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Refreshing screen while client-side script in process - 12/19/2007 3:44:02 AM

haz33

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Hi, I am currently developing an application where the user edits a collection of rows in a table, each containing several fields (text boxes).

One of the functions I allow the user to perform is to "bulk-populate" a bunch of rows' data with the click of a button. For, say, ten or so fields, the user can enter in values for those fields into text boxes at the top of the screen. Then by clicking a button, the application will automatically fill ALL of the rows in the table with that same data.

The problem arises when there are a lot of rows. For example, if I want to bulk-populate 300 rows, with each row containing ten fields (text boxes), my client-side VBScript procedure has to update 3,000 text boxes.....obviously not a terribly quick process.

Anyways, when the button is clicked in this situation, the browser "hangs" while the procedure populates each and every text box behind the scenes. Eventually, it completes, but the process can take 30 seconds or even longer.

My question is this: Is there a way to refresh or flush the controls as they're being populated (keep in mind that this is a client-side subroutine)? I just want the user to recognize that the application is actually doing SOMETHING. Perhaps there's an even better solution that I haven't thought of yet. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

Post #: 1

RE: Refreshing screen while client-side script in process - 12/19/2007 3:51:37 AM

ebgreen

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I think I would have the script pop up an ie window with a progress bar while it is doing the update.

_____________________________

"... when you are good and crazy, oooh, oooh, oooh, the sky is the limit!" - The Tick
Goog places to start:http://www.visualbasicscript.com/m_24727/tm.htm
http://www.visualbasicscript.com/m_47117/tm.htm

(in reply to haz33)

Post #: 2

RE: Refreshing screen while client-side script in process - 12/19/2007 3:57:58 AM

haz33

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That's a good idea. But that leads to another question.

If it's a progress bar, I'd need to keep updating it every time I updated a row in my table. And since the progress bar would be in a completely separate IE window, how would I constantly update the progress bar's value from the original application's window?

(in reply to ebgreen)

Post #: 3

RE: Refreshing screen while client-side script in process - 12/19/2007 4:02:45 AM

ebgreen

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There are lots of examples of IE progress bars that don't need you to do anything to update them. You can use one that you control the updates for (there are lots of examples of those too).

_____________________________

"... when you are good and crazy, oooh, oooh, oooh, the sky is the limit!" - The Tick
Goog places to start:http://www.visualbasicscript.com/m_24727/tm.htm
http://www.visualbasicscript.com/m_47117/tm.htm

(in reply to haz33)

Post #: 4

RE: Refreshing screen while client-side script in process - 12/19/2007 4:11:24 AM

haz33

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Can you point me in the general direction of where I could find code for a progress bar that I wouldn't have to update?

(in reply to ebgreen)

Post #: 5

RE: Refreshing screen while client-side script in process - 12/19/2007 4:15:56 AM

ebgreen

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Sure. I would look here:

http://www.visualbasicscript.com/search.aspx

and here:

http://www.google.com

_____________________________

"... when you are good and crazy, oooh, oooh, oooh, the sky is the limit!" - The Tick
Goog places to start:http://www.visualbasicscript.com/m_24727/tm.htm
http://www.visualbasicscript.com/m_47117/tm.htm

(in reply to haz33)

Post #: 6

RE: Refreshing screen while client-side script in process - 12/19/2007 4:27:36 AM

haz33

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I'm wondering if you could clarify one of your previous statements. When you said that there are IE progress bars that don't need you to do anything to update them, for those situations, where does the progress bar get its values from?

For example, say I have 3,000 fields to update and I have a FOR loop that runs through and updates each one at a time. Obviously, you'd want to increment a counter each time you updated a field and send that value to the progress bar. But if you're not doing anything to update the progress bar, how does the progress bar know how close you are to completing the procedure?

(in reply to ebgreen)

Post #: 7

RE: Refreshing screen while client-side script in process - 12/19/2007 4:32:58 AM

ebgreen

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Aaah, the ones that you don't update are really faux progress bars. They are the kind that just have some blob move from one side to the other repeatedly (I'm sure you've seen this before). They exist just to let the user know that something is happening not necessarily accurately indicate how much is going to happen or how much has already happened.

_____________________________

"... when you are good and crazy, oooh, oooh, oooh, the sky is the limit!" - The Tick
Goog places to start:http://www.visualbasicscript.com/m_24727/tm.htm
http://www.visualbasicscript.com/m_47117/tm.htm

(in reply to haz33)

Post #: 8

RE: Refreshing screen while client-side script in process - 12/19/2007 4:48:21 AM

haz33

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Most of the client-side scripting examples I come across utilize WScript....which I supposedly can't because I'm running this code in an .aspx file in a web browser.

When do you want to use WScript and how does one use it?

(in reply to ebgreen)

Post #: 9

RE: Refreshing screen while client-side script in process - 12/19/2007 4:52:28 AM

ebgreen

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Oh, the rows are being updated with server side code? In that case I think a Faux progress bar kicked off by the client page would be your only option. It is entirely possible that I am wrong however since I don't do web/server side scripting.

_____________________________

"... when you are good and crazy, oooh, oooh, oooh, the sky is the limit!" - The Tick
Goog places to start:http://www.visualbasicscript.com/m_24727/tm.htm
http://www.visualbasicscript.com/m_47117/tm.htm

(in reply to haz33)

Post #: 10

RE: Refreshing screen while client-side script in process - 12/19/2007 4:57:22 AM

haz33

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Nope, they're not being updated with server side code. All client stuff. Maybe I'm misunderstanding how folks are using WScript.

(in reply to ebgreen)

Post #: 11

RE: Refreshing screen while client-side script in process - 12/19/2007 5:06:48 AM

ebgreen

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Here is a progress bar that came from the Post a Script section of this site:

Class IEProgBar
Private FSO, IE, BackCol, ProgressCol, ProgressUnits, Q2, sTemp, iProgress
 Private Sub Class_Initialize()
    On Error Resume Next
       Set FSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
          sTemp = FSO.GetSpecialFolder(2)
          Q2 = chr(34)
      Set IE = CreateObject("InternetExplorer.Application")
        With IE
            .AddressBar = False
            .menubar = False
            .ToolBar = False
            .StatusBar = False
            .width = 400
            .height = 120
            .resizable = True
            .visible = False
        End With
      BackCol = "E0E0E4"
     ProgressCol = "0000A0"
     ProgressUnits = 20          'number of progress units. Change this value to change unit number.
     iProgress = 0
      PrepPage
       Do Until IE.ReadyState = 4
       Loop
 End Sub '---------------------------------------------------------------
         Private Sub Class_Terminate()
              On Error Resume Next
            WScript.DisconnectObject IE
            IE.Quit
            Set IE = Nothing
            Set FSO = Nothing
         End Sub '---------------------------------------------------------------
    Public Sub Show()
         IE.Visible = True
    End Sub '---------------------------------------------------------------
Public Sub Hide()
    IE.Visible = False
End Sub '---------------------------------------------------------------
         Public Sub Advance()
               On Error Resume Next
             If (iProgress < ProgressUnits) and (IE.Visible = True) Then
                IE.Document.parentWindow.Prog1(iProgress).bgcolor = ProgressCol
                iProgress = iProgress + 1
             End If
         End Sub '---------------------------------------------------------------
Public Sub Reset()
   Dim i2
    On Error Resume Next
      For i2 = 0 to (ProgressUnits - 1)
         IE.Document.parentWindow.Prog1(i2).bgcolor = BackCol
      Next
       iProgress = 0
End Sub '---------------------------------------------------------------
       Public Sub Move(PixLeft, PixTop, PixWidth, PixHeight)
           On Error Resume Next
            If (PixLeft > -1) Then IE.Left = PixLeft
            If (PixTop > -1) Then IE.Top = PixTop
            If (PixWidth > 0) Then IE.Width = PixWidth
            If (PixHeight > 0) Then IE.Height = PixHeight
       End Sub '---------------------------------------------------------------
Public Property Let BackGround(sPic)
 Dim Boo1, sFil, sFilPath
     On Error Resume Next
  If (Len(sPic) = 0) or (FSO.FileExists(sPic) = False) Then
      Boo1 = IE.Document.Body.removeAttribute("Background", 0)
  Else
      sFil = FSO.GetFileName(sPic)
      sFilPath = sTemp & "\" & sFil
        If FSO.FileExists(sFilPath) Then FSO.DeleteFile sFilPath, True
      FSO.CopyFile sPic, sFilPath, True
      IE.Document.Body.background = sFil
  End If
End Property '---------------------------------------------------------------
       Public Property Let BackColor(sCol)
          If (TestColor(sCol) = True) Then
             BackCol = scol
             IE.Document.bgColor = sCol
          End If
       End Property '---------------------------------------------------------------
Public Property Let TextColor(sCol)
  If (TestColor(sCol) = True) Then IE.Document.Body.Text = sCol
End Property '---------------------------------------------------------------
       Public Property Let ProgressColor(sCol)
          If (TestColor(sCol) = True) Then ProgressCol = sCol
       End Property '---------------------------------------------------------------
Public Property Let Icon(sPic)
 Dim sTag, sFil, sFilPath
       On Error Resume Next
     If (Len(sPic) = 0) or (FSO.FileExists(sPic) = False) Then Exit Property
  sFil = FSO.GetFileName(sPic)
  sFilPath = sTemp & "\" & sFil
    If FSO.FileExists(sFilPath) Then FSO.DeleteFile sFilPath, True
  FSO.CopyFile sPic, sFilPath, True
     sTag = "<IMG SRC=" & Q2 & sFil & Q2 & " ALIGN=" & Q2 & "Left" & Q2 & ">"
    IE.Document.Body.insertAdjacentHTML "AfterBegin", sTag
End Property '---------------------------------------------------------------
       Public Property Let Title(sCap)
          IE.Document.Title = sCap
       End Property '---------------------------------------------------------------
Public Property Let Caption(sCap)
  IE.Document.parentWindow.Cap1.innerText = sCap
End Property '---------------------------------------------------------------
        Public Sub CleanIETitle()
          Dim sR1, sR2, SH
              On Error Resume Next
            sR1 = "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\Window Title"
            sR2 = "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\Window Title"
            Set SH = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
              SH.RegWrite sR1, "", "REG_SZ"
              SH.RegWrite sR2, "", "REG_SZ"
            Set SH = Nothing
        End Sub '---------------------------------------------------------------
Private Function TestColor(Col6)
Dim iB, sB, iB2, Boo1
     On Error Resume Next
         TestColor = False
       If (Len(Col6) <> 6) Then Exit Function
    For iB = 1 to 6
       sB = Mid(Col6, iB, 1)
       iB2 = Asc(UCase(sB))
       If ((iB2 > 47) and (iB2 < 58)) or ((iB2 > 64) and (iB2 < 71)) Then
           Boo1 = True
       Else
           Boo1 = False
           Exit For
       End If
    Next
        If (Boo1 = True) Then TestColor = True
End Function '---------------------------------------------------------------
     Private Sub PrepPage()
        Dim s, i, TS
           On Error Resume Next
           s = "<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Progress</TITLE></HEAD>"
           s = s & "<BODY SCROLL=" & Q2 & "NO" & Q2 & " BGCOLOR=" & Q2 & "#E0E0E4" & Q2 & " TEXT=" & Q2 & "#000000" & Q2 & ">"
           s = s & "<LABEL ID=" & Q2 & "Cap1" & Q2 & ">Progress...</LABEL> "
           s = s & "<TABLE BORDER=1><TR><TD><TABLE BORDER=0 CELLPADDING=0 CELLSPACING=0><TR>"
               For i = 1 to ProgressUnits
                    s = s & "<TD WIDTH=16 HEIGHT=16 ID=" & Q2 & "Prog1" & Q2 & ">"
               Next
           s = s & "</TR></TABLE></TD></TR></TABLE> </BODY></HTML>"
              Set TS = FSO.CreateTextFile(sTemp & "\iebar3.html", True)
                 TS.Write s
                 TS.Close
              Set TS = Nothing
                IE.Navigate "[link=http://www.visualbasicscript.com/file:///]file:///[/link]" & sTemp & "\iebar3.html"
     End Sub '---------------------------------------------------------------
End Class

Give it a try and see if it will work for you.

_____________________________

"... when you are good and crazy, oooh, oooh, oooh, the sky is the limit!" - The Tick
Goog places to start:http://www.visualbasicscript.com/m_24727/tm.htm
http://www.visualbasicscript.com/m_47117/tm.htm

(in reply to haz33)

Post #: 12

RE: Refreshing screen while client-side script in process - 12/19/2007 5:36:42 AM

haz33

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Thanks! I'll give it a shot.

(in reply to ebgreen)

Post #: 13

RE: Refreshing screen while client-side script in process - 12/19/2007 6:26:48 AM

TNO

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Here's one I did from about a year ago:

http://www.visualbasicscript.com/m_41561/tm.htm

_____________________________

To iterate is human, to recurse divine. -- L. Peter Deutsch

(in reply to haz33)

Post #: 14

RE: Refreshing screen while client-side script in process - 12/19/2007 8:32:37 AM

haz33

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TNO:

Awesome! Exactly what I was looking for! Thanks for the help!

(in reply to TNO)

Post #: 15

RE: Refreshing screen while client-side script in process - 12/19/2007 10:25:31 AM

Fredledingue

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IMO, instead of populating all the fields one by one, it would be faster (lasting maybe a 1/4 of a second instead of half a minute) to load the html code into a string variable, operating a string replacement to insert the new default value, then replace the html code inside the form.
UserStr being the data to be duplicated among all the input boxes.

MyFormHtml = Replace(document.form.innerHtml, "value=""""", "value=""" & UserStr & """""")
document.form.innerHtml = MyFormHtml

or even shorter:

document.form.innerHtml = Replace(document.form.innerHtml, "value=""""", "value=""" & UserStr & """""")

Make sure that value=""" is present in the original code, eg:
<input type="text" name="Mydata" size="10" value="">
otherwise it won't find the string to replace.

< Message edited by Fredledingue -- 12/19/2007 10:28:01 AM >

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Fred

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Post #: 16

RE: Refreshing screen while client-side script in process - 12/20/2007 1:19:00 AM

haz33

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Good idea, but it won't work in my situation. The user is able to edit each individual text box as well. So the text for any particular text box is not necessarily blank.....in fact, it could be anything. On top of that, the user also has the choice of editing an explicit range of rows in the table.

Thanks for the idea though!

(in reply to Fredledingue)

Post #: 17

RE: Refreshing screen while client-side script in process - 12/20/2007 3:36:12 AM

haz33

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TNO:

Another question for you. I like your code but I noticed that if you close out the progress bar window prematurely, it raises an error. How can you get around this? Can you suppress the close button on the window? Or better yet, can you eliminate the border on the progress bar window alltogether?

(in reply to TNO)

Post #: 18

RE: Refreshing screen while client-side script in process - 12/20/2007 8:52:32 AM

TNO

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showModelessDialog("progress.html",self,"dialogHeight: 200px; dialogWidth: 400px; edge: Raised; center: Yes; help: No; resizable: No; status: No; unadorned: yes;");

MAKE SURE PROGRESS.HTML CAN CLOSE ITSELF

or add a close button to the program manually. Remember, this will only work if you program is run from a trusted html page, or an HTA

_____________________________

To iterate is human, to recurse divine. -- L. Peter Deutsch

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Post #: 19

RE: Refreshing screen while client-side script in process - 12/20/2007 9:01:09 AM

haz33

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I tried the UNADORNED parameter and it didn't work. The page that uses the progress.html is an .aspx page. My guess is that my page is not "trusted." How can you make it that way?

(in reply to TNO)