(solved)How to animate label ellipsis?

[ShungFeng]

Hey Guys,

I'm trying to make a label have an animated ellipsis (three dots), based on a timer's tick, basically just to show that something is happening:

Label_Text
Label_Text.
Label_Text..
Label_Text...
Label_Text
Label_Text.
Label_Text..
Label_Text...
etc...

I'm really new to programming, so what I tried, no surprise, didn't work:

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]

1. procedure TForm1.Timer1Timer(Sender: TObject);
2. begin
3.   if Label1.Caption = 'hello...' then
4.     label1.Caption := 'hello'
5.   else if label1.Caption = 'hello.' then
6.     label1.Caption := 'hello..'
7.   else if label1.Caption = 'hello..' then
8.     label1.Caption := 'hello...';
9. end;                                  

Could someone help me out with the logic?

Thanks very much.

[winni]

Hi!

Do this:

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]

1. ....
2. implementation
3. var msg : String = 'Hello crazy world! ';
4. .....
5.  
6. procedure TForm1.Timer1Timer(Sender: TObject);
7. var tmp : String;
8.  
9. begin
10.   tmp := Utf8Copy (msg,1,1);
11.   Utf8Delete (msg,1,1);
12.   msg := msg + tmp;
13.   Label1.Caption := msg;
14. end;
15.  
16.  

Have fun!

Winni

[Handoko]

@ShungFeng

Actually your logic works, you just forgot something. Here is the corrected version:

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]

1. procedure TForm1.Timer1Timer(Sender: TObject);
2. begin
3.   if Label1.Caption = 'hello...' then
4.     label1.Caption := 'hello'
5.   else if Label1.Caption = 'hello' then
6.     label1.Caption := 'hello.'
7.   else if label1.Caption = 'hello.' then
8.     label1.Caption := 'hello..'
9.   else if label1.Caption = 'hello..' then
10.     label1.Caption := 'hello...';
11. end;

And I recommend you this more readable version:

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]

1. procedure TForm1.Timer1Timer(Sender: TObject);
2. begin
3.   case Label1.Caption of
4.     'hello...': Label1.Caption := 'hello';
5.     'hello'   : Label1.Caption := 'hello.';
6.     'hello.'  : Label1.Caption := 'hello..';
7.     'hello..' : Label1.Caption := 'hello...';
8.   end;
9. end;

[jamie]

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]

1. procedure TForm1.Timer1Timer(Sender: TObject);
2. Const C:Integer = 1;
3. Var
4.   S:String;
5.   X:Integer;
6. begin
7.   S := '';
8.   For X := 1 To C do S := S+'.';
9.   Label1.Caption := 'Please Wait'+S;
10.   C := (C + 1)and $03;
11.   If C = 0 Then Inc(X);
12.   Label1.Repaint;
13. end;                        
14.  

For this to work, you need to call "Application.ProcessMessages" in some large loop you are processing so that this will have a chance to work..

You may also notice I used the REPAINT method, this is needed...too to get a clean paint on the screen...

[ShungFeng]

Thanks guys, I used jamie's solution in the end.