Ticker (revisited) with Visual Studio 2012 Express

[oldGMtireman]

Hello all!

I posted once about attempting to code a ticker (scrolling text box) with a background worker on Visual Studio 2012 Express. I learned that it was better to use a timer and did not require a lot of code. After experimenting with this for some time, I figured out how to do it. Part of this post will be to share what I learned (if you want a simple way to do it), and the other is a request for help. I made the ticker for a slot machine program and it works fine as long as the user (player) does not click the "spin" button. If they click the spin button, the entire form freezes while filling in the 5 picture boxes with the images of the cards I am using.

Once again I am using Visual Studio 2012 Express

Here is my code:

Public Class Form2
    Public TickerMsg As String = "***** Today's winning bonus is "
    Public NumSpins As Integer
    Public PixNum(5) As Integer
    Public txtCnt As Integer = 0
    Public boxText As String = Nothing
    Public chrchk As String = Nothing
    Public TickerText As String

Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click

        GameStart = True
        Button1.Enabled = False
        Button2.Enabled = False
        Button3.Enabled = False
        SETTINGSToolStripMenuItem.Enabled = False
        Label5.Text = Nothing
        Label5.Refresh()
        RectangleShape1.Hide()
        RectangleShape2.Hide()
        RectangleShape3.Hide()
        RectangleShape4.Hide()
        RectangleShape5.Hide()
        NumericUpDown1.Enabled = False

        CurrentCreditAmount = CDec(CurrentCreditAmount) - (NumericUpDown1.Value * 5)
        Label8.Text = Format(CurrentCreditAmount, "####.00")
        Label8.Refresh()

        Randomize()

        NumSpins = CInt(Math.Floor((15 - 7 + 1) * Rnd())) + 7

        For x As Integer = 1 To NumSpins

            PixNum(1) = CInt(Math.Floor((23 - 0 + 1) * Rnd())) + 0
            PictureBox1.Image = ImageList1.Images.Item(PixNum(1))

            PixNum(2) = CInt(Math.Floor((23 - 0 + 1) * Rnd())) + 0
            PictureBox2.Image = ImageList1.Images.Item(PixNum(2))

            PixNum(3) = CInt(Math.Floor((23 - 0 + 1) * Rnd())) + 0
            PictureBox3.Image = ImageList1.Images.Item(PixNum(3))

            PixNum(4) = CInt(Math.Floor((23 - 0 + 1) * Rnd())) + 0
            PictureBox4.Image = ImageList1.Images.Item(PixNum(4))

            PixNum(5) = CInt(Math.Floor((23 - 0 + 1) * Rnd())) + 0
            PictureBox5.Image = ImageList1.Images.Item(PixNum(5))

            GroupBox1.Refresh()
            System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(200)

        Next
        
    End Sub

Private Sub Form2_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Me.Load

        If My.Settings.PayoutLastUpdate = CurDay Then
            PlayerPayout = CDec(My.Settings.MaxDayPayout * 1000)
        ElseIf My.Settings.PayoutLastUpdate <> CurDay Then
            PlayerPayout = PlayerPayout + CDec(My.Settings.MaxDayPayout * 1000)
            My.Settings.PayoutLastUpdate = CurDay
            My.Settings.Save()
        End If
        
    End Sub

Private Sub Timer1_Tick(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Timer1.Tick

        txtCnt += 1
        If txtCnt = 150 Then txtCnt = 1
        chrchk = Mid(TickerText, txtCnt, 1)

        If Len(TextBox1.Text) >= 150 Then
            boxText = TextBox1.Text.Remove(0, 1) & chrchk
        Else
            boxText = boxText & chrchk
        End If

        TextBox1.Text = boxText
        TextBox1.Refresh()

    End Sub

Public Sub Restart_Form()

        Button1.Enabled = False
        Button2.Enabled = False
        Button3.Enabled = False
        GameStart = False
        Label4.Text = Nothing
        Label5.Text = Nothing
        Label8.Text = Nothing

        NumericUpDown1.Value = NumericUpDown1.Minimum
        NumericUpDown1.Enabled = False

        PictureBox1.Image = Nothing
        PictureBox2.Image = Nothing
        PictureBox3.Image = Nothing
        PictureBox4.Image = Nothing
        PictureBox5.Image = Nothing

        RectangleShape1.Hide()
        RectangleShape2.Hide()
        RectangleShape3.Hide()
        RectangleShape4.Hide()
        RectangleShape5.Hide()

        TextBox1.Clear()
        TextBox1.Visible = IIf(My.Settings.ShowTicker = True, True, False)
        TickerText = TickerMsg & Format(PlayerPayout, "$#####.00") & " *****" & Space(104)
        Timer1.Interval = My.Settings.TickerVal * 10
        Timer1.Enabled = IIf(My.Settings.ShowTicker = True, True, False)

        EDITToolStripMenuItem.Enabled = False
        NEWToolStripMenuItem.Enabled = True
        SAVEToolStripMenuItem.Enabled = False
        SETTINGSToolStripMenuItem.Enabled = True

    End Sub

main_screen.jpg

You will see that 1) I am using an ImageList to hold the pictures of the cards. 2) Upon start of the program, I increase the daily winning amount by 1 thousand dollars and that is displayed in the ticker.

I know that you will also see the "sleep" line above and most likely attribute my problem to that. I have totally removed that line and still get the exact same issue. Oh, that line is there so that it slows down the changing of the card images to make it look better. The rectangle shapes appear around the picture boxes when there is a win (still working on).

I will answer any questions you may have so that you can help me determine how to prevent textbox1 and timer1 from freezing with each spin.


Thank you in advance for your help.