Jaafar Tribak

Well-known Member
Joined
Dec 5, 2002
Messages
9,779
Office Version
  1. 2016
Platform
  1. Windows
Hi dear forum,

Got bored and decided to add some animation to the standard vba MsgBox. It is not going to be of much use to most excel\vba users, but it was fun to code and will add to the MsgBox, some lively aspect that can be used in capturing the user's attention.

Basically, the code simply hijacks the MsgBox and replaces its default icon with the gif of your choice.

Workbook example:
AnimatedMsgBox.xlsm





I am not versed with HTML DOM coding ... In the tests I carried out with various gifs, I could successfully set the backgroundcolor only in some of them. This is in order to match the gif background color with the MsgBox theme for blending.

Unless the gif is a transparent gif, much of the image quality may be affected if the gif has a background color that cannot be set.



1- API code in a Standard Module:
VBA Code:
Option Explicit

Private Type POINTAPI
    x As Long
    y As Long
End Type

Private Type RECT
    Left As Long
    Top As Long
    Right As Long
    Bottom As Long
End Type

Private Type RGB
    R As Long
    G As Long
    B As Long
End Type


#If VBA7 Then
    Private Declare PtrSafe Function SetWindowsHookEx Lib "user32" Alias "SetWindowsHookExA" (ByVal idHook As Long, ByVal lpfn As LongPtr, ByVal hmod As LongPtr, ByVal dwThreadId As Long) As LongPtr
    Private Declare PtrSafe Function CallNextHookEx Lib "user32" (ByVal hHook As LongPtr, ByVal ncode As Long, ByVal wParam As LongPtr, lParam As Any) As LongPtr
    Private Declare PtrSafe Function UnhookWindowsHookEx Lib "user32" (ByVal hHook As LongPtr) As Long
    Private Declare PtrSafe Function GetCurrentThreadId Lib "kernel32" () As Long
    Private Declare PtrSafe Function GetModuleHandle Lib "kernel32" Alias "GetModuleHandleA" (ByVal lpModuleName As String) As LongPtr
    Private Declare PtrSafe Function GetClassName Lib "user32" Alias "GetClassNameA" (ByVal hwnd As LongPtr, ByVal lpClassName As String, ByVal nMaxCount As Long) As Long
    Private Declare PtrSafe Function AtlAxWinInit Lib "Atl.dll" () As Long
    Private Declare PtrSafe Function AtlAxGetControl Lib "atl" (ByVal hwnd As LongPtr, Unk As stdole.IUnknown) As Long
    Private Declare PtrSafe Function CreateWindowEx Lib "user32" Alias "CreateWindowExA" (ByVal dwExStyle As Long, ByVal lpClassName As String, ByVal lpWindowName As String, ByVal dwStyle As Long, ByVal x As Long, ByVal y As Long, ByVal nWidth As Long, ByVal nHeight As Long, ByVal hWndParent As LongPtr, ByVal hMenu As LongPtr, ByVal hInstance As LongPtr, lpParam As Any) As LongPtr
    Private Declare PtrSafe Function GetDlgItem Lib "user32" (ByVal hDlg As LongPtr, ByVal nIDDlgItem As Long) As LongPtr
    Private Declare PtrSafe Function GetWindowRect Lib "user32" (ByVal hwnd As LongPtr, lpRect As RECT) As Long
    Private Declare PtrSafe Function ScreenToClient Lib "user32" (ByVal hwnd As LongPtr, lpPoint As POINTAPI) As Long
    Private Declare PtrSafe Function DestroyWindow Lib "user32" (ByVal hwnd As LongPtr) As Long
    Private Declare PtrSafe Function TranslateColor Lib "oleAut32.dll" Alias "OleTranslateColor" (ByVal clr As OLE_COLOR, ByVal palet As LongPtr, col As Long) As Long
    Private Declare PtrSafe Function GetSysColor Lib "user32" (ByVal nIndex As Long) As Long
    Private Declare PtrSafe Function ColorHLSToRGB Lib "shlwapi.dll" (ByVal wHue As Integer, ByVal wLuminance As Integer, ByVal wSaturation As Integer) As Long
    Private Declare PtrSafe Function ColorRGBToHLS Lib "shlwapi" (ByVal clrRGB As Long, ByRef wHue As Integer, ByRef wLuminance As Integer, ByRef wSaturation As Integer) As Long
    Private Declare PtrSafe Function SetLayeredWindowAttributes Lib "user32" (ByVal hwnd As LongPtr, ByVal crey As Long, ByVal bAlpha As Byte, ByVal dwFlags As Long) As LongPtr
    Private Declare PtrSafe Function ShowWindow Lib "user32" (ByVal hwnd As LongPtr, ByVal nCmdShow As Long) As Long
   
    Private hHook As LongPtr
#Else
    Private Declare Function SetWindowsHookEx Lib "user32" Alias "SetWindowsHookExA" (ByVal idHook As Long, ByVal lpfn As Long, ByVal hmod As Long, ByVal dwThreadId As Long) As Long
    Private Declare Function CallNextHookEx Lib "user32" (ByVal hHook As Long, ByVal ncode As Long, ByVal wParam As Long, lParam As Any) As Long
    Private Declare Function UnhookWindowsHookEx Lib "user32" (ByVal hHook As Long) As Long
    Private Declare Function GetCurrentThreadId Lib "kernel32" () As Long
    Private Declare Function GetModuleHandle Lib "kernel32" Alias "GetModuleHandleA" (ByVal lpModuleName As String) As Long
    Private Declare Function GetClassName Lib "user32" Alias "GetClassNameA" (ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal lpClassName As String, ByVal nMaxCount As Long) As Long
    Private Declare Function AtlAxWinInit Lib "Atl.dll" () As Long
    Private Declare Function AtlAxGetControl Lib "atl" (ByVal hwnd As Long, Unk As stdole.IUnknown) As Long
    Private Declare Function CreateWindowEx Lib "user32" Alias "CreateWindowExA" (ByVal dwExStyle As Long, ByVal lpClassName As String, ByVal lpWindowName As String, ByVal dwStyle As Long, ByVal x As Long, ByVal y As Long, ByVal nWidth As Long, ByVal nHeight As Long, ByVal hWndParent As Long, ByVal hMenu As Long, ByVal hInstance As Long, lpParam As Any) As Long
    Private Declare Function GetDlgItem Lib "user32" (ByVal hDlg As Long, ByVal nIDDlgItem As Long) As Long
    Private Declare Function GetWindowRect Lib "user32" (ByVal hwnd As Long, lpRect As RECT) As Long
    Private Declare Function ScreenToClient Lib "user32" (ByVal hwnd As Long, lpPoint As POINTAPI) As Long
    Private Declare Function DestroyWindow Lib "user32" (ByVal hwnd As Long) As Long
    Private Declare Function TranslateColor Lib "oleAut32.dll" Alias "OleTranslateColor" (ByVal clr As OLE_COLOR, ByVal palet As Long, col As Long) As Long
    Private Declare Function GetSysColor Lib "user32" (ByVal nIndex As Long) As Long
    Private Declare Function ColorHLSToRGB Lib "shlwapi.dll" (ByVal wHue As Integer, ByVal wLuminance As Integer, ByVal wSaturation As Integer) As Long
    Private Declare Function ColorRGBToHLS Lib "shlwapi" (ByVal clrRGB As Long, ByRef wHue As Integer, ByRef wLuminance As Integer, ByRef wSaturation As Integer) As Long
    Private Declare Function SetLayeredWindowAttributes Lib "user32" (ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal crey As Long, ByVal bAlpha As Byte, ByVal dwFlags As Long) As Long
    Private Declare Function ShowWindow Lib "user32" (ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal nCmdShow As Long) As Long
   
    Private hHook As Long
#End If

Private sURL As String



Public Function AnimatedMsgBox( _
    ByVal PROMPT As String, _
    Optional ByVal BUTTONS As VbMsgBoxStyle, _
    Optional ByVal TITLE As String, _
    Optional GIF_URL As String _
) As VbMsgBoxResult
   
    Const WH_CBT = 5
   
    If hHook = 0 Then
        hHook = SetWindowsHookEx(WH_CBT, AddressOf HookProc, GetModuleHandle(StrPtr(vbNullString)), GetCurrentThreadId)
        sURL = GIF_URL
        BUTTONS = BUTTONS And Not (vbInformation Or vbExclamation Or vbCritical)
        AnimatedMsgBox = MsgBox(PROMPT, BUTTONS + vbInformation, TITLE)
    End If
      
End Function


#If Win64 Then
    Private Function HookProc( _
        ByVal lCode As Long, _
        ByVal wParam As LongLong, _
        ByVal lParam As LongLong _
    ) As LongLong
   
       Dim hIcon As LongLong, hWebCtrl As LongLong
#Else
    Private Function HookProc( _
        ByVal lCode As Long, _
        ByVal wParam As Long, _
        ByVal lParam As Long _
    ) As Long
   
        Dim hIcon As Long, hWebCtrl As Long
#End If

    Const HC_ACTION = 0
    Const HCBT_ACTIVATE = 5
    Const HCBT_DESTROYWND = 4
    Const WS_CHILD = &H40000000
    Const WS_VISIBLE = &H10000000
    Const WS_EX_LAYERED = &H80000
    Const LWA_COLORKEY = &H1
    Const COLOR_WINDOW = 5
   
    Dim tWinRect As RECT, tPt As POINTAPI
    Dim Unk As IUnknown, oWbrowser As Object
    Dim sClassName As String * 256, lRet As Long
    Dim lWindColor As Long
   
 
    On Error Resume Next

    If lCode < HC_ACTION Then
        HookProc = CallNextHookEx(hHook, lCode, wParam, lParam)
        Exit Function
    End If
   
    If lCode = HCBT_ACTIVATE And hWebCtrl = 0 Then
        lRet = GetClassName(wParam, sClassName, 256)
        If Left$(sClassName, lRet) = "#32770" Then
            hIcon = GetDlgItem(wParam, &H14)
            Call GetWindowRect(hIcon, tWinRect)
            tPt.x = tWinRect.Left: tPt.y = tWinRect.Top
            Call ShowWindow(hIcon, 0)
            Call ScreenToClient(wParam, tPt)
            Call AtlAxWinInit
            hWebCtrl = CreateWindowEx(WS_EX_LAYERED, "AtlAxWin", "about:blank", WS_VISIBLE + WS_CHILD, tPt.x, tPt.y, 32, 32, wParam, 0, 0, ByVal 0)
            Call TranslateColor(GetSysColor(COLOR_WINDOW), 0, lWindColor)
            Call SetLayeredWindowAttributes(hWebCtrl, vbWhite, 0, LWA_COLORKEY)
            If hWebCtrl Then
                Call AtlAxGetControl(hWebCtrl, Unk)
                Set oWbrowser = Unk
                With oWbrowser
                    Do: DoEvents: Loop While .ReadyState <> 4 Or .Busy
                    .Silent = True
                    .Document.body.innerHTML = "<img style=""position:absolute;top:0px;left:0px;width:" & 32 & _
                    "px;height:" & Fix(.Height) & "px"" src=""" & sURL & "?" & """/>"
                    .Document.body.Style.backgroundColor = GetHLS(lWindColor)
                End With
            End If
        End If
    End If
 
    If lCode = HCBT_DESTROYWND Then
        lRet = GetClassName(wParam, sClassName, 256)
        If Left$(sClassName, lRet) = "#32770" Then
            Call DestroyWindow(hWebCtrl)
            hWebCtrl = 0
            Call UnhookWindowsHookEx(hHook): hHook = 0
        End If
    End If
 
    Call CallNextHookEx(hHook, lCode, wParam, lParam)

End Function


Private Function GetHLS(ByVal col As Long) As String

    Dim sHLS As String, tARGB As RGB, tWinRect As RECT
    Dim R As Byte, G As Byte, B As Byte
    Dim iHu As Integer, iLu As Integer, iSa As Integer
   
    Call ColorRGBToHLS(col, iHu, iLu, iSa)
    tARGB = ColorToRGB(ColorHLSToRGB(iHu, iLu, iSa))
    sHLS = "#" & Right("0" & Hex(tARGB.R), 2) & Right("0" & Hex(tARGB.G), 2) & Right("0" & Hex(tARGB.B), 2)
    GetHLS = sHLS

End Function

Private Function ColorToRGB(ByVal col As Long) As RGB
    ColorToRGB.R = &HFF& And col
    ColorToRGB.G = (&HFF00& And col) \ 256
    ColorToRGB.B = (&HFF0000 And col) \ 65536
End Function


2- Test (as per the workbook demo)
VBA Code:
Option Explicit

Sub Test()

    AnimatedMsgBox "Hello!", vbInformation, "Animated Gif Demo.", "https://media.giphy.com/media/3o6fJg5J8ZkVxxXERO/giphy.gif"
    AnimatedMsgBox "Hypnosis may help you.", , "Animated Gif Demo.", "https://media.giphy.com/media/WZrOaNjFPKT5e/giphy.gif"
    AnimatedMsgBox "Never mind.", vbAbortRetryIgnore + vbInformation, "Animated Gif Demo.", "https://media.giphy.com/media/LCf1GPRCsDMagg2kMq/giphy.gif"
    AnimatedMsgBox "Use your imagination.", , "Animated Gif Demo.", "https://media.giphy.com/media/3o7TKFxkCyNzy4WiKA/giphy.gif"
    AnimatedMsgBox "Use your imagination.", , "Animated Gif Demo.", "https://media.giphy.com/media/5xaOcLO449BOl4POJVu/giphy.gif"
    AnimatedMsgBox "Use your imagination.", , "Animated Gif Demo.", "https://media.giphy.com/media/BfWLUK9MyFVRK/giphy.gif"
    AnimatedMsgBox "Use your imagination.", , "Animated Gif Demo.", "https://media.giphy.com/media/3o6gbeVN2ZPbG2COKA/giphy.gif"
    AnimatedMsgBox "Use your imagination.", , "Animated Gif Demo.", "https://media.giphy.com/media/rDb9zTgdfiPwQ/giphy.gif"
    AnimatedMsgBox "Use your imagination.", , "Animated Gif Demo.", "https://media.giphy.com/media/NU4il2utBo5Lq/giphy.gif"
    AnimatedMsgBox "Use your imagination.", , "Animated Gif Demo.", "https://media.giphy.com/media/9V73lQx5Sa7r14IDqT/giphy.gif"
    AnimatedMsgBox "Ok. That's enough." & vbNewLine & "Point made.", , "Animated Gif Demo.", "https://media.giphy.com/media/KlokXJQBqt25G/giphy.gif"
    AnimatedMsgBox "Bye!", vbExclamation, "Animated Gif Demo.", "https://media.giphy.com/media/hYD129K5IHWVMJgRvG/giphy.gif"

End Sub

Gifs can be added from disk files or from urls.
 
First, re: the stdPicture render method. I've always been fascinated by it, but have struggled with working out how to use it properly. It has just dawned on me that it works well with the SetRop API, but I haven't explored that properly. That's next week's challenge. My only reason for thinking to use it here was because I know that it can be used to render a transparent GIF, though o could not work out how to do that after having extracted each frame with WIA.

I literally worked out why that wasn't working as I logged off for the day - it's because the extracted stdPictures via WIA are no longer GIFs... their bitmaps, and so have no transparency layer. The only reason I came to that realization was because I was looking at the header data of the stdPicture. The reason I was looking at the headers for each frames was because my initial solution required writing each frame to the disc and then loafding it back in as a Gif - this works, by the way, and can be loading into a simple stdPicture array for cycling through a Label control's picture property with a timer. As set out in one of my PNG posts, the label control is useful for transparencies (and as you noted above)... but it can flicker...
 
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Excel Facts

Repeat Last Command
Pressing F4 adds dollar signs when editing a formula. When not editing, F4 repeats last command.
Anyway, I've learnt how to parse the byte data of a GIF file, extract out the frames, obtain each frame delay data... it's not pretty but it works. It was not ideal that I'd be writing the image to disc though, but i figure thats easily solvable via WIA (yet to implement), and I see that you've done something like that above with ExtractGifFrames.

The next issue was how to render the images? I haven't tried it yet, but I'm guessing that .Render would work if each frame is a proprr GIF, but haven't looked into that yet. Your point about no AutoRedraw is well made, and frankly, it's been a huge challenge for me in learning about graphics, etc with VBA (which is all entirely your fault, by the way :-) ). The 'solution' I arrived at for the VB6 PictureBox knockoff cPictureBox class module is a simple double buffering method with drawing to MemDc/MemBMP and then BitBlting to the container DC when the controls Refresh method is executed. But that's not what I tried for this challenge.
 
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I tried three different approaches - Numbers#1 and #3 definitely worked (and I think the #2 did too, but if not, it will work having seen the convert-to-PNG method you used above). The three were:

(1) Generate a colored bitmap in the colour of the container background and use WIA to stamp the frame onto that, then cycle through that. This works. This sounds similar to your approach above maybe?

(2) Loads the images into a dynamically generated ImageList control - use the control's ExtractIcon method to then pass that to the DrawIconEx - and draw to the DC. (No prizes for guessing where I learnt this technique - link)

(3) use the ImageList control's Draw method to draw the indexed image to a DC, using the imlTransparent flag together with the UseMask property and MaskColor property.

The whole page i linked to above has been a real education actually. Anyway, I'm pretty sure the third one gave the better results, but let me try recording it over the weekend and I will post my results and code/workbook. Together with the code I've learnt from your other animated GiF projects, it's been a really fun challenge!

Your other point about posting my notes re WIA also led me to reaearch it more thoroughly. I've been slowly pulling together a mini image editor as I learn knew things - the parameters of the challenge were to use WIA and Excel's inbuilt image editing functionality... and without any APIs.... this last restriction didn't last too long, frankly, and it isn't much fun, but I'm trying to use native Excel tools. I'm hoping to post all my various projects on the next few weeks!
 
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Hi Dan_W.
I'm hoping to post all my various projects on the next few weeks!
Looking forward to learning from what you've been up to.

BTW, I tested my last code (post#39) in Windows 7 x32bit and found that the transparency didn't work as expected in frames. The animated background color remained white. It did however work fine with label controls... I couldn't debug\figure out the reason for this as it was a quick test and wasn't my computer.

Regards.
 
Upvote 0
Hi Dan_W.

Looking forward to learning from what you've been up to.

BTW, I tested my last code (post#39) in Windows 7 x32bit and found that the transparency didn't work as expected in frames. The animated background color remained white. It did however work fine with label controls... I couldn't debug\figure out the reason for this as it was a quick test and wasn't my computer.

Regards.
That's odd. I just tested it on my system, and the transparency is working as expected for the frame and the label. For reference, I am currently using 32bit Microsoft Office 365 on Windows 10:

1677199822910.png



1677199547282.png


Must be a W7 v W10 thing?
 
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Last edited:
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A couple of years ago, I experimented a bit with zooming pictures on userforms using GDIPlus. Basically, the code subclasses the modal userform to handle its WM_PAINT message where the GdipDrawImageRect GDI+ api is called.

This was just for learning purposes and works only with non animated images but, you still may find it helpful.

GDIPlusZooming_2.xlsm



Amazing sir, you're the best...
But what I mean is not the image on the userform but the animated image on the MsgBox, what can be set for the size while still displaying the message text because in the MsgBox that you make the animated image display in my opinion small I want to enlarge the size of the animation display. Can you tell me which part of your code to enlarge the display of the animated image, please...
Thanks...
 
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I needed to relocate the CopyMemory API declaration out of the Win64 section (and into the general VBA7 section), but after I had done that it worked perfectly. Thank you. For reference:
Microsoft® Excel® for Microsoft 365 MSO (Version 2301 Build 16.0.16026.20196) 32-bit
 
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Amazing sir, you're the best...
But what I mean is not the image on the userform but the animated image on the MsgBox, what can be set for the size while still displaying the message text because in the MsgBox that you make the animated image display in my opinion small I want to enlarge the size of the animation display. Can you tell me which part of your code to enlarge the display of the animated image, please...
Thanks...
Hi andrie78

Making the animated gif image larger will inevitably obscure the text unless the size of the msgbox itself is also increased.
Making the msgbox larger to accomodate a biger image + text and buttons would involve a lot of code. Sure, this would be an interesting area to explore from an academic point of view but until then, doing this using a userform would be a much easier option.

Regards.
 
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