Single Form Hide on Startup

Question

I have an application with one form in it, and on the Load method I need to hide the form.

The form will display itself when it has a need to (think along the lines of a outlook 2003 style popup), but I can' figure out how to hide the form on load without something messy.

Any suggestions?

Answer 1

I have struggled with this issue a lot and the solution is much simpler than i though. I first tried all the suggestions here but then i was not satisfied with the result and investigated it a little more. I found that if I add the:

 this.visible=false;
 /* to the InitializeComponent() code just before the */
 this.Load += new System.EventHandler(this.DebugOnOff_Load);

It is working just fine. but I wanted a more simple solution and it turn out that if you add the:

this.visible=false;
/* to the start of the load event, you get a
simple perfect working solution :) */ 
private void
DebugOnOff_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
this.Visible = false;
}

Answer 2

You're going to want to set the window state to minimized, and show in taskbar to false. Then at the end of your forms Load set window state to maximized and show in taskbar to true

    public frmMain()
    {
        Program.MainForm = this;
        InitializeComponent();

        this.WindowState = FormWindowState.Minimized;
        this.ShowInTaskbar = false;
    }

private void frmMain_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        //Do heavy things here

        //At the end do this
        this.WindowState = FormWindowState.Maximized;
        this.ShowInTaskbar = true;
    }

Answer 3

Why do it like that at all?

Why not just start like a console app and show the form when necessary? There's nothing but a few references separating a console app from a forms app.

No need in being greedy and taking the memory needed for the form when you may not even need it.

Answer 4

Launching an app without a form means you're going to have to manage the application startup/shutdown yourself.

Starting the form off invisible is a better option.

Answer 5

Based on various suggestions, all I had to do was this:

To hide the form:

Me.Opacity = 0
Me.ShowInTaskbar = false

To show the form:

Me.Opacity = 100
Me.ShowInTaskbar = true

Answer 6

static void Main()
{
    Application.EnableVisualStyles();
    Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(false);
    MainUIForm mainUiForm = new MainUIForm();
    mainUiForm.Visible = false;
    Application.Run();
}