How to Show a wait cursor - VC++, C#

When my project mate(Omar) asked me about wait curser ( for search process ),  I suddenly started implementing using LoadCursor and SetCursor. In main frame I loaded wait curser. HCURSOR m_hWaitCursor = ::LoadCursor(NULL,IDC_WAIT); after this added a message map for WM_SETCURSOR in the main frame , BOOL CMainFrame::OnSetCursor(CWnd* pWnd, UINT nHitTest, UINT message) {       if( NULL != m_hWaitCursor && true == m_bShowWaitCursor)       {             m_hPreviousCursor = ::SetCursor(m_hWaitCursor);             return TRUE;       }       else       {             return CDialog::OnSetCursor(pWnd, nHitTest, message);       } } Finally I felt very hard to manage this, and thought about to build a custom singleton class which can be called from anywhere. After a short time Omar got some information about CWaintCursor, and I stopped writing custom class. I got following information from MSDN: Good Windows programming practices require that you display a wait cursor whenever you're performing an operation that takes a noticeable amount of time.

Method1:Using CWaitCursor class

Provides a one-line way to show a wait cursor, which is usually displayed as an hourglass, while you're doing a lengthy operation. When the object goes out of scope (at the end of the block in which the CWaitCursor object is declared), its destructor sets the cursor to the previous cursor. In other words, the object performs the necessary clean-up automatically. void SomeLengthyProcess() {       CWaitCursor wait;       //Do the lengthProcessing.       Sleep(1000);       AfxMessageBox(_T("Some result"));      //This changes the cursor.       wait.Restore();                                    //Restore the Wait cursor.       //Continue lengthProcessing.       Sleep(1000);       //The destructor changes the cursor back to Regular cursor. }

Method2: Using CCmdTarget class

void CwaitTestDlg::SomeLengthyProcess() {       CCmdTarget::BeginWaitCursor(); // display the hourglass cursor       Sleep(1000);       CCmdTarget::RestoreWaitCursor();       CCmdTarget::EndWaitCursor(); // remove the hourglass cursor }

Method3: Using CWinApp::DoWaitCursor

virtual void DoWaitCursor(   int nCode ); void SomeLengthyProcess() {    AfxGetApp()->DoWaitCursor(1); // display the hourglass cursor    // do some lengthy processing    Sleep(1000);    // The message box will normally change the cursor to    // the standard arrow cursor, and leave the cursor in    // as the standard arrow cursor when the message box is    // closed.    AfxMessageBox(_T("DoWaitCursor Sample"));    // Call DoWaitCursor with parameter 0 to restore    // the cursor back to the hourglass cursor.    AfxGetApp()->DoWaitCursor(0);    // do some more lengthy processing    Sleep(1000);    AfxGetApp()->DoWaitCursor(-1); // remove the hourglass cursor }

Show a wait cursor in C#

Example1: Using  UseWaitCursor property in the System.Windows.Forms.Control class //method in Form derived class. private void SomeLengthyProcess()//not working. {    this.UseWaitCursor = true;    System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(1000);//Alternative for Sleep() in VC++    this.UseWaitCursor = false; } But the above code is not working. So I started searching and found another method. Example2: Using  Cursor property in the System.Windows.Forms.Control class private void SomeLengthyProcess()//working. {     Cursor currentCursor = this.Cursor;     this.Cursor = Cursors.WaitCursor;     System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(1000);     this.Cursor = currentCursor; } Example3: Using  UseWaitCursor property in the System.Windows.Forms.Application class private void SomeLengthyProcess()//not working. {      Application.UseWaitCursor = true;      System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(1000);      Application.UseWaitCursor = false; }