How to make messagebox with automatic timer?

Hi:

So I am programming in win32. I want to make a message box that would destroy itself after a certain amount of time, even if the user does not click on it. How would I do that?

When I searched on the web regarding this question, the only thing I was able to find was to create a new form. But when I tried doing that by going to the Solution Explorer, and clicking "add->Windows Form", it gave me some kind of errors: "Object doesn't support this property or method".

How else could I mimic a messagebox, so it will be just like a messagebox except it will have some kind of automatic timer in it?

PS: I don't want a dialog box because it is modal.

Any help will be appreciated. Thanks.

-Sheri

It's unclear what language you are programming. You state that you are programming in Win32, but then you say that you are attempting to create a new form (form implies .net).

Btw, a dialog box doesn't have to be modal - it can be modeless.

In general, to solve your problem, you create a dialog and in it's initialization (depending on the language used), you fire off a timer. When the timer triggers, you close the dialog (or destroy it if it's modeless).

Thank you.

I made a modeless dialog box, and this works. But I'm still wondering, there's no way to just create a messagebox that will destroy itself after certain amount of time? I'm not doing .net, so I guess a new form is not possible.

-Sheri

Quote:

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Originally Posted by shericn

Thank you.

I made a modeless dialog box, and this works. But I'm still wondering, there's no way to just create a messagebox that will destroy itself after certain amount of time? I'm not doing .net, so I guess a new form is not possible.

-Sheri

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Of course it's possible to write a self closing dialog.

However, we can't help you if you don't answer the questions we've asked.

What language are you programming in?
What development environment are you using?

I'm programming in C/C++, using Windows Mobile development environment.

Thanks for helping.

-Sheri

Hello!

I was thinking about you problem for some time. I'll speak in terms of WinAPI but you could find smth like this in Windows Mobile (possibly).

Create a MessageBox() with "strange" title, say "Title ~~~my msg box to be found~~~"
Start a tread just before you create a MessageBox(), wait a bit in a tread, then FindWindow().

Play with it in a tread. Close the box in a tread or modify it's content (but it doesn't seem to be portable).

Pay attention on situations when user closed your MessageBox.

I never tried this, but it seems to be logical. If it helped make me a note.

In Win32, you handle the WM_INITDIALOG message in your dialog proc. Inside the handler for this message, you create a timer using SetTimer( ) api. Set this timer to fire every 1 second.

Add a WM_TIMER handler. Inside this handler, increment a count value (which needs to be static or global) and when you've exceeded the count value, send yourself a WM_CLOSE message to close the dialog.

Here's an example of an auto-timeout status dialog using ATL. Sure, the actual code is a bit different than straight Win32, but the concept is the same.

Code:

---

class CStatusDlg : public CDialogImpl<CStatusDlg>
{
public:
enum { IDD = IDD_STATUS };
CStatusDlg(LPCSTR szMessage, constlong lTimeout)
  : m_sMessage( szMessage ),
    m_lTimeout( lTimeout )
{
}
 
  BEGIN_MSG_MAP(CStatusDlg)
    MESSAGE_HANDLER(WM_INITDIALOG, OnInitDialog)
    COMMAND_ID_HANDLER( IDOK, OnOk )
    MESSAGE_HANDLER( WM_CLOSE, OnClose )
    MESSAGE_HANDLER( WM_TIMER, OnTimer )
  END_MSG_MAP()
 
  LRESULT OnInitDialog(UINT uMsg, WPARAM wParam,
LPARAM lParam, BOOL& bHandled)
  {
    m_nCounterIndex = m_lTimeout;

    /* other control initialization removed for code sample */

// Start the timer
    m_nTimerID = SetTimer(TIMER_IDEVENT, 1000); // one second interval

    return 1;
  }
 
  LRESULT OnOk(WORD, WORD, HWND, BOOL&)
  {
    SetStatus();

    EndDialog(IDOK);
    return 0;
  }
 
  LRESULT OnClose( UINT, WPARAM, LPARAM, BOOL& )
  {
    EndDialog(IDCANCEL);
    return 0;
  }
 

  LRESULT OnTimer( UINT nID, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam, BOOL& )
  {
    if(m_nCounterIndex > 1)
    {
      CString sMsg;
      sMsg.Format( _T(""This dialog will auto-close in &#37;d seconds."), m_nCounterIndex);
      m_StaticStatusCtrl.SetWindowText( sMsg );
    }
    else
    {
      KillTimer( m_nTimerID );
      EndDialog( IDOK );
    }
    m_nCounterIndex--;
    return 0;
  }

private:
  constlong m_lTimeout;
  UINT m_nTimerID;
  UINT m_nCounterIndex;
};

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Hi andrey_zh and Arjay:
Both of your methods are similar, just create a timer, and destroy the window by first using FindWindow(), and if the window exists, then destroy it, right? I tried doing this, and it works very well. Thank you.
-Sheri