Splash screen used before opening a form not loading controls

Question

I have a form that takes a bit to load (needs to fetch some values from the database).

So I made a simple "please wait" splash screen, show it before intancing the form, close it and show the form:

Dim sp As New SplashScreen2
sp.Show()
Dim a = New AsignarFormacionesUsuario(p)
a.Text = "Asignar formaciones a: " + p.NomComplet
a.Show()
sp.Close()

The problem is that the splash screen does not loas the controls correctly:

It should be:

If I remove the intancing and showing of my form (and the closing of the splash so it does not instantly close) it's shown perfectly.

So it seems to not be a problem of the splash but a that the instancing of the form dont let the splash load correctly.

I don't know what to try, It seems that i just need the instancing to wait for the splash Show() to finish. But shouldn't it wait already?

When the UI thread is blocked the UI won't update. You need to give the UI thread time to update after you show your splash. — Thorsten Dittmar, Jun 23 '16 at 10:44
@ThorstenDittmar, GuidoG's answer made it show the controls, but the gif does not move. I do need another thread for it to work, right? — Aimnox, Jun 23 '16 at 10:50
I'd guess so. That said, have you checked for ready-made components out there that do splash screens? They might already have such features... — Thorsten Dittmar, Jun 23 '16 at 10:53

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 23 '16 at 11:09

2

Dim sp As New SplashScreen2  
sp.Show()  

sp.Update() 

Dim a = New AsignarFormacionesUsuario(p)

edited Jun 23 '16 at 11:09

SysDragon

answered Jun 23 '16 at 10:44

GuidoG

It does show it now, but the "loading" gif does not move. Do I need to use another thread so it can amnage both, the load and the gif? – Aimnox Jun 23 '16 at 10:47
what control are u using to display the gif ? Have you checked if the gif moves when u view it directly in windows image preview ? – GuidoG Jun 23 '16 at 10:49
A pictureBox. The gif does move when I dont instance the `AsignarFormacionesUsuario` form, but not in Windows nor the form designer – Aimnox Jun 23 '16 at 10:52
sounds like a thread issue, you could try to do Application.DoEvents() in stead of sp.Update() but I am afraid you need to create another thread to make the gif move because your second form is blocking the ui thread of sp – GuidoG Jun 23 '16 at 10:55
1

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1918158/how-do-i-show-a-loading-please-wait-message-in-winforms-for-a-long-loadi – GuidoG Jun 23 '16 at 10:58
1

this one may be better : http://stackoverflow.com/questions/31315793/how-to-show-an-animated-loading-form-while-executing-code-in-windows-forms-c-sha – GuidoG Jun 23 '16 at 10:59

1 Answers1