How can I stop wxProgressDialog re-sizing?

Question

I am using a wxProgressDialog on Windows. Whenever I change the text in the dialog the dialog box re-sizes to best accommodate the text, this leads to the dialog frequently re-sizing which looks terrible.

I tried SetMinSize and SetSizeHints but these seemed to have no effect. SetSize also seems not to work.

(For info, the dialog is show progress of file transfer. As each file is transferred its full path is displayed. These vary greatly leading the continual re-sizing.)

My code is based on this code from the samples:

static const int max = 100;

wxProgressDialog dialog("Progress dialog example",
                        // "Reserve" enough space for the multiline
                        // messages below, we'll change it anyhow
                        // immediately in the loop below
                        wxString(' ', 100) + "\n\n\n\n",
                        max,    // range
                        this,   // parent
                        wxPD_CAN_ABORT |
                        wxPD_CAN_SKIP |
                        wxPD_APP_MODAL |
                        //wxPD_AUTO_HIDE | // -- try this as well
                        wxPD_ELAPSED_TIME |
                        wxPD_ESTIMATED_TIME |
                        wxPD_REMAINING_TIME |
                        wxPD_SMOOTH // - makes indeterminate mode bar on WinXP very small
                        );

bool cont = true;
for ( int i = 0; i <= max; i++ )
{
    wxString msg;

    // test both modes of wxProgressDialog behaviour: start in
    // indeterminate mode but switch to the determinate one later
    const bool determinate = i > max/2;

    if ( i == max )
    {
        msg = "That's all, folks!\n"
              "\n"
              "Nothing to see here any more.";
    }
    else if ( !determinate )
    {
        msg = "Testing indeterminate mode\n"
              "\n"
              "This mode allows you to show to the user\n"
              "that something is going on even if you don't know\n"
              "when exactly will you finish.";
    }
    else if ( determinate )
    {
        msg = "Now in standard determinate mode\n"
              "\n"
              "This is the standard usage mode in which you\n"
              "update the dialog after performing each new step of work.\n"
              "It requires knowing the total number of steps in advance.";
    }

    // will be set to true if "Skip" button was pressed
    bool skip = false;
    if ( determinate )
    {
        cont = dialog.Update(i, msg, &skip);
    }
    else
    {
        cont = dialog.Pulse(msg, &skip);
    }

    // each skip will move progress about quarter forward
    if ( skip )
    {
        i += max/4;

        if ( i >= 100 )
            i = 99;
    }

    if ( !cont )
    {
        if ( wxMessageBox(wxT("Do you really want to cancel?"),
                          wxT("Progress dialog question"),  // caption
                          wxYES_NO | wxICON_QUESTION) == wxYES )
            break;

        cont = true;
        dialog.Resume();
    }

    wxMilliSleep(200);
}

if ( !cont )
{
    wxLogStatus(wxT("Progress dialog aborted!"));
}
else
{
    wxLogStatus(wxT("Countdown from %d finished"), max);
}

}

Answer 1

If you want a fixed size, you need to use wxGenericProgressDialog, there doesn't seem to be any way of preventing the native dialog, used by default under the systems that support it (Vista and later), of adapting its size to its contents.

Answer 2

Select a size for the file path display. If the path is shorter, add blanks, if longer replace with ellipses ( ... )

wxControl::Ellipsize is useful for this ( http://docs.wxwidgets.org/3.1/classwx_control.html#a0bb834cae2a8986aceddb89f84ef4ed1 )