Version 2.1
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This documentation is to help you understand the Software and to give you a more meaningful insight into what it can do. Please go through the documentation and read it carefully · Basic to moderate VBA skills will be required
You will need the following Excel Version & Prerequisite to use this Software
No support is provided for customization or development of this Software
Here is a nanoscopic, animated Flashbar for Excel. You can use this animation to inform the user that you have just processed something. As an example, consider after Saving some data giving a quick Flash to the user would be indicative of a successful Save. The Flashbar dynamically creates and destroys a Shape Object, rendering a lovely little Bar across the top of the Worksheet that fades out as the animation ends. It has a subtle use as opposed to a Message Box which requires user interaction. This type of animation is widely used around the Internet as an indicator when loading Pages. In Version 2 I have modelled the look on Google Ad Sense
Open the 'Flashbar.xlsm' File. Test the 3 examples by pressing each of the Buttons to see what the Flashbar can do. The first Button will run a normal Flashbar animation. The second Button will run a Progressbar style animation and the Third Button will simply run the 'Testbed' Macro. You can press ALT+F11, enter the Code Editor and find the FlashbarTestbed() Subroutine - here you can play with the Flashbar settings
1. Start a Project from scratch using the Flashbar Workbook that you purchased or Export the Flashbar.BAS UserForm and the Flashbar.cls from the Flashbar Workbook and then Import these Files back into your own Project. The Flashbar is created dynamically and requires no additional Images or Shape Objects. To add the Class from scratch, perform the following. Insert a new Class Module into your Project. Name the Class Flashbar and then Copy & Paste in all of the Code for the Class Module from the Downloaded Flashbar.xlsm Workbook
2. Call the NormalFlashbar() or ProgressFlashbar() Subroutines with your required parameters to run Flashbar - see the examples that come with Flashbar.xlsm
Configuring the Flashbar is straightforward. Here is the Code to Initialise and Render a Red Flashbar animation with a Height of 3 in a Normal bar style, that fits the full width of the Worksheet:
Public Bar As Flashbar Public Sub NormalFlashbar() If BarStep > Step Then Exit Sub Set Bar = New Flashbar Bar.Colour = rgbRed Bar.Height = 3 Bar.Render End Sub
And here is the Code to Initialise and Render a Black Flashbar animation with a Height of 3 in a Progress bar style, that fits the full width of the Worksheet:
Public Bar As Flashbar Public Sub ProgressFlashbar() If BarStep > Step Then Exit Sub Set Bar = New Flashbar Bar.Colour = RGB(0, 0, 0) Bar.Height = 3 Bar.BarType = Progress Bar.Render End Sub
Here is the Code to Initialise and Render a Blue Flashbar animation as featured in Version 2:
Public Bar As Flashbar Public Sub ProgressFlashbar() If BarStep > Step Then Exit Sub Set Bar = New Flashbar Bar.Colour = rgbBlue Bar.Height = 6 Bar.BarType = Progress Bar.Render Row:=7, Tick:=0.03 End Sub
Other settings include rendering the Flashbar in a Pane if you use the Freeze Panes option in Excel and setting the Bar width, so for example you could display a Flashbar in the second Pane with a width of 60. To make the Flashbar Modal (ie. stop user interaction while the Flashbar is running) you can also set the Modal property to True):
Public Sub ProgressFlashbar() Bar.PaneIndex = 2 Bar.Width = 60 Bar.Modal = True End Sub
In Version 2, I added the ability to start the Bar animation in a specific Row and Column through the Render() Subroutine. I also added the ability to set the Tick time, which is the time between animations for the FlashbarCallback Subroutine. Here are the Settings:
Bar.Render Row:=7, Column:=5, Tick:=0.03
Due to the fact that the Callback Subroutine must reside in a normal Code Module, I have also added some editable settings at the top of the 'mdlFlashbar' Code Module that you can tweak. These include the Step (overall Speed of the Flashbar), the FadeStep (determines how quickly the Fade is applied to the Flashbar), the ProgressStep (used only for the Progress Style to increment the Bar Width as the Bar is rendered) and some Enum Colours to use for the Flashbar Bar Colour. Here are the settings:
' // the one and only Flashbar Class Object Public Bar As Flashbar ' // used internally [do not edit] Public BarStep As Integer ' // editable settings ' Step. 1 is slowest. default:=1 Private Const Step As Integer = 1 ' FadeStep. tweak how the Flashbar fades out. default:=25 Private Const FadeStep As Integer = 25 ' ProgressStep. used only by a Progress style bar for the bar increment steps. default:=150 Private Const ProgressStep As Integer = 150 ' // Colour Enums Private Enum RGBLongColour ' // default Flashbar Colours rgbBlack = 0 rgbRed = 6184410 rgbGreen = 4616993 End Enum
The 'Normal' Flashbar in Red (creates a thin bar that goes from left to right at the top of the Worksheet until it fills up the entire Width, before dissapearing):
The 'Progress' Flashbar in Blue (creates a bar that builds from left to right in steps at the top of the Worksheet until it fills up the entire Width, before dissapearing):
A Fast, thin Black Progressbar Style Bar:
When running a Flashbar, if someone accidently double-clicks in a Cell the Flashbar doesn't appear again - how do I prevent this from happening?
This no longer occurs in Version 2.1 as I have implemented better Error trapping in the Callback for the Flashbar
Please remember you have purchased very affordable Software and you have not paid for a full-time Software design agency - I am but one man. Occasionally I may help with small tweaks, but these requests will be put on a much lower priority due to their nature. You have not PAID for Support, Support is 100% optional and I provide it for your convenience, so please be patient, polite and respectful
You can find the version history in the Code Module for any Macro-enabled Software or read more information below. The latest Version is always shown first
20.04.2019 (Version 2.1) - use Rubberduck for Code Inspections. Set the BarShape, Shape Name to "Flashbar_temp_bar" each time it is created to prevent incremental Shape numbering. Implemented a more robust error trap for the Flashbar Callback Subroutine --- 23.11.2018 (Version 2) - Added 2 new Colours, rgbBlue & rgbWhite. Added Optional Row & Column starting points in Render() so that you can begin an animation in Row 5, Column 3 if you wish. Added an Optional Tick in Render() so that you can control the timing between animations for the FlashbarCallback Subroutine --- 25.05.2018 (Version 1) released