Busy Indicator

sap.m.BusyIndicator

Intro

The busy indicator informs the user about an ongoing operation.

Busy indicator

Usage

Use the busy indicator if:

The ongoing operation covers only a part of the screen with multiple controls, and:

You need to display additional information, or,
The user needs to be able to cancel the operation.

Take a look at the example on the right. The file upload dialog consists of multiple upload operations. The user must be able to cancel each operation. Since the operation is related only to one row and not to the full app, there is no need to block the whole screen. The user still needs to interact with the system, in this case to select the next file upload.

Since each control of SAPUI5 provides a busy state by default, you could also set the busy state at row level. In this case, however, there would be no option to cancel the operation.

Busy indicator example file upload

Do not use the busy indicator if:

The operation takes less than one second.
You need to block the screen because the user is not supposed to start another activity. In this case, use the busy dialog.

Components

The busy indicator is a blue circle and can also display a text description.

Busy indicator text

Guidelines

Do not change the mouse cursor to indicate the ongoing operation.
Do not use a custom progress indicator icon.
Try to avoid showing multiple busy indicators at once.

Properties

The size of the busy indicator can also be changed.

Busy indicator sizes

Resources

Want to dive deeper? Follow the links below to find out more about related controls, the SAPUI5 implementation, and the visual design.

Elements and Controls

Busy Dialog (guidelines)

Implementation

Busy Indicator (SAPUI5 samples)
Busy Indicator (SAPUI5 API reference)