Yeah, I don't want my application always on top.

Jeffrey,

This is very close to what I need.  My problem now is when I call the Invoke
my program stops.  This becomes a block.  I think it is becuase my form is
not displayed yet.  I am trying to make my splash screen a little more
interactive where it display the status while it is loading, and I think
this is causing the problem.

I actually call and display the splash screen before my main application has
run, as I do a lot of checking and validation.  Every thing seems great
until I try to close the splash screen.  I try to close it from my
application to make sure that everything has completed.  Is there an event
on a Windows Form that tells you when it is displayed?

Basically here is how I call it.

In my class PreLoader.cs, which has my "static void Main()" I call,
DOTTime.Splash.SplashScreen.Display with the proper paramaters.  I call
DOTTime.Splash.SplashScreen.UpdateStep to move the progress bar.

When I finally do Application.Run on my Main form I set the property
SetFormToBrinToFront = this, which is my main application form, and in the
Load event for that form I call the last UpdateStep which should close the
splash screen form.  When that form closes it seems to take my main form to
the background.  I even tried to put a this.BringToFront() in the Load event
for the main form, but that didn't work either.

Any more suggestions?

Eric Renken

Here is the code to my splash screen:

using System;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Collections;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Threading;

namespace DOTTime.Splash
{
/// <summary>
/// Summary description for SplashScreen.
/// </summary>
public class SplashScreen : System.Windows.Forms.Form
{
 private delegate void SetStepHandler( string step );
 private static SplashScreen _SplashScreen = null;

 private Form _FormToFront = null;

 private System.Windows.Forms.Label label2;
 private System.Windows.Forms.Label label3;
 private System.Windows.Forms.Label lblVersion;
 private System.Windows.Forms.ProgressBar progress;
 private System.Windows.Forms.Label lblStep;
 /// <summary>
 /// Required designer variable.
 /// </summary>
 private System.ComponentModel.Container components = null;

 public SplashScreen( string title, Image background, string version, int
totalSteps )
 {
  InitializeComponent();

  this.BackgroundImage = background;
  this.Size = background.Size;
  this.Text = title;

  lblVersion.Text = "Version: " + version;
  progress.Maximum = totalSteps;
 }

 /// <summary>
 /// Clean up any resources being used.
 /// </summary>
 protected override void Dispose( bool disposing )
 {
  if( disposing )
  {
   if(components != null)
   {
    components.Dispose();
   }
  }
  base.Dispose( disposing );
 }

 public void SetStep( string step )
 {
  if ( lblStep.Text != step )
   progress.Value ++;

  lblStep.Text = step;
  lblStep.Refresh();

  if ( progress.Value == progress.Maximum )
  {
   Thread.Sleep( 1000 );
   this.Close();
  }
 }

 #region Windows Form Designer generated code
 /// <summary>
 /// Required method for Designer support - do not modify
 /// the contents of this method with the code editor.
 /// </summary>
 private void InitializeComponent()
 {
  System.Resources.ResourceManager resources = new
System.Resources.ResourceManager(typeof(SplashScreen));
  this.label2 = new System.Windows.Forms.Label();
  this.label3 = new System.Windows.Forms.Label();
  this.lblVersion = new System.Windows.Forms.Label();
  this.progress = new System.Windows.Forms.ProgressBar();
  this.lblStep = new System.Windows.Forms.Label();
  this.SuspendLayout();
  //
  // label2
  //
  this.label2.Anchor =
((System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles)((System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles.Bottom

  this.label2.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.Transparent;
  this.label2.Font = new System.Drawing.Font("Microsoft Sans Serif", 8.25F,
System.Drawing.FontStyle.Regular, System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit.Point,
((System.Byte)(0)));
  this.label2.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(8, 158);
  this.label2.Name = "label2";
  this.label2.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(336, 16);
  this.label2.TabIndex = 5;
  this.label2.Text = "Copyright ? 2004 Exaktime, Inc.  All rights
reserved";
  //
  // label3
  //
  this.label3.Anchor =
((System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles)((System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles.Bottom

  this.label3.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.Transparent;
  this.label3.Font = new System.Drawing.Font("Microsoft Sans Serif", 8.25F,
System.Drawing.FontStyle.Regular, System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit.Point,
((System.Byte)(0)));
  this.label3.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(8, 174);
  this.label3.Name = "label3";
  this.label3.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(336, 16);
  this.label3.TabIndex = 4;
  this.label3.Text = "Using the .TimeT framework created by Exaktime,
Inc.";
  //
  // lblVersion
  //
  this.lblVersion.Anchor =
((System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles)((System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles.Bottom

  this.lblVersion.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.Transparent;
  this.lblVersion.Font = new System.Drawing.Font("Microsoft Sans Serif",
8.25F, System.Drawing.FontStyle.Regular, System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit.Point,
((System.Byte)(0)));
  this.lblVersion.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(8, 142);
  this.lblVersion.Name = "lblVersion";
  this.lblVersion.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(336, 16);
  this.lblVersion.TabIndex = 6;
  this.lblVersion.Text = "Version:";
  //
  // progress
  //
  this.progress.Anchor =
((System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles)((System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles.Bottom

  this.progress.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(8, 78);
  this.progress.Name = "progress";
  this.progress.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(376, 16);
  this.progress.TabIndex = 7;
  //
  // lblStep
  //
  this.lblStep.Anchor =
((System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles)((System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles.Bottom

  this.lblStep.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.Transparent;
  this.lblStep.Font = new System.Drawing.Font("Microsoft Sans Serif",
8.25F, System.Drawing.FontStyle.Regular, System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit.Point,
((System.Byte)(0)));
  this.lblStep.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(8, 62);
  this.lblStep.Name = "lblStep";
  this.lblStep.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(376, 16);
  this.lblStep.TabIndex = 8;
  this.lblStep.Text = "Initializing...";
  //
  // SplashScreen
  //
  this.AutoScaleBaseSize = new System.Drawing.Size(6, 13);
  this.ClientSize = new System.Drawing.Size(400, 200);
  this.Controls.Add(this.lblStep);
  this.Controls.Add(this.progress);
  this.Controls.Add(this.lblVersion);
  this.Controls.Add(this.label2);
  this.Controls.Add(this.label3);
  this.Font = new System.Drawing.Font("Microsoft Sans Serif", 8.25F,
System.Drawing.FontStyle.Bold, System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit.Point,
((System.Byte)(0)));
  this.FormBorderStyle = System.Windows.Forms.FormBorderStyle.None;
  this.Icon = ((System.Drawing.Icon)(resources.GetObject("$this.Icon")));
  this.Name = "SplashScreen";
  this.ShowInTaskbar = false;
  this.StartPosition = System.Windows.Forms.FormStartPosition.CenterScreen;
  this.Text = "SplashScreen";
  this.Closing += new
System.ComponentModel.CancelEventHandler(this.SplashScreen_Closing);
  this.ResumeLayout(false);

 }
 #endregion

 public static void Display( string title, Image background, string
version, int totalSteps )
 {
  if ( _SplashScreen != null )
  {
   _SplashScreen.Dispose();
   _SplashScreen = null;
  }

  _SplashScreen = new SplashScreen( title, background, version,
totalSteps );

  Thread splash = new System.Threading.Thread( new ThreadStart(
SplashScreen.ShowSplashScreen ) );
  splash.Name = "Start Splash Screen";
  splash.Priority = System.Threading.ThreadPriority.Normal;
  splash.Start();
 }

 internal Form FormToBringToFront
 {
  set { _FormToFront = value; }
 }

 public static Form SetFormToBringToFront
 {
  set { _SplashScreen.FormToBringToFront = value; }
 }

 public static Form SplashForm
 {
  get { return _SplashScreen; }
 }

 private static void ShowSplashScreen()
 {
  Application.Run( _SplashScreen );
 }

 public static void CloseSplash()
 {
  if ( _SplashScreen != null )
  {
   _SplashScreen.Close();
  }
 }

 public static void UpdateStep( string step )
 {
  int worker = 0;
  int port = 0;

  while ( worker < 5 )
  {
   ThreadPool.GetAvailableThreads( out worker, out port );
   Thread.Sleep( 1 );
  }

  ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem( new WaitCallback( UpdateStepWorker ),
(object)step );
 }

 private static void UpdateStepWorker( object step )
 {
  SetStepHandler ssh = new SetStepHandler( _SplashScreen.SetStep );
  _SplashScreen.Invoke( ssh, new object [] { step } );

  ssh = null;
 }

 private void SplashScreen_Closing(object sender,
System.ComponentModel.CancelEventArgs e)
 {
  if ( _FormToFront != null )
  {
   MethodInvoker mi = new MethodInvoker( _FormToFront.BringToFront );
   _FormToFront.Invoke( mi );
  }
 }
}
}