# Animated Graphics Control

> [HTML Version](animatedgraphicsctrl.htm)

Animated icons or graphics are typically used to entertain the user during an operation that takes more than a couple of seconds. They are usually stored in AVI files, which internally are made up of multiple frames of a similar image, which when "played", give the impression of a moving image. The example below shows two such frames of an AVI file that presents the appearance of the letter moving from one computer to the other:

(./images/ashref_img111.png)                        (./images/ashref_img112.png)

Another common example is the "flying files" that appear when transferring a lot of files to the recycle bin. You can acquire such AVI files from various sources on the Internet, or build them yourself with AVI toolkits which are also available on the Internet. Once you have the desired AVI file in hand, you can display it using a standard AUI\_CONTROL call with the following particulars:

•	Set the _ctype_ parameter to 0

•	Set the _winclass_ parameter to "SysAnimate32"

•	Set the _winstyle_ parameter to a combination of zero or more of the following flags:

| **Symbol** | **Value** | **Meaning** |
|------|------|------|
| ACS\_CENTER | \&h0001 | Center the graphic in the specified rectangle; instead of putting it in the upper left corner. (Animated graphics do not scale.) |
| ACS\_TRANSPARENT | \&h0002 | Use a transparent background. (This is almost always desirable.) |
| ACS\_AUTOPLAY | \&h0004 | Start the graphic "playing" automatically |




CTYPE = 0    \! use winclass instead of type

xcall AUI,AUI\_CONTROL, CTLOP\_ADD,ID,AVIFILE\$, MBST\_ENABLE, CTYPE, "","",STATUS,SROW,SCOL,EROW,ECOL,-2,-2,0,0,"","",0, "SysAnimate32",ACS\_TRANSPARENT+ACS\_AUTOPLAY,0

You can stop and start it using the CTLOP\_CHG [opcode](opcode_auicontrol.htm.md) with the special [cstate](cstate.htm.md) flags MBST\_PLAY and MBST\_STOP, for example:

xcall AUI,AUI\_CONTROL, CTLOP\_CHG,ID,"", MBST\_STOP

or

xcall AUI,AUI\_CONTROL, CTLOP\_CHG,ID,"", MBST\_PLAY