>Excellent - thanks - will have a look at both of these answers...

Hope this helps too:

************************************************
*-- Class: Animation
************************************************
*  Author............: Daniel Gramunt
*  Created...........: 17.05.99  17:03:36
*) Description.......: Displays an animation (AVI) using the animation control that
*)                   : ships with VFP.
*)                   : Handy for processes for which you cannot use a thermometer.
*  Calling Samples...: oAnimation = NEWOBJECT("Animation", "avi.prg", "",;
*                    :                        "Creating PDF file",;
*                    :                        "PDF converter",;
*                    :                        "FileToPdf.avi")
*  Parameter List....:
*  Major change list.:
*--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DEFINE CLASS Animation AS form

  DataSession = 1
  Height = 85
  Width = 360
  AutoCenter = .T.
  Caption = ""
  ControlBox = .F.
  Closable = .F.
  ClipControls = .F.
  Name = "frmAnimation"

  ADD OBJECT lblMessage AS label WITH ;
    WordWrap = .T., ;
    Caption = "Your message goes here...", ;
    Left = 6, ;
    Top = 2, ;
    Width = 355, ;
    Name = "lblMessage"

  PROCEDURE Load
    This.AddObject("oleAnimation", "oleControl", "MsComCtl2.Animation.2")
    WITH This.oleAnimation
      .Top     = 28
      .Left    = 46
      .Visible = .f.
    ENDWITH    
  ENDPROC

  PROCEDURE Init
    *  Parameter List....: tcMessage - Message to display. Optional.
    *                    : tcCaption - Form caption. Optional.
    *                    :             If omitted, the form doesn't have a title bar
    *                    : tcAviFile - Animation file to display (default = fileCopy.avi)
    *  Major change list.: 
    *--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    LPARAMETER tcMessage, tcCaption, tcAviFile

    WITH This

       *-- check parameters ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
       IF TYPE("tcMessage") <> "C" OR EMPTY(tcMessage)
         tcMessage = "Processing. Please be patient..."
       ENDIF
       IF TYPE("tcCaption") <> "C" OR EMPTY(tcCaption)
        *-- no caption, so we remove the title bar
         .TitleBar = 0
       ELSE
         .TitleBar = 1
         .caption = tcCaption
       ENDIF
       IF TYPE("tcAviFile") <> "C"
         tcAviFile = "fileCopy.avi"
       ENDIF
       .lblMessage.caption = tcMessage
       .aviPlay(tcAviFile)
       .show()
    ENDWITH       
  ENDPROC

  PROCEDURE AviPlay
     LPARAMETERS tcAviFile

     *-- make sure file exists
     IF FILE(tcAviFile)
       *-- update animation
       WITH ThisForm.oleAnimation
         .visible = .f.
         .stop
         .open(FULLPATH(tcAviFile))
         .play()
         .Height  = 60
         .Width   = 275
         .visible = .t.
       ENDWITH
     ENDIF
   ENDPROC

ENDDEFINE