Loading a form without displaying it

[Vulpes]

I need to have a form load, but not display until it is ready (some maths heavy calculations need to be done before the form can display). As I understand it, the only way to trigger the load event in a form is by Form.Show(). Is there another way to do it without the form becoming visible? I have played around with Form.Activate(), but haven't had any luck yet.

Thanks,
Vulpes

[Kasracer]

Why not set it's visable property to false, and then use form.show() and when ready, make it visable?

[Edneeis]

Why do you need the Form_Load event?

Any initialization code can go in the constructor. If you expand the 'Windows Form Designer generated code' region at the top of the form. Look for the constructor:

Public Sub New()
MyBase.New()

'This call is required by the Windows Form Designer.
InitializeComponent()

'Add any initialization after the InitializeComponent() call

End Sub

Then just put your code in the spot it suggests after the InitializeComponent call.

[dynamic_sysop]

just do something like this ...

Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        While DoStuff() = False
            Application.DoEvents() '/// dont allow the Form to show till DoStuff = True.
        End While
    End Sub
 
    Private Function DoStuff() As Boolean
        MessageBox.Show("wait for form to load") '/// your stuff ToDo before Form shows goes here.
        Threading.Thread.Sleep(5000) '/// 5 seconds in this case.
        Return True
    End Function

edit :
by the way you dont need to use Sleep when actually carrying out the function, that was just to demonstrate. you would do this...

Private Function DoStuff() As Boolean
        '/// carry out the code before loading the form.
        Return True
    End Function

[VBCrazyCoder]

My vote and prefered method would be to do it in the constructor, as Edneeis suggested.

[Vulpes]

Ah wonderful, thanks Edneeis. I am upgrading the program from VB6, and it didn't even occur to me to use the constructor instead of the load event. Thanks to everyone.

-Vulpes