dialog box while Excel is running Macro

[AdamS]

Hi, thanks in advance...

I am working on a program that logs data from a scale. At the beginning of the program, it retrieves data from an Excel file on a network... this takes about 3 seconds to load... At the end of the program it compiles all the data into Excel, then runs a formatting macro... this also takes about 3 seconds to run. Is there a way I can make a dialog box that pops up and displays "file loading" (or something like that) while these processes are running? I don't want the operators clicking away while this is happening, mistakenly thinking something is wrong or the program is frozen. I can't seem to get anything to work...

Thanks a million!

[tst]

I think the easiest thing would be to place a modal subVI in the same place where you do the reading\writing and have the VI end using a timer. You could even make a progress bar.
If the time isn't constant, you could have the message box in your VI and just make it visible\invisible when the process starts\ends. To do this, you need to create a property node. Right click on the control or the terminal and select Create>>Property Node. Then, select Visible and wire T or F into it, accordingly.