XL97: How to Display a Progress Bar with a User Form

If you have a Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications macro that takes a long time to complete, you may want to give the user an indication that the macro is progressing normally. This article shows you how to create a progress bar with a user form.

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Create the User Form

In the following example, a Visual Basic subroutine populates a large range of cells with a random number. This task takes several seconds to complete; the indicator shows you that the macro is running normally.

1. Close and save any open workbooks, and then open a new workbook.
2. Start the Visual Basic Editor (press ALT+F11).
3. If the Properties window is not visible, click Properties on the View menu (or press F4).
4. On the Insert menu, click UserForm.
5. Draw a Label control on the UserForm.
6. Change the following properties of the Label control to the following values:

          Property        Value
          --------------------------------------------
          Caption         Now updating. Please wait...
   						

7. Draw a Frame control on the UserForm
8. Change the following properties of the Frame control to the following values:

          Property        Value
          -----------------------------
          Name            FrameProgress
   						

9. Draw a Label control on the Frame control.
10. Change the following properties of the Label control to the following values:

           Property        Value
           -------------------------------------
           Name            LabelProgress
           BackColor       &H000000FF&
           SpecialEffect   fmSpecialEffectRaised
    						

Type the Macro Code

1. Double-click the user form to open the Code window for the user form.
2. In the module, type the following code for the UserForm_Activate event:

         Private Sub UserForm_Activate()
             ' Set the width of the progress bar to 0.
             UserForm1.LabelProgress.Width = 0
   
             ' Call the main subroutine.
             Call Main
         End Sub
   						

3. On the Insert Menu, click Module.
4. In the Code window for the module, type the following code:

         Sub ShowUserForm()
             UserForm1.Show
         End Sub
   
         Sub Main()
             Dim Counter As Integer
             Dim RowMax As Integer, ColMax As Integer
             Dim r As Integer, c As Integer
             Dim PctDone As Single
   
             Application.ScreenUpdating = False
             ' Initialize variables.
             Counter = 1
             RowMax = 100
             ColMax = 25
   
             ' Loop through cells.
             For r = 1 To RowMax
                 For c = 1 To ColMax
                     'Put a random number in a cell
                     Cells(r, c) = Int(Rnd * 1000)
                     Counter = Counter + 1
                 Next c
   
                 ' Update the percentage completed.
                 PctDone = Counter / (RowMax * ColMax)
   
                 ' Call subroutine that updates the progress bar.
                 UpdateProgressBar PctDone
             Next r
             ' The task is finished, so unload the UserForm.
             Unload UserForm1
         End Sub
   
         Sub UpdateProgressBar(PctDone As Single)
             With UserForm1
   
                 ' Update the Caption property of the Frame control.
                 .FrameProgress.Caption = Format(PctDone, "0%")
   
                 ' Widen the Label control.
                 .LabelProgress.Width = PctDone * _
                     (.FrameProgress.Width - 10)
             End With
   
             ' The DoEvents allows the UserForm to update.
             DoEvents
         End Sub
   						

5. Return to Microsoft Excel (press ALT+F11).
6. Run the ShowUserForm subroutine.

A dialog box is displayed with a red progress bar that increases in size as the Main subroutine populates the cells on the worksheet.

The ShowUserForm subroutine shows the user form. The procedure attached to the Activate event of the user form calls the Main subroutine. The Main subroutine, in addition to its main task (populating cells with random numbers), calls the UpdateProgressBar subroutine, which updates the Label control on the UserForm.

NOTE: Using this technique, your macro takes just a bit longer to complete its intended tasks.

For more information about the Activate event, click the Office Assistant in the Visual Basic Editor, type activate event, click Search, and then click to view "Activate, Deactivate Events."

NOTE: If the Assistant is hidden, click the Office Assistant button on the Standard toolbar. If Microsoft Help is not installed on your computer, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: