Re: Splash Screen - My Nemesis

> I would first put together a clear statement of *exactly* what the
> problem is (rather than vague hand waving) before trying to solve it.

OK, maybe if I describe the original problem first, someone more au faix
with .NET UI can steer me in the right direction; identify my bad practices
and suggest some better ones.

This is a very small, two form search application.  The main form is a
search form, with fields for search criteria and a DataGridView for search
results.  It connects to a SQL Server DB to populate a criteria drop down
and to fetch search results.

I have an exception handler in Load that shows a message box if there is an
error initialising controls, which is basically just populating the drop
down.  On deployment, the connection string was incorrect but the message
box only displayed after some time, leaving the uneducated user guessing as
to whether they had started the app correctly.  Sometimes this delay was
also due to long query times on the database.

I was requested by the client to add a splash screen, to give the user
immediate feedback of the application starting.  I thought a splash screen
would server two purposes, first in the intended one, second in adding a
little visual appeal.  Given the popular misconception this would be easy to
achieve, I thought I could quickly add the splash screen last night and
avoid lengthy reworks elsewhere.  I was wrong.

I think now, to achieve the clients requirement of immediate feedback, I
will forego the splash screen and show the main form immediately, delegating
the database interaction to a separate thread started by the main form.

Now, do I do this in the Load event, as I need the form to already be
visible before I spawn another thread?

I'd like to get back to the ins and outs of a splash screen, using Andrew's
very suitable example, with maybe some of the changes that have been
discussed here, but I first want to deliver something to the client.