I do not have any experience with this ProgressBar before, but I can imagine that it would not execute properly or appear, if the object that was calling it were not displayed. Thus, I think your first line: obj = obj_new('IDLitVisualization') has no effect for displaying the progress bar. When I started looking at the IDLitMessaging class and its subclasses, however, I quickly noticed that IDLitTools implement the IDLitMessaging interface. This means that code like the following can get the progress bar to appear: IDL> iplot, findgen(100) IDL> idPlot = itgetcurrent(TOOL=oTool) IDL> status = oTool->ProgressBar('Test', CANCEL='Cancel', PERCENT=40) The iTool object is by no means the only object that could call ProgressBar and get it to appear. Probably I could search for and find the IDLitVisPlot object and have it invoke the ProgressBar method. However, I can imagine that there are many iTool scenarios where the IDLitTool object is as good an object as any to invoke it. (By the way, because 'IDLitMessaging' is the only class defining a 'ProgressBar' method, you do NOT need to use this extra syntax "IDLitMessaging::" in your "ProgressBar" calls.) Regards James Jones