How to make messagebox with automatic timer?

[shericn]

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

[Arjay]

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).

[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

[Arjay]

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

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?

[shericn]

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

Thanks for helping.

-Sheri

[andrey_zh]

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.

[Arjay]

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.

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;
};

[shericn]

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