Mega Code Archive

 
Categories / Delphi / Graphic
 

Paint a moving progress bar using a background thread

{ Question: I am trying query to display records in a dbgrid.however, due to size of tables and joins takes a while for the query to Execute.is there any way to Show a prorgess bar with a timer that increments position but continues to work while the query is being executed.BTW, using access so BDE is not used. Answer: A progress bar would not be an ideal choice since you cannot determine up front how long the query will take, so you do not know the range the progress bar has to cover.A simple kind of animation that tells the user basically only that the application is not hung would be more appropriate.One could do such a thing in a secondary thread but it would have to be done using the plain Windows API and * no * Synchronize calls (since the main thread is blocked in the BDE call).Here is an example: unit anithread; } interface uses Classes, Windows, Controls, Graphics; type TAnimationThread = class(TThread) private { Private declarations } FWnd: HWND; FPaintRect: TRect; FbkColor, FfgColor: TColor; FInterval: integer; protected procedure Execute; override; public constructor Create(paintsurface : TWinControl; {Control to paint on } paintrect : TRect; {area for animation bar } bkColor, barcolor : TColor; {colors to use } interval : integer); {wait in msecs between paints} end; implementation constructor TAnimationThread.Create(paintsurface : TWinControl; paintrect : TRect; bkColor, barcolor : TColor; interval : integer); begin inherited Create(True); FWnd := paintsurface.Handle; FPaintRect := paintrect; FbkColor := bkColor; FfgColor := barColor; FInterval := interval; FreeOnterminate := True; Resume; end; { TAnimationThread.Create } procedure TAnimationThread.Execute; var image : TBitmap; DC : HDC; left, right : integer; increment : integer; imagerect : TRect; state : (incRight, incLeft, decLeft, decRight); begin Image := TBitmap.Create; try with Image do begin Width := FPaintRect.Right - FPaintRect.Left; Height := FPaintRect.Bottom - FPaintRect.Top; imagerect := Rect(0, 0, Width, Height); end; { with } left := 0; right := 0; increment := imagerect.right div 50; state := Low(State); while not Terminated do begin with Image.Canvas do begin Brush.Color := FbkColor; FillRect(imagerect); case state of incRight: begin Inc(right, increment); if right > imagerect.right then begin right := imagerect.right; Inc(state); end; { if } end; { Case incRight } incLeft: begin Inc(left, increment); if left >= right then begin left := right; Inc(state); end; { if } end; { Case incLeft } decLeft: begin Dec(left, increment); if left <= 0 then begin left := 0; Inc(state); end; { if } end; { Case decLeft } decRight: begin Dec(right, increment); if right <= 0 then begin right := 0; state := incRight; end; { if } end; { Case decLeft } end; { Case } Brush.Color := FfgColor; FillRect(Rect(left, imagerect.top, right, imagerect.bottom)); end; { with } DC := GetDC(FWnd); if DC <> 0 then try BitBlt(DC, FPaintRect.Left, FPaintRect.Top, imagerect.right, imagerect.bottom, Image.Canvas.handle, 0, 0, SRCCOPY); finally ReleaseDC(FWnd, DC); end; Sleep(FInterval); end; { While } finally Image.Free; end; InvalidateRect(FWnd, nil, True); end; { TAnimationThread.Execute } end. {Usage: Place a TPanel on a form, size it as appropriate.Create an instance of the TanimationThread call like this: procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender : TObject); } var ani : TAnimationThread; r : TRect; begin r := panel1.clientrect; InflateRect(r, - panel1.bevelwidth, - panel1.bevelwidth); ani := TanimationThread.Create(panel1, r, panel1.color, clBlue, 25); Button1.Enabled := False; Application.ProcessMessages; Sleep(30000); // replace with query.Open or such Button1.Enabled := True; ani.Terminate; ShowMessage('Done'); end;