[RESOLVED] 2nd form not showing on desktop

[ianr9000]

I'm using VB on windows 10. I have an application that I wrote which has been working fine for a long time, and still works in the VS debugger, but when installed on the PC the forms (other than the form1) don't appear on the desktop any more. I have attached a screen grab. The main form shows a list of order/invoices. When one is clicked it should open another form with details, but the form never shows. Just an empty icon on the task bar. This used to work and one day stopped working.
I have tried rebuilding and re-installing the app with no effect.
Is Windows blocking it somehow because of a security update? How do I check that? I haven't seen any notifications pop up. Or what else could it be?
Other application I have written and use on the same PC work fine!

[jdelano]

Which .net version is this using? I'm guessing maybe 4.8 given you state it has been "working fine for a long time".
When you say it is installed on the PC, do you have an install script or are you copying the EXE and any support files to the PC?
If you copy the EXE and support files to a folder on the development PC, does it operate as expected?

[jmcilhinney]

It's probably something the form is doing. As you haven't told us anything about that beyond a vague general description, it could be anything.

Try putting some tracing code in, i.e. something that tells you where the execution is up to and what data it's using that you'd normally use the debugger to see. You can even attach a debugger to the running process, if VS is installed on that machine.

[ianr9000]

Which .net version is this using? I'm guessing maybe 4.8 given you state it has been "working fine for a long time".
When you say it is installed on the PC, do you have an install script or are you copying the EXE and any support files to the PC?
If you copy the EXE and support files to a folder on the development PC, does it operate as expected?

The target framework is .NET version 4.7.2. The application was installed by published files for a CD, then run the setup.exe.
Yes, if I copy the excutable or just run in from the obj folder, it works fine.
So I wonder why it doesn't work when installed!

[jdelano]

I'd do as jmcilhinney suggested and add some logging code, write to a text file where you attempt to display form2 and in the form2 load event.

Are you using all the "normal" controls on this form? Any 3rd party controls at all?

[dbasnett]

The target framework is .NET version 4.7.2. The application was installed by published files for a CD, then run the setup.exe.
Yes, if I copy the excutable or just run in from the obj folder, it works fine.
So I wonder why it doesn't work when installed!

Are you manually positioning / remembering the location of the forms? I've done that and had the user remove monitors with a form on it.

[.paul.]

Are you manually positioning / remembering the location of the forms? I've done that and had the user remove monitors with a form on it.

I have an app, with an animated form that remembers its last location. I’ve had times when the compiled app config file has been corrupted and replaced with default values, resulting in the form being placed off screen. All I could do was manually edit the config file.

BTW. John Wein should get off his horse and drink his milk
I know what DoEvents does, and I use it, but very sparingly.

[ianr9000]

I am saving the form location to the user settings and I added some trace lines to write to a file and get this:
load form start...
form loc {X=-32000,Y=-32000}
load form complete...

I guess the form location could be the issue. But where is that saved?

Update: I fixed it by adding a menu option to reset the form location back to {0, 0} and that has brought the form back on screen.

Thanks everyone for your help

[jdelano]

Excellent news, glad you were able to get it sorted out.

[jmcilhinney]

You should probably work out how this happened or it's likely to happen again. You still haven't shown us any relevant code so all we can do is guess. It might be that you're saving the location when the form is minimised or something like that.