When you have a test sequence or Test step which takes time and might give the operator

 the feeling that the test sequence if not running, provide a dialog  with a progress bar(count down or scrolling).

This dialog can be a timed dialog which gets it information from parameters to the calling sequence.

The dialog can be a continuous scrolling progress bars in which the code can be looking at a variable

which is persistent for the duration you need the dialog(FileGlobal.mydialogControlVariable).

This is done in TestStand and LabVIEW using the Sequence Context and TestStand pallete.

TestStand and LabVIEW discussed above  are National Instruments products.