Dojo Forum

I have created a custom dojo widget . The contents of it are data which is retrieved from a database.Now when the quantity of data to be retrieved is very large the widget loading time is very high.So the where the widget should have loaded remains blank for a long time.So a user would wonder whats happening !!!.
I would like to know how to display a loading icon,a .gif image,till the widget completely loads up.
The dojo widget is used inside a so till the widget loads up a .gif loading image should be displayed.

Can anyone suggest me how to go about doing it????