ProgressBar control

A ProgressBar control displays the installation progress as a bar that fills up in proportion to the amount of work done.

To activate a ProgressBar control, it must be linked to a symbolic variable that represents the progress as a value from 0 to 1000. Typically, this is the TsuProgress variable, but it can be any variable that contains a numerical value in that range. When the ProgressBar is first displayed, and any time the variable changes, the progress bar is set to display the variable's value divided by 10 (i.e., a percentage).

You can also use the ProgressBar control to display a scrolling marquee, for example when an action of indeterminate duration takes place. You can use the Marquee attribute (see below) for this, or switch the marquee state on and off during installation with a Set Window State action.

Tip: To change the tab and Z-order of a control in a dialog box (i.e., the order in which they are drawn and how they appear "on top" of each other), select the control in the dialog/control tree in the left pane on the Dialogs project page, then use Ctrl+Up and Ctrl+Down to move the control up or down in the order. These keystrokes are shortcuts for the Move Up and Move Down commands on the control's context menu.

Attributes

The following attributes and options are available.

Attribute Description
Control name Enter the internal name for the control. This name is for use in InstallMate only; it is not used in the installer. All control names must be unique within their parent dialog box.
Control ID

Select a control ID from the drop-down list or type a numerical ID to use for this control. All controls within a dialog must have different control IDs. For most controls, you should select Automatic; for PushButton controls, one of the standard IDxxx values is generally recommended.

See Dialog control IDs for an explanation of the available control IDs and their usage.

Symbol name

Enter the name of the symbolic variable to which the control must be linked, or click ... (browse) to open the Select Symbolic Variable dialog box that allows you to select a variable from the project. Typically, the control is linked to the TsuProgress variable.

Indirect symbol

Check this box to make the Symbol name link indirect; clear it for a direct link. If the link is indirect, the variable specified in the Symbol name field is used to obtain the name of a second variable, and it is this second variable whose value is monitored by the control. With a direct link, the variable specified by the Symbol name attribute itself is monitored.

Marquee

Check this box to display the progress bar as a scrolling marquee instead of a growing bar. The marquee display is typically used with actions of indeterminate duration.

Tip: You can switch the marquee state on and off with a Set Window State action. When the marquee state is switched off, the progress bar will resume its normal function.

Note: This option has no effect on Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, or earlier versions of Windows.

Enabled
Tab stop
Group
Border
Sunken
Client edge
Visible
Transparent
Don't mirror

These are all standard control styles; see Dialog control styles for a description.

Condition Enter the display condition for the control or leave empty to display the control unconditionally. See Dialog control conditions for more information.

Related topics

Dialogs, Working with attribute panes