"Is there any simple way to show that the program is busy and that the user needs to wait?

[Shiner]

Do you mean like changing the APPLICATION ICON to the HourGlass or something similar ?

[Matt_R]

One option you have is to change the mouse cursor into an hourglass (similar to most Windows programs) when your VI is in a busy state. There is an example program in the Developer Zone that demonstrates how to do this using Windows API calls. You can find this example by clicking on the following link:

http://zone.ni.com/devzone/devzoneweb.nsf/opendoc?openagent&90ACEFB7D5591B7C8625683A000BF4B6&cat=A0CA73CF5185AEEF862567AC0057E6FF

For reference, I just went to the Developer Zone and did a search on "mouse cursor."

[Adriana]

I guess the hourglass is the simplest, most direct way, but could a dialog box be used as well?

[Matt_R]

On the hourglass note, you could just use the load and set cursor to change the cursor back to the normal arrow.

However, you seem like you would like to bring up a dialog window. I put together a quick example that uses VI Server to display and close a "busy" dialog VI.

[Adriana]

Thank you for that wonderful example! 🙂

[Adriana]

Okay I tried the hourglass call, but it won't actually disappear until the user moves
the mouse. I know the code that originally loaded the hourglass has finished running but the pointer is still an hourglass. Is there another call to change it back?

[Anonymous]

Adriana wrote:

> Okay I tried the hourglass call, but it won't actually disappear until
> the user moves
> the mouse. I know the code that originally loaded the hourglass has
> finished running but the pointer is still an hourglass. Is there
> another call to change it back?

Try Cursor.llb. Download "G Toolbox" at:

http://gtoolbox.yeah.net