C++ form unresponsive on start - winforms

Question

i'm working on my first C++ project that requires a form and I've seemed to have gone in way over my head. largely I believe my issue has to do with that I'm not multi threading my form, but I'm unsure of the proper implementation. I was hoping someone could point out to me exactly where I've gone and made myself look like a muppet. (warning for the feint of heart, I used global variables to quickly create a proof of concept, once I have everything working more or less correctly I'll go back and properly protect everything)
*edit: I guess to clarify, it looks like the issue is that i execute everything in the main thread, its is possible to create a single new thread for the entire form or do i need to create a new thread for each individual control on the form?
Winmain.cpp
main function where I initialize the form and update the information on the form / refresh the form.
int WINAPI WinMain(HINSTANCE hInstance, HINSTANCE hPrevInstance, LPSTR lpCmdLine, int nShowCmd)
{
using namespace Interface;
cooldowns ^ CDwin = gcnew cooldowns;
CDwin->Show();
CDwin->Location = Point(0,0);
while (true)
{
CDwin->timer1->Text = timer1Duration.ToString();
CDwin->timer1Progress->Value = timer1Value;
CDwin->timer1->Refresh();
CDwin->timer1Progress->Refresh();
//collect info to populate CDwin values for next cycle
//something tells me this sleep could be part of the problem?
Sleep(50);
}
}
form.h
#pragma once
namespace Interface {
using namespace System;
using namespace System::ComponentModel;
using namespace System::Collections;
using namespace System::Windows::Forms;
using namespace System::Data;
using namespace System::Drawing;
using namespace System::Threading;
/// <summary>
/// Summary for cooldowns
/// </summary>
public ref class cooldowns : public System::Windows::Forms::Form
{
public:
cooldowns(void)
{
InitializeComponent();
//
//TODO: Add the constructor code here
//
}
protected:
/// <summary>
/// Clean up any resources being used.
/// </summary>
~cooldowns()
{
if (components)
{
delete components;
}
}
public: System::Windows::Forms::ProgressBar^ timer1Progress;
protected:
public: System::Windows::Forms::Label^ timer1;
private:
/// <summary>
/// Required designer variable.
/// </summary>
System::ComponentModel::Container ^components;
#pragma region Windows Form Designer generated code
/// <summary>
/// Required method for Designer support - do not modify
/// the contents of this method with the code editor.
/// </summary>
void InitializeComponent(void)
{
this->timer1Progress = (gcnew System::Windows::Forms::ProgressBar());
this->timer1 = (gcnew System::Windows::Forms::Label());
this->SuspendLayout();
//
// timer1Progress
//
this->timer1Progress->ForeColor = System::Drawing::Color::Fuchsia;
this->timer1Progress->Location = System::Drawing::Point(3, 12);
this->timer1Progress->Maximum = 30000;
this->timer1Progress->Name = L"timer1Progress";
this->timer1Progress->Size = System::Drawing::Size(244, 18);
this->timer1Progress->Style = System::Windows::Forms::ProgressBarStyle::Continuous;
this->timer1Progress->TabIndex = 0;
this->timer1Progress->Value = 10000;
//
//timer1
//
this->timer1->AutoSize = true;
this->timer1->ForeColor = System::Drawing::Color::White;
this->timer1->Location = System::Drawing::Point(253, 108);
this->timer1->Name = L"Timer1";
this->timer1->Size = System::Drawing::Size(34, 13);
this->timer1->TabIndex = 9;
this->timer1->Text = L"00.00";
//
// cooldowns
//
this->AutoScaleDimensions = System::Drawing::SizeF(6, 13);
this->AutoScaleMode = System::Windows::Forms::AutoScaleMode::Font;
this->BackColor = System::Drawing::Color::FromArgb(static_cast<System::Int32>(static_cast<System::Byte>(64)), static_cast<System::Int32>(static_cast<System::Byte>(64)),
static_cast<System::Int32>(static_cast<System::Byte>(64)));
this->ClientSize = System::Drawing::Size(294, 138);
this->Controls->Add(this->Timer1);;
this->Controls->Add(this->timer1Progress);
this->FormBorderStyle = System::Windows::Forms::FormBorderStyle::None;
this->Name = L"cooldowns";
this->StartPosition = System::Windows::Forms::FormStartPosition::Manual;
this->Text = L"cooldowns";
this->TopMost = true;
this->Load += gcnew System::EventHandler(this, &cooldowns::cooldowns_Load);
this->ResumeLayout(false);
this->PerformLayout();
}
#pragma endregion
private: System::Void cooldowns_Load(System::Object^ sender, System::EventArgs^ e) {
}
};
}
edit after a lot of trial and error the issue seems to surround the CDwin->Show();. if i switch it to ShowDialog(); it no longer is unresponsive, unfortunately the values of the progress bars do not update either, which i believe is where the multi-threading comes into play.

Answer 1

I think you should use ShowDialog so your form has a message loop, and put your "every 50 ms" stuff in an event handler listening to your timer's Tick event.

Answer 2

As the first form you should always use System::Windows::Forms::Application::Run(CDwin), you can only use Show() and ShowDialog() methods when you already have run a form.
if you use Run() you will encounter some problems. This functions only returns something after form is closed that means codes after the Run() code will not be run until form is closed.
So you must forget about working with your form in main function. I recommend you to create two forms for example "Form1" and "Form2" (using threads is another way but this one's easier).
Use "Form1" as the base form that is hidden and it is used for updating the application by refreshing timer.
Use "Form2" as showed form to user. For doing this you should run "Form2" inside "Form1" using Show() or ShowDialog().
So that means:
// This is Form1 or base.
#include "Form2.h"
Form2 ^openForm2 = gcnew Form2();
openForm2->Show();
// while(true) Refresh the other form and other codes...