I've been asked to provide a spinner on a form to show that a script is in play, in addition to the TC info up in the right hand corner. I am thinking I may need to multithread this (which is one question) or provide an animated spinner and start and stop the thing somehow on one thread. What is the best way to do this?

May I ask why this request was made? Generally, in shops where I've done a lot of automation work, there is an understanding that the machines dedicated to executing the tests are sancrosanct and must not be touched on pain of pain.However, secondarily, putting a form on the screen which would potentially overlay portions of the application undertest would be problematic. You can't click on a button or link that is masked by a form so, practically speaking, with the way that automation works in TestComplete, I don't see how this would work.

The users want to know it is actually doing something and not just stuck saving or whatever, lest they be tempted to do something because it has been broken. In particular TC takes some time to save files and sits there "doing nothing" which is annoying, at least to one tester who provided feedback. I have a progress bar that helps somewhat - if you can update a progress bar in the middle of a file save, that would be a viable alterative, I think. Some other operations take over a minute. When it is "doing things" controls are greyed out (inactive) so they can't do anything. I've been told that if it looks like it is doing nothing for over three minutes, a tester will be greatly tempted to shut it down and start over because "it is obviously broken - if it is still working, make it look like it is doing something." I have to address this in my response to review comments.

Also this is being run on dual monitors - app on one screen, form on the other. The form provides feedback as to what script is being run and progress to date. Basically the form allows you to select a batch of scripts, organize them and run them, and then reports the results.

If you are in a script that is not interacting actively with an application, you might be able to pop a User Form.

What do you mean by "pop a User Form"?

Spinner on a Form | SmartBear Community

16 Replies

sastowe
Super Contributor
13 years ago
One thing you may be able to do with relative ease is to change the text in the upper right hand corner. Take a look at the indicator object:

http://support.smartbear.com/viewarticle/30646/

You might be able to givbe clearer text there.
tristaanogre
Esteemed Contributor
13 years ago
We did user the indicator object pretty extensively... it won't necessarily give a progress bar for something (especially if there is no preconfigured time to execute), but it will give a visual notice, with custom text, on screen to say "Hey, don't touch... I'm working here!"
tengel
Contributor
13 years ago
The Progress bar I was referring to is the TcxProgressBar found under 'Extra' on the Categories pane for the UserForm. It's not clear to me why someone said there is no progress bar.

May I suggest that SmartBear add an animated spinner to the UserForm under 'Extra'? There is the theory that what the client wants, the client gets, and my client is the tester, who wants a spinner. There are icons available that "spin" internally and it seems reasonable to request that this capacity be added to the form.
sastowe
Super Contributor
13 years ago
"The Progress bar I was referring to is the TcxProgressBar found under 'Extra' on the Categories pane for the UserForm. It's not clear to me why someone said there is no progress bar."

That was me. I was wrong, apparently.

TanyaYatskovska

Alumni

13 years ago

Hi Tom,

May I suggest that SmartBear add an animated spinner to the UserForm under 'Extra'? There is the theory that what the client wants, the client gets, and my client is the tester, who wants a spinner. There are icons available that "spin" internally and it seems reasonable to request that this capacity be added to the form.

I have registered your request as a suggestion in our DB!

tengel
Contributor
13 years ago
Thanks, Tanya.

You might want to consider widening it to accept any icon (.jpg,.gif, etc.).

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Spinner on a Form

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