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Author's profile photo Former Member

How to make a MessageBox automatically timeout

I was wondering if it was possible to have a MessageBox that could automatically close after a set period of time so I did some searching and found that you can!

In Windows XP, Microsoft added a function MessageBoxTimeout but didn’t document it. The normal MessageBox function was changed to call MessageBoxTimeout passing the maximum value for the timeout. The maximum timeout value equates to about 49 days.

I developed a code example that uses the MessageBoxTimeout function. The function arguments/returns are patterned after the built in MessageBox function. My code translates the Icon and Button arguments to the values the API function expects.

The following is an example of using the function:

n_msgbox ln_msgbox

Integer li_rc

li_rc = ln_msgbox.of_MessageBoxTimeout(“MessageBoxTimeout”, &

                                “Message will timeout in 3 seconds!”, Exclamation!, OK!, 3)

I also coded the API function MessageBeep. The MessageBeep function plays the sound associated with an Icon (Exclamation!, Stop!, Information!).

You can download the code example from my website:

Topwiz Software – MessageBox

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      Author's profile photo Former Member
      Former Member

      Very cool stuff, as always, Roland!

      Thanks!

      Author's profile photo Former Member
      Former Member

      Yes, thanks.  That could prove to be useful!

      Author's profile photo Former Member
      Former Member

      It's very useful Roland.