Display hourglass or Please Wait message while Sub runs

Question

I have the following sub running on my form. It can take a while for the sub to run so I want to change the cursor to an hourglass and display a Please Wait message while the code is running. Here is my procedure: ``` Public Sub GoToSheets(sheetName As String) 'This sub is used to open the workbook on the selected sheet. 'This checks to see if Excel workbook is opened, if not it 'opens Excel, the workbook and then the selected sheet. If the workbook is 'opened, it goes to the selected sheet. '@param sheetName, sheet to be displayed Try 'get an existing excel.application object xlApp = CType(GetObject(, "Excel.Application"), Application) Catch ex As Exception 'no existing excel.application object - create a new one xlApp = New Excel.Application End Try Dim xlWBName As String = "2011.1004.Compensation Template" Dim xlBookPath As String = Path.Combine(Directory.GetCurrentDirectory()) xlApp.Visible = True Try 'get the opened workbook xlBook = xlApp.Workbooks(xlWBName & ".xlsx") Catch ex A…

Accepted Answer

I suggest creating a `PleaseWaitForm` that has the label of `Please Wait...` message on it and then have the form shown as mode-less, change the cursor to hourglass, do Excel work, change cursor back to default and hide the `PleaseWaitForm`.

```
Dim pleaseWait As New PleaseWaitForm
pleaseWait.Show()

' Set cursor as hourglass
Cursor.Current = Cursors.WaitCursor

Application.DoEvents

' Execute your GoToSheets method here

' Set cursor as default arrow
Cursor.Current = Cursors.Default

' Hide the please wait form
pleaseWait.Hide()
```

Display hourglass or Please Wait message while Sub runs

Solution

Problem