Help my form is building with flashes! 1

[jerseyboy]

The Setup:
I have a number of forms using the same template. The template includes the form "description" and a navigation button tucked into the form header. In addition I have formatted the form and have a simple background that displays.

The Problem:
The form draws itself a number of times on load. It appears to draw the detail section and then it draws the header. While doing that it flashes nearly enough to start a seizure. LOL I have contemplated removing the fancy stuff, but the users are already use to it. They want the glitz!!
Is it possible to load it hidden, and then show it when it is all pretty and ready to go? I think that they would be willing to wait if I could suppress that infernal flashing.
Any suggestions would be quite appreciated.

Thanks,

 

[etrain]

I am not for certain but try turning off the Echo. From what I read about it it is suppose to do just what you want. If you need more info just look in the Help file for Echo.

Hope it works for you. Remember the Past, Plan for the Future, yet Live in the Now for tomorrow may never come.
-etrain

 

[RottPaws]

Hide the form in the first line of the load event and then show it after all the setup stuff is done.

Private Sub Form_Load()

Me.Visible = False

code that does stuff

Me.Visible = True

End Sub

This should actually minimize the users' wait because the computer only has to draw the form on the screen one time after all the setup is done.

If the color changes take place each time the user moves to a new record, you could also do the hide, show in the Form_Current event.
Rott Paws

 

[jerseyboy]

I tried the echo an it didn't make a difference. I am not sure what "code that does stuff" is suppose to be. Is it possible that I could tell the app to show the form when it is finished loading the form. The timer even is already in use so I cannot load a pause there. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
JerseyBoy

 

[RottPaws]

Form_Load is the first event that happens when a form is opened. From what I've read, the form shouldn't even be displayed on the screen until this event it completed. In practice, if this procedure takes more than a second of two, the form will be displayed anyway.

The Me.Visible=False line at the top is to stop the form from being displayed until you are ready to for it to be seen. The Me.visible=True line just before the end of the procedure displays the form on the screen once you're finished with the setup.

Code that does stuff, is just what it says. It's the code you run to test your users for Epilepsy, or a call to the procedure that has that code.

An alternative would be to add the visible= lines to the beginning and end of the procedure that causes all the flashing. _________
Rott Paws

 

[jerseyboy]

I think what I am missing is what is going to determine that form is ready to be drawn? If I put:
---------------------------------------
[on load]

me.visible = false
(any other code that I would have - which I don't on many forms)
me.visible = true
docmd.maximize
---------------------------------------

The events will take place so quickly that it makes no difference in the drawing of the form.

I think the key is that it draws the DETAIL SECTION first, Then when it draws the FORM HEADER it redraws the picture and moves the detail section down. This is what is causing the screen to flash. What I want is to load the form hidden... pause for drawing... then display the finished product. I tried ECHO and it doesn't look to make a difference (althought it sounds from my reading to be exactly what it is for).
The form load is quick enough on my 1.5 gig PC that flash is hardly noticable, it is the laptops where the 9-1-1 seizure is showing up!
Thanks for your help in advance,
JerseyBoy

 

[RottPaws]

How old (slow) are these computers?

I guess I read into it and assumed you were doing something after the forms were loaded that made them flash. I have had this happen before when I changed something on the form based on parameters in the record. (i.e. change the background color of the form based on an order's status).

If all you are doing is loading and displaying the form with nothing else happening and it flashes then I don't really know what to tell you.

You could try putting me.visible=false in the On_Load event and then put me.visible=true in the On_Current event. This may give the computer a chance to get the finished product ready before it has to draw anything on the screen.

If that doesn't work, I'm stumpped without seeing the database.

If you want, you could send a copy to me at rottpaws@insight.rr.com and I'll take a look at it and see if I can offer any other suggestions. _________
Rott Paws

 

[RottPaws]

jerseyboy,

Are you using Access97 or 2k? _________
Rott Paws

 

[jerseyboy]

2000, No there isn't anything that the form is doing after loading. I could use the visible.false on load, visible.true on got focus. Do you think that would work?
I can send you a copy after I strip some info out of it, it is a working copy of an remake..may be a day or so before I can do that. The laptops are "not that old", "not new" probably p3 400-500 mhz into a docking station, running W2K OS.
Thanks,
JerseyBoy

 

[jonchaz]

jerseyboy,

We had similar problems whenever we used a picture as opposed to a background color. We minimized the flashing by setting the backcolor to a color that complimented the picture. In our case, light grey. While you may still notice a little "flash", it isn't nearly as dramatic, I hope it works for you.

jonchaz

 

[jerseyboy]

Jonchaz,
Huge! Immediate desired result, thanks you get a star!
JerseyBoy