The ProgressBar Control
- Details
- Written by David Corrales
- Last Updated: 15 June 2016
- Created: 14 July 2011
- Hits: 42484
ProgressBar Control [System.Windows.Forms.ProgressBar]
Represents a Windows progress bar control.
Default Event: Click
Why use a ProgressBar control?
Use a ProgressBar when you need to show the user that progress is being made in some operation, such as copying files.
Important Properties:
Maximum
The Maximum is the upper bound of the range this ProgressBar is working with.
Why use the Maximum property?
Use the Maximum property when you have a known limit for your ProgressBar. When the Value property is equal to the value of the Maximum property, the progress bar is completely filled.
Example of setting the Maximum property in the Script Editor:
$progressbar1.Maximum =$files.Count
Values (Default: 100):
Any Integer value [Int32]
Minimum
The Minimum is the lower bound of the range this ProgressBar is working with. When the Value property is equal to the value of the Minimum property, the ProgressBar will be empty.
Values (Default: 0):
Any Integer value [Int32]
Step
The Step is the amount to increment the current value of the ProgressBar by when the PerformStep() method is called.
Why use the Step property?
Use the Step property to specify the amount that each completed task in an operation changes the value of the progress bar. The Step property default value is 10, so you may want to set the step to 1 when necessary.
Values (Default: 10):
Any Integer value [Int32]
Style
This property allows the user to set the style of the ProgressBar.
Why use the Style property?
Use the style property when you want to change the way ProgressBar is displayed or in cases where you have an unknown amount of increments (See Marquee style).
Values (Default: Blocks ):
Blocks
Indicates progress by increasing the number of segmented blocks in a ProgressBar.(Windows 7)
(Windows XP)
Continuous
Indicates progress by increasing the size of a smooth, continuous bar in a ProgressBar. Since PowerShell Studio enables VisualStyles by default, Continuous will resemble Blocks style.
Marquee
Indicates progress by continuously scrolling a block across a ProgressBar in a marquee fashion. Use Marquee when you can’t specify a quantity of progress, but still need to indicate that progress is being made. Use the MarqueeAnimationSpeed property to control the speed of the ProgressBar.(Windows 7)
(Windows XP)
Value
The current value of the ProgressBar, in the range specified by the Minimum and Maximum properties.
Why use the Value property?
Use the Value property if you want to set the progress at a specific point or to obtain the current position of the ProgressBar .
Values (Default: 0):
Any Integer value [Int32]
MarqueeAnimationSpeed
This property indicates the speed of the marquee animation in milliseconds. The ProgressBar’s Style must be set to Marquee in order to use this property.
Why use the MarqueeAnimationSpeed property?
Use the MarqueeAnimationSpeed property if you want to change the speed of the ProgressBar ’s animation or to pause the marquee by setting the speed to 0.
To clear the Marquee, it is recommended to change the Style property to Block and set the Value property to 0.
Values (Default: 100):
Any Integer value [Int32] (In milliseconds)
Important Methods:
Increment
This method advances the current position of the ProgressBar by the specified amount.
Why use the Increment method?
Use the Increment method when you need to increment the value of the ProgressBar by varying amounts. This method of incrementing the ProgressBar is similar to using the Step property with the PerformStep method. Setting the Step property is not necessary when using the Increment method.
Example of using Increment method in the script editor:
$progressbar1.Increment(1)
PerformStep
This method advances the current value of the ProgressBar by the amount of the Step property.
Why use the PerformStep method?
Use the PerformStep method when repeatedly incrementing the ProgressBar by the same amount (i.e., the value set in the Step property).
Here is a sample script block triggered by a button, that displays its progress as it creates a backup of all the text files located in a folder specified by the user:
$buttonBackupFiles_Click={ #Back up Text files from a selected directory if($folderbrowserdialog1.ShowDialog() -eq 'OK') { $selectedPath = $folderbrowserdialog1.SelectedPath #Get all the text files in the folder $files = Get-ChildItem $selectedPath -Filter *.txt if($files -eq $null -or $files.Count -eq 0) { #No files to backup return } #Initialize the Progress Bar $progressbar1.Maximum = $files.Count $progressbar1.Step = 1 $progressbar1.Value = 0 #Create the Backup Folder $destination = ('{0}\\Backup' -f $selectedPath) [System.IO.Directory]::CreateDirectory($destination) #Copy the files and update the progress bar foreach ($file in $files){ Copy-Item ('{0}\\{1}' -f $selectedPath, $file) -Destination $destination $progressbar1.PerformStep() } } }
For licensed customers, use the forum associated with your product in our Product Support Forums for Registered Customers.
For users of trial versions, please post in our Former and Future Customers - Questions forum.