Marquee Progress Bar in LabVIEW

[Mr._Jim]

Hi Folks,

Does anyone know of a way to implement a marquee progress bar in LabVIEW?  This is the sort of progress bar that doesn't indicate any specific or quantifiable value, it just moves to indicate that something is happening.  (I've attached an example)

I just double checked for obscure properties in LabVIEW's system progress bar and I also spent some considerable time playing with the ProgressBar .NET control.  I managed to get the .NET control working, but if I set the "Style" property to "Marquee" it enters an infinite loop of exception dialogs and eventually crashes LabVIEW.  Based on forums for other languages, some say that you have to have Visual Styles enabled in order to use the Marquee style.  I experimented, but being a relative novice with .NET, I couldn't figure out how to do this in LabVIEW.  Maybe I'm just not using the correct class.

It seems like a lot of work for something relatively simple.  Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks in advance,

Jim

[tst]

I haven't tried using the .NET one, but you can implement this yourself using a picture control or even a graph (you can set the graph style to be a bar graph).

[Mr._Jim]

Thanks, tst.  Yep, that'll work.  I guess it's just the perfectionist in me that wants to do it the "elegant" way.  I used an animated gif for now, as I have in the past for previous applications, but I was hoping someone had already found another way.  Looks like this could be another product suggestion candidate.

[smercurio_fc]

You can also do it with a horizontal slide.

[Mr._Jim]

Heheh... That's a pretty neat trick.  Very interesting indeed...  I forgot about the "multiple sliders" bit because I was trying to use a system control.  Thanks a lot!  It's still not exactly what I was looking for, but it's another very decent workaround.

[smercurio_fc]

What were you looking for, exactly? You had posted just a still picture, so it's not clear the specific behavior that you're trying to duplicate. Or, is it a specific look that you're looking for?

[smercurio_fc]

By the way, here's a VI using the .NET ProgressBar. I didn't get any errors. It doesn't go back and forth like a Cylon's eyes, though, which my previous example did.

[Mr._Jim]

Hmmm... maybe I wasn't too clear about what I was looking for.  (exactly  )  Sorry about that.  You mean you can't read my mind?!

Actually, it is the certain look that I'm interested in.  Specifically, I like to write my applications with system controls so that the look and feel is consistent with most other applications.  That said, I was looking for the system progress bar with a marquee, as it's something I'd use on a regular basis.  (It doesn't have to go back and forth like a Cylon's eyes, but that was pretty darned cool.) 

Regarding the .NET version, your last example is exactly what I tried.  It seemed like the right property to change, but when I run your example I'm getting the same error dialog I had before.  (see attached picture)  I know for a fact that the "style" property causes the crash, and it predictably takes down LabVIEW every time, too.  You said you didn't get any errors, though.  I wonder if has to do with the version of the .NET framework or if it matters that I'm using Vista.  I don't think it's a version thing, as I'm running .NET framework version 3.5.  Maybe I should just stop being a perfectionist and use the native LabVIEW progress bar.

Thanks for all your ideas so far.

Jim

[tst]

When I wanted a system style continuous progress bar, I simply used the one from the system palette and ran it in a loop with the Q&R primitive so that each time it filled up it would start over.

I also wrote some cooler ones with fading effects and multiple colors, but that's not for here. If you search my posts you should find a flow animation which can be used for this, but it will not have a system look.

[tst]

P.S. I also get that error with .NET 2.0 and LV 8.6.

As for the system look, I also wrote a quick VI (probably similar to the one posted above, although I didn't see it) which looks similar to what you posted, but it won't be a real system look. I can post it later.