocol()
    {
        BackgroundWorker bw = new BackgroundWorker();
        bw.DoWork += new DoWorkEventHandler(bw_DoWork);
        bw.RunWorkerCompleted += new RunWorkerCompletedEventHandler(bw_RunWorkerCompleted);
        //you can use progresschange in order change waiting message while background working
        msgForm = new Form1();//set lable and your waiting text in this form
        try
        {
            bw.RunWorkerAsync();//this will run all Transmitting protocol coding at background thread

            //MessageBox.Show("Please wait. Uploading logo.", "Status");
            msgForm.ShowDialog();//use controlable form instead of poor MessageBox
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            Debug.WriteLine(ex.ToString());
        }
    }

    void bw_DoWork(object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)
    {
        // Transmitting protocol coding here. Takes around 2 minutes to finish. 
        //you have to write down your Transmitting codes here
        ...

        //The following code is just for loading time simulation and you can remove it later. 
        System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(5*1000); //this code take 5 seconds to be passed
    }
    void bw_RunWorkerCompleted(object sender, RunWorkerCompletedEventArgs e)
    {
        //all background work has complete and we are going to close the waiting message
        msgForm.Close();
    }

Answer 3

The easiest way to do this is to open the splash with show() Open the desired form and pass it an instance of the splash form in the constructor:

        Wait myWaitDialog = new Wait(); //Wait is your splash
        myWaitDialog.Show();
        myWaitDialog.Refresh(); //Otherwise screen fails to refresh splash
        ScheduleClassForm myForm = new ScheduleClassForm(myWaitDialog);
        myForm.TopLevel = true;
        myForm.ShowDialog();

Add this code to your resulting form constructor:

    public ScheduleClassForm(Form WaitWindow)
    {            
       InitializeComponent();
       WaitWindow.Close();
    }

For me it failed in the form_load but worked in the constructor. Make sure your work is done (e.g. db load) prior to closing the WaitWindow.