# is there any way to create a 'visual cue' in  a windows (vbs) script?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-way-to-create-a-visual-cue-in-a-windows-vbs-script/468545>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 18, 2008, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-way-to-create-a-visual-cue-in-a-windows-vbs-script/468545 "2008-10-18T18:33:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-way-to-create-a-visual-cue-in-a-windows-vbs-script/468545/1 "2008-10-18T18:33:05Z")

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I have a script which copies about 100 files from a local drive to a network location.

I have a msgbox for beginning the operation and a msgbox for when it’s finished.

But while it’s runnig there is no visual indication that anything is happening.

I _could_ create a msgbox for each file, but that’s around 100 msboxes!  
Is there ANY way to show the user that something is happening? This is being created for peopel who are not computer savy… who will think that if they can’t ‘see’ anything happening then they’ll assume nothing is happening.

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**Author:** ![EarhornJones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5f9b8f/32.png) [@EarhornJones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EarhornJones)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-way-to-create-a-visual-cue-in-a-windows-vbs-script/468545/2 "2008-10-18T22:14:45Z")

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Check out [this](http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/resources/qanda/mar05/hey0316.mspx) article from Microsoft’s Scripting Guys. It will do what you want, but it uses Internet Explorer for the progress bar, which I’ve always found a little cludgy.

Unfortunately, I’ve never found a better way to accomplish this.

By the way, if you’re writing VBScript and aren’t familiar with the “Hey, Scripting Guy!” series of articles, you’re missing a great resource.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-way-to-create-a-visual-cue-in-a-windows-vbs-script/468545/3 "2008-10-18T22:31:19Z")

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> [@EarhornJones](#):
>
> Check out [this](http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/resources/qanda/mar05/hey0316.mspx) article from Microsoft’s Scripting Guys. It will do what you want, but it uses Internet Explorer for the progress bar, which I’ve always found a little cludgy.
> 
> Unfortunately, I’ve never found a better way to accomplish this.
> 
> By the way, if you’re writing VBScript and aren’t familiar with the “Hey, Scripting Guy!” series of articles, you’re missing a great resource.

Thanks. That works great! I used that code and I change the HTML message to whatever file is being copied, so you get a nicely updating cue that something is definitely happening!

I’ve added the scripting guy link to my bookmarks 🙂