<div dir="ltr">Just one more note on this. Having tinkered a little with ppygui, I decided that although it is a very fine package, it would not really help with what I am aiming for - mainly because it is event based, whereas pygame apps would tend to need 'real-time' interaction, rather than waiting for the user to press something. If someone knows where/how I would put a main loop into a ppygui app then let me know.<br>
<br>I did find that adding the lines:<br><br> import _pcceshell_support
<br> _pcceshell_support.Busy(0)
<br><br>worked like a dream! No more hourglass/busy indicator/color wheel or whatever it's called (not knowing makes it harder to google). So thanks to Christopher for that tip.<br><br>Adam.<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">
2008/8/13 Adam Walley <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:adam.walley@gmail.com">adam.walley@gmail.com</a>></span><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div dir="ltr">Well, my initial question certainly seems to have stirred some interest. Thanks to everyone for the input. I think what I can draw from all this is that:<br><br>1. The hourglass/busy icon is useful to give users an indication of when the application is busy 'grinding' away at something and user input is not expected/possible at that time - as in the application John described in a previous post.<br>
<br>2. The hourglass/busy icon is NOT helpful when the application is doing some processing that involves some visual effects, since the hourglass/busy icon then interferes and obscures the display. This is a nuisance, when the application is trying to display something on screen (whether it requires user input or not). I would say most pygame applications fall into this category (and the idea of pygame for PythonCE is what prompted this post in the first place).<br>
<br>My conclusion would be that while there is no harm in having this icon appear by default, it cannot be left to the system to decide when the icon should appear. Therefore, a method of 'disabling' the icon, at least for the duration of the execution of a script, would be useful.<br>
<br>Jared kindly pointed out that the ppygui package already has this covered, so at least in the first instance I will see whether I can combine what I have built so far with ppygui to see if I can achieve a satisfactory result.<br>
<br>Thanks again to all.<br><br>Adam<br><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">2008/8/13 Brad Clements <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:bkc@murkworks.com" target="_blank">bkc@murkworks.com</a>></span><div><div></div><div class="Wj3C7c">
<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div>Christopher Fairbairn wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<br>
They use code along the lines of:<br>
<br>
import _pcceshell_support<br>
_pcceshell_support.Busy(0);<br>
<br>
I haven't liked this, since it means each library needs to be aware of something<br>
PythonCE specific. For cleaness I think the native C part of the Python<br>
interpreter can (and should) take care of this.<br>
<br>
</blockquote></div>
Ah, this rings a bell.<br>
<br>
I think according to the Windows CE compatibility guide, you're supposed to show the hourglass until your application is "ready for user input".<br>
<br>
I believe it's up to the application .py file, not any libraries or interpreter, to make the Busy(0) call.<br>
<br>
Only the application author knows how many modules need to be loaded and when the application really has "started".<div><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
-- <br>
Brad Clements, <a href="mailto:bkc@murkworks.com" target="_blank">bkc@murkworks.com</a> (315)268-1000<br>
<a href="http://www.murkworks.com" target="_blank">http://www.murkworks.com</a> AOL-IM: BKClements<br>
<br>
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