How can I move an animated gif without pausing it?

Question

I have a program that will move a gif inside a picturebox in a random direction, but when the function is called then the gif will freeze. However, when I move the box using a keyDown function to move the picture box, it remains animate. How can I make it remain animated while it is moving?

This is what I used to make it move for a random distance, which freezes the gif.

void Form1_KeyDown(object sender, KeyEventArgs e)
{        
    if (e.KeyCode == Keys.A)
    {
        eventDuration = randomizer.Next(30, 70);
        while (eventDuration != 0)
        {
            MoveLeft();
            eventDuration = eventDuration - 1;
            Thread.Sleep(15);
        }
    }
}

private void MoveLeft()
{
    _y = picPicture.Location.Y;
    _x = picPicture.Location.X;
    picPicture.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(_x - 1, _y);
}

However, if use this, it moves smoothly without freezing the gif, even when I'm holding down the A key. I can't use this method because it requires constant user input, while the first was autonomous in the direction it moved

void Form1_KeyDown(object sender, KeyEventArgs e)
{        
    if (e.KeyCode == Keys.A)
    {
        MoveLeft();
    }
}

private void MoveLeft()
{
    _y = picPicture.Location.Y;
    _x = picPicture.Location.X;
    picPicture.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(_x - 1, _y);
}

How can I move my picture box for a random distance without pausing the gif?

Answer 1

If you use Thread.Sleep, your application does not process any window events, including redrawing. The proper way to do this is to use Timer class. When A key is pressed, you should enable the timer and move controls in its Tick event.

Alternatively, you can call Application.DoEvents method after Thread.Sleep, but it's a bad practice.