SplashScreen.Close(Timespan.FromMilliseconds(int)) : Is there an Event dispatched at Timespan Complete?

Question

C# WPF Application

I have a SplashScreen being displayed at startup for a minimum amount of time by using

Thread.Sleep(int); //int = milliseconds to display splash screen

When that sleep time is reached, the code resumes and the SplashScreen fades out to close by using

SplashScreen.Close(Timespan.FromMilliseconds(int)); //int = milliseconds fade-out

I would like to pause at this point to wait until the SplashScreen has become 100% transparent and is fully closed, then continue with other tasks, I.E. Writiting to the Console or displaying a MainWindow.

Is there an event fired when the (TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(int)) is complete? Any other suggestions?

namespace StartupSplash
{
    public class SplashScreenStartup
    {
        //IMPORTANT:set image property to Resource and NOT Splash Screen
        private SplashScreen Splash = new SplashScreen("Resources/SplashScreen.png");

        public void SplashScreenStartUp()
        {
            Splash.Show(false, true);
            Thread.Sleep(3000); // Pause code, display splash screen 3 seconds
            Splash.Close(TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(3000)); // 3 second splash fade-out
            // I want to wait until splash screen fadeOut has completed before
            // this next console output is performed.
            Console.WriteLine("Executes before Splash fadeOut completes.");
        }

    }

Answer 1

I found an event called SplashScreen.Dismissed that allows you to start the app after the SplashScreen expires. However, minimum required OS is Windows 8 and I could not use it. More info can be found here MSDN

Answer 2

I never did find an event to listen for upon completion of the TimeSpan. Also, after deciding to Not stop the threads, I chose to use DispatcherTimers instead.

(I have thinned and contained the logic into this one class for reference purposes)

using System;
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Threading;


namespace StartupSplash2
{

public partial class MainWindow : Window
{
    private DispatcherTimer visibleTimer;
    private DispatcherTimer fadeoutTimer;
    private SplashScreen splash;
    private int visibleTime = (4000); //milliseconds of splash visible time
    private int fadeoutTime = (1500); //milliseconds of splash fadeout time

    public MainWindow()
    {   
        //hide this MainWindow window until splash completes
        this.Visibility = Visibility.Hidden; 
        InitializeComponent();
        splashIn(); //start the splash
    }

    private void splashIn()
    {
        splash = new SplashScreen("Resources/SplashScreen.png"); //ensure image property is set to Resource and not screen saver
        visibleTimer = new DispatcherTimer(); //timer controlling how long splash is visible
        visibleTimer.Interval = TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(visibleTime);
        visibleTimer.Tick += showTimer_Tick; //when timer time is reached, call 'showTimer_Tick" to begin fadeout
        splash.Show(false, true); //display splash
        visibleTimer.Start();
    }

    private void showTimer_Tick(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        visibleTimer.Stop();
        visibleTimer = null; //clear the unused timer
        fadeoutTimer = new DispatcherTimer();
        fadeoutTimer.Interval = TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(fadeoutTime); //a timer that runs while splash fades out and controlls when main window is displayed
        fadeoutTimer.Tick += fadeTimer_Tick; //when fadeout timer is reached, call 'fadeTimer_Tick' to show main window
        splash.Close(TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(fadeoutTime)); //begin splash fadeout to close
        fadeoutTimer.Start();
    }

    private void fadeTimer_Tick(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        fadeoutTimer.Stop();
        fadeoutTimer = null; //clear the unused timer
        splash = null; //clear the splash var
        MainWindowReady(); //call method to display main window
    }

    public void MainWindowReady()
    {
        this.Visibility = Visibility.Visible;
        //Here is the start of the Main Window Code
        this.Content = "Ok, the app is ready to roll";
    }

  }
}

Answer 3

Maybe this code can help you. Using the backgroundworker class:

BackgroundWorker worker = new BackgroundWorker();
worker.DoWork += (o, ea) => 
{
   // Dispatcher.Invoke commands the dispatcher to do something
   Dispatcher.Invoke((Action)(() => Splash.Close(TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(3000)));
   // Sleeps this worker but NOT the UI
   Thread.Sleep(3000);
};
worker.RunWorkerCompleted += (o, ea) =>
{
    // Open your mainwindow sample
    MainWindow w = new MainWindow();
    w.Show();
};

//Runs the worker on its own thread
worker.RunWorkerAsync();

This should start the closing of your splashscreen, then sleep through it, and when it's done it'll open your mainwindow. I actually use something very similar to this to implement a login and fetch info for my WPF app, while displaying a progress bar and updating the text in it to stuff like "Connecting to server", "Logging in" and "Fetching data".

Answer 4

I eventually came to conclusion that I was barking up the wrong tree in my previous comments. Displaying the SplashScreen in the background is both problematic (it refused to close automatically, no matter what I tried) and unnessary. Here's what I ended up with... Really simple!

using System;
using System.Net;
using System.Windows;

namespace WpfApplication1
{
  /// <summary>
  /// Interaction logic for Window1.xaml
  /// </summary>
  public partial class Window1 : Window
  {
    public Window1() {
      InitializeComponent();
    }

    private void Window_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e) {
      // show the splash screen
      // nb: Resources/SplashScreenImage.png file Properties ~ Build Action='Resource'
      var splashScreen = new SplashScreen("Resources/SplashScreenImage.png");
      splashScreen.Show(false); // don't close automatically
      // ... initialise my application ...
      Initialise();
      // close the splash screen.
      splashScreen.Close(TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(250D));
    }

    private void Initialise() {
      // do my long-running application initialisation on the main thread. 
      // In reality you'd do this download asyncronously, but in this case
      // it serves as a simple proxy for some "heavy" inititalisation work.
      textBox1.Text = new WebClient().DownloadString("http://stackoverflow.com/questions/13213625/splashscreen-closetimespan-frommilliseconds-listen-for-closed-event");
    }
  }

}

I hope that helps... though I'm not at all confident that it will ;-)

Cheers. Keith.

PS: I wonder why the splash refused to close? My guess it internally relies on events which are only available (i.e. subscribable) on WPF's equivalent of the event-dispatch-thread (whatever it's called).

Answer 5

I found that the following code works. I am not quite clear why and I will delve in closer to understand this better.

Please critique as needed, I am here to learn and share. Cheers.

class Tester
    {
    // Create splash screen instance and reference the image location.
    // IMPORTANT Ensure that the image properties are set to Resource and NOT Splash Screen
    private SplashScreen Splash = new SplashScreen("Resources/SplashScreen.png");

    public void Display()
    {
        Splash.Show(false, true);
        // pause the code, thus, displaying the splash for 3 seconds
        Thread.Sleep(3000); 
        // close the splash
        Close();
    }

    private void Close()
    {
        // sets the fadeout time in milliseconds
        int fadeOutTime = 1500; 

        // wait until the splash screen fadeOut has completed before writing to the console
        BackgroundWorker worker = new BackgroundWorker();
        worker.DoWork += (o, ea) =>
        {
            // Run background task (fade out and close the splash)
            Splash.Close(TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(fadeOutTime));
            // Sleep this worker but NOT the UI (for the same time as the fade out time)
            Thread.Sleep(fadeOutTime);
        };
        worker.RunWorkerCompleted += (o, ea) =>
        {
            // Execute task after splash has closed completely
            Console.WriteLine("This is after the splash screen fadeOut completes.");
        };
        // start the background task, on it's own thread
        worker.RunWorkerAsync(); 
    }

}