Question on closing forms

[JohnRChick]

Hey. Ok so i'm having a problem in my program, so instead of trying to find the bug right away, I decided to test the problem that I'm having by creating a new basic program with two forms. It seems that if I make a new instance of a form, and don't set it to visible, then that form won't run the .closing method. Here's what I did:

Form1- contains 1 button

Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        If f2 Is Nothing Then
            f2 = New Form2
        End If
    End Sub

form 2
- contains 1 timer
- modified .closing method

Private Sub Timer1_Tick(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Timer1.Tick
        MsgBox("time to run the closing code")
        Me.Close()
    End Sub

Private Sub Form2_Closed(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Closed
        MsgBox("doing the actual closing now!")
        Me.Dispose()
        f2 = Nothing
    End Sub

Module

Friend Module DuckyModule
    Friend f1 As Form1 ' can now be accessed from anywhere.
    Friend f2 As Form2
 
End Module

Ok so, the timer is designed to within 5 seconds close form2 when it starts. If I don't do anything about seting the form visible (like .showDialog) then when the timer calls .close() then nothing happens! If I put in .setDialog() then the when the timer calls .close() then it works!. Is this normal? Any ideas on what I could do?

Thanks
John