Splash Screen [RESOLVED]

[cpatzer]

Hello,

I am trying to build a splash screen for my application. So far I have in my Startup sub:

            MyThread = New Threading.Thread(AddressOf ShowSplashScreen)
            MyThread.Name = "Splash Screen"
            MyThread.Start()

And the sub:

    Public Sub ShowSplashScreen()
        Splash = New SplashForm
        Splash.Show()
        'Only when I put MessageBox.Show("Hello") does this form show
    End Sub

And in the main form load event:

Splash.Close()

Why is it that the splash form only shows when I show a message box?
Can anybody tell me what I am doing wrong?

[Aaron Young]

Probably because you're terminating the new Thread as soon as your form is loaded.

There are a number of way to do this, one tried and true method is to simply use a Timer, i.e.

Splash Form:

Public Class frmSplash
    Inherits System.Windows.Forms.Form
 
#Region " Windows Form Designer generated code "
 
    Public Sub New()
        MyBase.New()
 
        'This call is required by the Windows Form Designer.
        InitializeComponent()
 
        'Add any initialization after the InitializeComponent() call
 
    End Sub
 
    'Form overrides dispose to clean up the component list.
    Protected Overloads Overrides Sub Dispose(ByVal disposing As Boolean)
        If disposing Then
            If Not (components Is Nothing) Then
                components.Dispose()
            End If
        End If
        MyBase.Dispose(disposing)
    End Sub
 
    'Required by the Windows Form Designer
    Private components As System.ComponentModel.IContainer
 
    'NOTE: The following procedure is required by the Windows Form Designer
    'It can be modified using the Windows Form Designer.  
    'Do not modify it using the code editor.
   Friend WithEvents Timer1 As System.Windows.Forms.Timer
   <System.Diagnostics.DebuggerStepThrough()> Private Sub InitializeComponent()
      Me.components = New System.ComponentModel.Container
      Me.Timer1 = New System.Windows.Forms.Timer(Me.components)
      '
      'frmSplash
      '
      Me.AutoScaleBaseSize = New System.Drawing.Size(5, 13)
      Me.ClientSize = New System.Drawing.Size(292, 266)
      Me.Name = "frmSplash"
      Me.Text = "frmSplash"
 
   End Sub
 
#End Region
 
   Private Sub frmSplash_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
      Timer1.Interval = 5000 ' Approx. 5 Seconds.
      Timer1.Enabled = True
   End Sub
 
   Private Sub frmSplash_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Click
      Me.Close()  ' Close when the Splash Screen is Clicked
   End Sub
 
   Private Sub Timer1_Tick(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Timer1.Tick
      Timer1.Enabled = False
      Me.Close()  ' Close the Splash Screen after the time has elapsed
   End Sub
End Class

Main Form:

Public Class Form1
    Inherits System.Windows.Forms.Form
 
#Region " Windows Form Designer generated code "
 
    Public Sub New()
        MyBase.New()
 
        'This call is required by the Windows Form Designer.
        InitializeComponent()
 
        'Add any initialization after the InitializeComponent() call
 
    End Sub
 
    'Form overrides dispose to clean up the component list.
    Protected Overloads Overrides Sub Dispose(ByVal disposing As Boolean)
        If disposing Then
            If Not (components Is Nothing) Then
                components.Dispose()
            End If
        End If
        MyBase.Dispose(disposing)
    End Sub
 
    'Required by the Windows Form Designer
    Private components As System.ComponentModel.IContainer
 
    'NOTE: The following procedure is required by the Windows Form Designer
    'It can be modified using the Windows Form Designer.  
    'Do not modify it using the code editor.
    <System.Diagnostics.DebuggerStepThrough()> Private Sub InitializeComponent()
      '
      'Form1
      '
      Me.AutoScaleBaseSize = New System.Drawing.Size(5, 13)
      Me.ClientSize = New System.Drawing.Size(292, 266)
      Me.Name = "Form1"
      Me.Text = "Form1"
 
   End Sub
 
#End Region
 
   Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
      Dim splash As New frmSplash   ' Create a new Splash Form Instance
      Me.AddOwnedForm(splash)       ' Make the Splash Form a Child Form of this Form (so it appears over it)
      splash.Show()                 ' Display the Splash Form
   End Sub
End Class

Regards,

- Aaron.

[cpatzer]

The reason for that is that my application is rather large and requires quite a bit of time to load on slower machines. What I am looking to do is something like Adobe's Acrobat Reader or Photoshop. Load the splash screen first in new thread while main form is background loading. Then when the main form is loaded it closes the splash screen. Any ideas?

Thanks.

[Aaron Young]

You can use the code I posted, just remove the Timer and close the form after doing eveything you do in your forms Load event.

You my need to make a call to Application.DoEvents after showing the splash.

You don't need to start a new Thread to accomplish this.

Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
      Dim splash As New frmSplash
      Me.AddOwnedForm(splash)
      splash.Show()
 
      Dim i As Integer
      For i = 1 To 1000
         Console.WriteLine("Do Something")
      Next
 
      splash.Close()
   End Sub

Regards,

- Aaron.

[cpatzer]

That doesn’t quite do what I am looking for though as the load method is called after all of the dll's have been loaded and all of the form layout code has been hashed through.

This is the part that takes the time, not any routine that I have of my own.

That's why I was trying to do it with a separate thread in the startup sub so that the splash screen gets launched before any other code is executed, thus spanning the bridge in time between user double clicking on the program and the application actually loading.

Thanks.

[cpatzer]

Hate to do this but still no luck with this. Does anybody have any idea how to create a splash screen simlar to Microsoft Outlook or Adobe Reader...?

It needs to load first before any other code is executed or parsed.

Thanks.

[Aaron Young]

Try this instead:

In your "Splash Screen" Form Add the Following:

Private Shared _SplashScreen As frmSplashScreen
 
   Public Shared Sub ShowSplashScreen()
      If Not _SplashScreen Is Nothing Then
         CloseSplashScreen()
      End If
 
      _SplashScreen = New frmSplashScreen
      _SplashScreen.Show()
   End Sub
 
   Public Shared Sub CloseSplashScreen()
      If Not _SplashScreen Is Nothing Then
         Try
            _SplashScreen.Close()
            _SplashScreen = Nothing
         Catch
 
         End Try
      End If
   End Sub

Assuming your splash screen form is called frmSplashScreen you'd make
your startup object Sub Main which would be in a module:

Module modStartup
   Sub Main()
      frmSplashScreen.ShowSplashScreen()
      Application.Run(New Form1) ' Where "Form1" is the main form that takes a while.
   End Sub
End Module

To close the SplashScreen, do so in at the end of the main form's
Load event, i.e.

Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
      For i As Integer = 1 To 5000
         ' Simulate a load delay
         Console.WriteLine(i)
      Next
      frmSplashScreen.CloseSplashScreen()
   End Sub

Regards,

- Aaron.

[cpatzer]

Aaron,

Ok great, I had to make some changes but was able to get it to work. Your example worked except that the SplashForm would not show any controls just white space where the controls should have been. I was able to get around this by using ShowDialog instead of Show in the ShowSplashScreen sub.

This though introduced a new problem, code execution stopped in the StartUp sub. To get around this I started a new thread:

SplashScreenThread = New System.Threading.Thread(AddressOf SplashScreen.ShowSplashScreen)
            SplashScreenThread.Start()

This works great and accomplished just what I needed.

Thank you for your help!!!


**Edit**

If you use this you will also need to bring to front the main form after the SplashScreen form closes.

Private Sub SplashScreen_Closing(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.ComponentModel.CancelEventArgs) Handles MyBase.Closing
        MainForm.BringToFront()
    End Sub