Implement a Please Wait Page

[Stephajn Craig]

I have one page that may take a while to process on the server, and I'd like
to implement a please wait message on this page when it posts back to the
server and does its business.

The page is an ASP.NET webform that contains a Web User Control. The Web
User Control is doing all of the work posting. How can I inform the user of
what is happening at the server while the data from this web user control is
being processed?

--
Stephajn Craig

[Steve C. Orr, MCSD]

It sounds like you should consider using multithreading.
By running the long process on a separate thread, you free the browser up to
do other things, such as display the current status of the task.
That way the browser will respond immediately with a new page and can
entertain the user while they wait with an animation or status bar.
You can have the browser refresh the status by putting an HTML line like
this in your code:
<META HTTP-EQUIV="refresh" CONTENT="3">
That will cause the browser to refresh every 3 seconds (and you can check
the status of the operation each time and redirect to a "done" page when
appropriate.)
Here's more details:
http://www.fawcette.com/vsm/2002_11/...tures/chester/
http://www.dotnetjunkies.com/tutoria...tutorialid=547

Another option is that you could call a web service from your client side
JScript. Use the web service behavior for this. (WebService.htc) This
technique works with IE only.
Here's more details:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/de...s/overview.asp

http://msdn.microsoft.com/downloads/...ce/default.asp

--
I hope this helps,
Steve C. Orr, MCSD
http://Steve.Orr.net
"Stephajn Craig" <s.*****@NOSPAMfunsunvacations.com> wrote in message
news:eb**************@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...

I have one page that may take a while to process on the server, and I'd like to implement a please wait message on this page when it posts back to the
server and does its business.

The page is an ASP.NET webform that contains a Web User Control. The Web
User Control is doing all of the work posting. How can I inform the user of what is happening at the server while the data from this web user control is being processed?

--
Stephajn Craig

[Stephajn Craig]

Thanks Steve! Both of these methods helped. The only question is to decide
which one to use. I like the Web Service method becasue it doesn't need a
full refresh of the page. However, I also like the MultiThreaded Approach
because it allows me to hold some items within the current HttpContext at
Serverside. (Like a Collection)

The scenario is that all of this data is going to be loaded into a database,
but then also some checks will be done against it at serverside to ensure
that no conflicts will occur. (Like one Person scheduled for a meeting
isn't already scheduled for another)

Once the data is done posting, the server would be holding a collection of
issues that will need to be resolved or ignored if the user wishes it.

Any ideas on which method you would use ?

--
Stephajn Craig
"Steve C. Orr, MCSD" <St***@Orr.net> wrote in message
news:Oj**************@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...

It sounds like you should consider using multithreading.
By running the long process on a separate thread, you free the browser up to do other things, such as display the current status of the task.
That way the browser will respond immediately with a new page and can
entertain the user while they wait with an animation or status bar.
You can have the browser refresh the status by putting an HTML line like
this in your code:
<META HTTP-EQUIV="refresh" CONTENT="3">
That will cause the browser to refresh every 3 seconds (and you can check
the status of the operation each time and redirect to a "done" page when
appropriate.)
Here's more details:
http://www.fawcette.com/vsm/2002_11/...tures/chester/
http://www.dotnetjunkies.com/tutoria...tutorialid=547

Another option is that you could call a web service from your client side
JScript. Use the web service behavior for this. (WebService.htc) This
technique works with IE only.
Here's more details:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/de...s/overview.asp
http://msdn.microsoft.com/downloads/...ce/default.asp
--
I hope this helps,
Steve C. Orr, MCSD
http://Steve.Orr.net
"Stephajn Craig" <s.*****@NOSPAMfunsunvacations.com> wrote in message
news:eb**************@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...

I have one page that may take a while to process on the server, and I'd like

to implement a please wait message on this page when it posts back to the server and does its business.

The page is an ASP.NET webform that contains a Web User Control. The Web User Control is doing all of the work posting. How can I inform the

user of

what is happening at the server while the data from this web user

control is

being processed?

--
Stephajn Craig

[Steve C. Orr, MCSD]

Well the web services strategy probably wouldn't work as well in a
cross-browser environment.
So if you have cross-browser requirements then that makes your decision
easy.

Expedia employs a multithreaded approach similar to what I described and it
looks pretty sharp. Look up a flight and see what I mean.

--
I hope this helps,
Steve C. Orr, MCSD
http://Steve.Orr.net
"Stephajn Craig" <s.*****@NOSPAMfunsunvacations.com> wrote in message
news:%2****************@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...

Thanks Steve! Both of these methods helped. The only question is to decide which one to use. I like the Web Service method becasue it doesn't need a
full refresh of the page. However, I also like the MultiThreaded Approach
because it allows me to hold some items within the current HttpContext at
Serverside. (Like a Collection)

The scenario is that all of this data is going to be loaded into a database, but then also some checks will be done against it at serverside to ensure
that no conflicts will occur. (Like one Person scheduled for a meeting
isn't already scheduled for another)

Once the data is done posting, the server would be holding a collection of
issues that will need to be resolved or ignored if the user wishes it.

Any ideas on which method you would use ?

--
Stephajn Craig
"Steve C. Orr, MCSD" <St***@Orr.net> wrote in message
news:Oj**************@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...

It sounds like you should consider using multithreading.
By running the long process on a separate thread, you free the browser up

to

do other things, such as display the current status of the task.
That way the browser will respond immediately with a new page and can
entertain the user while they wait with an animation or status bar.
You can have the browser refresh the status by putting an HTML line like
this in your code:
<META HTTP-EQUIV="refresh" CONTENT="3">
That will cause the browser to refresh every 3 seconds (and you can check the status of the operation each time and redirect to a "done" page when
appropriate.)
Here's more details:
http://www.fawcette.com/vsm/2002_11/...tures/chester/
http://www.dotnetjunkies.com/tutoria...tutorialid=547

Another option is that you could call a web service from your client side JScript. Use the web service behavior for this. (WebService.htc) This
technique works with IE only.
Here's more details:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/de...s/overview.asp

http://msdn.microsoft.com/downloads/...ce/default.asp

--
I hope this helps,
Steve C. Orr, MCSD
http://Steve.Orr.net
"Stephajn Craig" <s.*****@NOSPAMfunsunvacations.com> wrote in message
news:eb**************@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...

I have one page that may take a while to process on the server, and

I'd like

to implement a please wait message on this page when it posts back to

the server and does its business.

The page is an ASP.NET webform that contains a Web User Control. The Web User Control is doing all of the work posting. How can I inform the

user

of

what is happening at the server while the data from this web user

control

is

being processed?

--
Stephajn Craig

[Ram]

If you just want to display a simple message like "Please wait
loading...it may take few minutes..", you can do that using layers.

Create a DIV tag for the complete page size and have an animated image
in it to show that the page is loading. On the page load hide this
layer and on unload of the page bring it to the top(z-index) and show
it. If you use smart navigation, this page will be shown until your
long reaquest gets completed and displayed in the browser.

I did this in one of my projects and my queries may run longer than
six minutes. It is working fine and is in production.

Thanks
Ram

"Steve C. Orr, MCSD" <St***@Orr.net> wrote in message news:<Oz**************@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl>...

Well the web services strategy probably wouldn't work as well in a
cross-browser environment.
So if you have cross-browser requirements then that makes your decision
easy.

Expedia employs a multithreaded approach similar to what I described and it
looks pretty sharp. Look up a flight and see what I mean.

--
I hope this helps,
Steve C. Orr, MCSD
http://Steve.Orr.net
"Stephajn Craig" <s.*****@NOSPAMfunsunvacations.com> wrote in message
news:%2****************@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...

Thanks Steve! Both of these methods helped. The only question is to

decide

which one to use. I like the Web Service method becasue it doesn't need a
full refresh of the page. However, I also like the MultiThreaded Approach
because it allows me to hold some items within the current HttpContext at
Serverside. (Like a Collection)

The scenario is that all of this data is going to be loaded into a

database,

but then also some checks will be done against it at serverside to ensure
that no conflicts will occur. (Like one Person scheduled for a meeting
isn't already scheduled for another)

Once the data is done posting, the server would be holding a collection of
issues that will need to be resolved or ignored if the user wishes it.

Any ideas on which method you would use ?

--
Stephajn Craig
"Steve C. Orr, MCSD" <St***@Orr.net> wrote in message
news:Oj**************@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...

It sounds like you should consider using multithreading.
By running the long process on a separate thread, you free the browser up
to do other things, such as display the current status of the task.
That way the browser will respond immediately with a new page and can
entertain the user while they wait with an animation or status bar.
You can have the browser refresh the status by putting an HTML line like
this in your code:
<META HTTP-EQUIV="refresh" CONTENT="3">
That will cause the browser to refresh every 3 seconds (and you can check the status of the operation each time and redirect to a "done" page when
appropriate.)
Here's more details:
http://www.fawcette.com/vsm/2002_11/...tures/chester/
http://www.dotnetjunkies.com/tutoria...tutorialid=547

Another option is that you could call a web service from your client side JScript. Use the web service behavior for this. (WebService.htc) This
technique works with IE only.
Here's more details:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/de...s/overview.asp

http://msdn.microsoft.com/downloads/...ce/default.asp

--
I hope this helps,
Steve C. Orr, MCSD
http://Steve.Orr.net
"Stephajn Craig" <s.*****@NOSPAMfunsunvacations.com> wrote in message
news:eb**************@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> I have one page that may take a while to process on the server, and I'd
like > to implement a please wait message on this page when it posts back to the > server and does its business.
>
> The page is an ASP.NET webform that contains a Web User Control. The Web > User Control is doing all of the work posting. How can I inform the user
of > what is happening at the server while the data from this web user control
is > being processed?
>
> --
> Stephajn Craig
>
>