Question

Advanced Animated Gif question:

Asked by: Mistwolf

I have an animated gif that is set to loop indefinately. I have it on a page that basically says "loading... please wait", which is a redirect to another page that takes a while to load (duh.) However, the darn animated gif stops as soon as it begins to load the next page. (I use the <meta http-equiv='refresh' content='2;URL=...'> method to load the page).

How do I make the gif NOT stop when the new page begins to load? I mean, it's an animated hourglass... it's supposed to give the idea of "thinking" or "working"... I know that it can be done, because they do something similiar on orbitz.com (just go do any search on orbitz, and you'll see what I mean.)

Thanks.

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Asked On
2003-04-02 at 14:21:19ID20572193
Tags

animated

,

gif

,

hourglass

Topic

Web Browsers

Participating Experts
4
Points
0
Comments
17

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Answers

 

by: irieiamPosted on 2003-04-02 at 21:30:04ID: 8258987

If you constantly reload the page, you will never get past probably the first frame of the ani.gif ;)
So let it run in the page (without a refresh) and control it from the 2nd window (the main one loading in the background.

Or is the 2nd page the one that refreshes?

 

by: MistwolfPosted on 2003-04-03 at 05:40:13ID: 8261255

Ok, here's how it works, or I should say - how I want it to work =)

You click a link anywhere within the site that says "Generate Report!". That link send you to the "Please Wait..." page with the animated gif. The "Please Wait.." page loads the actual report page by calling it through the <meta http-equiv='refresh' content='2;URL=...'> code.

It all works fine - except that the animated gif on the "Please Wait..." page stops as soon as it begins calling the actual report page.

 

by: irieiamPosted on 2003-04-03 at 09:07:05ID: 8262955

So we are talking about two (2) total windows, correct?
One window has the initial 'Generate Report' button, it is clicked to show the progress.gif in the same window (or the 2nd) while the actual report is show in the 2nd window...right?

If so, the first page should never stop showing the progress.gif until the user closes that window.

I would keep it to 1 single window if possible and use DHTML to show the progress.


OR...

Simply use 'redirect' instead of 'refresh'

Choose a time that is adequate to cover any report generation (or close) and have the progress.gif page run that specific time and then load the results page.  Make sense?  Only one browser window is used and is much less cpu intensive, etc..
Add this to the progress.gif page and have it called as soon as the 'generate reports' button is pressed.

<META http-equiv="refresh" content=
  "10; Url=http://www.yoursite.com/results.html">

 

by: MistwolfPosted on 2003-04-03 at 09:24:56ID: 8263057

No, there is one page.

You're on a page. You click a link. The link takes you to another page with the progress bar. That page uses <meta http-equiv='refresh' content='2;URL=...'> to load the report - all of this happens in the same window.

I want a user to click "Generate Report" on page a. That link takes you to page b, in the same window, that says "Loading, please wait." Page b has code it in that automatically loads page c, in the same window. The animated gif in page b stops when the code to load page c executes.

You said "use 'redirect' instead of 'refresh'" but then you said the code is this:

<META http-equiv="refresh" content=
 "10; Url=http://www.yoursite.com/results.html">

That doesn't make much sense...

Here is my current code progression:

Page A:

See Your Closing Report for <a href="redirect.asp?to=closings-ae.aspx">Today</a><br>

Redirect.asp (Page B):

<% Response.Write "<meta http-equiv='refresh' content='2;URL=" & Request("to") & "'>" %>

<table>
   <tr>
      <td>                                   <div class="MainText" align="center">
         Processing your request... please wait...<br><br>
         <img src="images/animated.gif">
        </div>
      </td>
   </tr>
</table>

Closings-ae.aspx: (Page C)

This page displays the report.


Page B begins to load Page C after 2 seconds - at that time, animated.gif stops animating. I'm not sure how many more ways I can try to explain this...



Is there an easy way to do it using DHTML ? I did a view source on Orbitz.com's website, and they do, in fact, use DHTML.

 

by: CRagsdellPosted on 2003-04-03 at 19:43:22ID: 8266772

As soon as you trigger the refresh (or redirect) to your report page, the browser will stop playing the animation and start loading the new report page.

No matter how long the refresh value, your animation will stop playing.

Maybe we should be looking for ways to speed up the report??? I have millions of records in databases, and can slice and dice the data in seconds...

CR

 

by: irieiamPosted on 2003-04-03 at 22:06:29ID: 8267337

whoops, pasted the wrong code above. doh!

 

by: MistwolfPosted on 2003-04-04 at 06:04:03ID: 8269565

CRagsdell - go to Orbitz.com and do any search on their site - they have animation that runs until the page loads.

Also, I'm forced by the software my company uses to use UniVerse - an Informix like database. It's 50x slower than anything I've ever used, but we can't switch databases.


There *must* be a way to do this. I know nothing of DHTL, but if there is a DHTML answer, I'd like to see it.

 

by: CRagsdellPosted on 2003-04-04 at 06:15:44ID: 8269639

Ouch... sorry you have been saddled with a plow-horse instead of a race-horse! <g>

I think you will find Orbitz created an application that is presenting the animation while they are running their queries,then moving to the information once it has been "gathered".

I'll look around to see if we have any examples of an "hour-glass" placeholder and get back ASAP.

CR

 

by: CRagsdellPosted on 2003-04-04 at 06:36:37ID: 8269769

Try this...

<%
Response.Buffer=True 'must be on top of page...

'before anything else:
Response.Write("<Image src='wait.gif' id='waitImage'>")

'start endless code:
'...db stuff...
'and more...

'after all is over, hide the image:
Response.Write("<script>waitImage.style.visibility = 'hidden'; </script>")
'done.
%>

CR

 

by: MistwolfPosted on 2003-04-04 at 06:47:01ID: 8269845

That just makes the image dissappear...

 

by: CRagsdellPosted on 2003-04-04 at 07:12:54ID: 8270021

This is the only "easy" solution I have found...

Have you tried build the page results in the background of the page showing the animation, save the results and then pass the results to the next page? That way the hourglass is shown, then you redirect to the page using the final response.write in the example above:


<%
Response.Buffer=True 'must be on top of page...

'before anything else:
Response.Write("<Image src='wait.gif' id='waitImage'>")

'start endless code:
'...db stuff...
'and more...
' Finally save your code built here to a session variable
' that can be passed to the next page

'after all is over, hide the image:
Response.Redirect "secondpage.asp"
'done.
%>

Then on secondpage.asp, you show the results built in the previous page, and then empty the variable to keep from hogging the resources:

<%
Response.Write Session("Results")

Session.Abandon

%>

CR

 

by: MistwolfPosted on 2003-04-04 at 07:18:30ID: 8270063

I see what you're getting at... but for me, it would not work.

Since UniVerse is a Post-Relational database (read: fubared), we cannot pull data from it using conventional methods. For all intents and purposes, it's a 3-dimensional database that can have tables embedded within columns. We need to use a special piece of software to pull the info, and I cannot embed those commands in the page that displays the animation...

 

by: CRagsdellPosted on 2003-04-04 at 07:33:09ID: 8270159

Sounds like you are up the proverbial creek without a paddle...

CR

 

by: astaecPosted on 2004-02-15 at 10:24:54ID: 10366121

Mistwolf,
No comment has been added lately (317 days), so it's time to clean up this TA.
I will leave a recommendation in the Cleanup topic area for this question:

RECOMMENDATION: Accept Mistwolf's answer http:#0 and Refund

Please leave any comments here within 4 days.

-- Please DO NOT accept this comment as an answer ! --


Thanks,
astaec
EE Cleanup Volunteer

 

by: MistwolfPosted on 2004-02-17 at 05:47:19ID: 10382005

How am I supposed to accept my own answer?

I understand the need to have a "clean" EE... but they should write a function that allows you to withdraw your question. Accepting an incorrect solution is wrong, and may mislead future readers.

 

by: astaecPosted on 2004-02-17 at 06:13:00ID: 10382227

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Web/Browser_Issues/help.jsp#hs5 which is found at the bottom of each question in the tips, gives you the details of the process.

I have already requested that you receive your points back and this question be moved to the PAQ (Previously Asked Questions database) to close it and provide help to others who may be helped with the information herein.  The Moderator Team will finalize this.

When the question is closed, all content will remain intact, so future access keeps the entire thread visible.  If Askers were provided with direct access to withdraw questions, you can imagine the downside to that, no?

Asta

 

by: ampPosted on 2004-02-20 at 21:21:12ID: 10418180

PAQed, with points refunded (500)

amp
Community Support Cleanup Moderator

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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