Windows Forms Transitions

[GB21]

Hello Group,

Long time Asp.net programmer developing my first windows CE
application. I have a very basic question about windows forms
applications. Naturally, my application includes multiple forms
between which the user can navigate. Of course, as we get deeper into
the application, there is a natural progression back to through the
screens to the beginning. I think I may be handling something wrong
with moving from one screen to the next. I'm just creating an instance
of the next form. When I run my app on the mobile device, I see all of
the previous forms in the task bar. As I transition back through them,
they close one by one.

What am I missing? I did try doing a this.hide when I create a new
instance of the next form and a this.show when I return. However, I
get flashes of the desktop as the new form is being shown. I'm also
uncertain if this creates a memory problem to keep all of these forms
alive.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Glenn

 

[Thomas Hall]

It is common to use a collection class (e.g. Stack) to hold references
to form objects that you only want a single instance of. This approach
minimizes your memory usage. For smooth transitions between forms when
you are using a single UI thread, instance and show the next form
before you hide the current form. Use the same approach when you
return to a previous form.

Regards,
Thomas

 

[Buthrakaur]

Hi,
you can minimize the blinking if you use a blank white form as a lowest
form of your application. I use the same approach as you in one of my
applications and use a empty panel on main form - i maximize the panel
if the main form looses it's focus and hide the panel if user gets back
to main form.

Regarding the forms in the application - my application is wizard-based
(a queue of forms which user navigates through) and I use singleton
approach for the dialog forms and keep array of these forms (array of
typeof(formXY) to be precise) to enable navigation through the forms...

regards,

Filip

 

[Guest]

Early versions of CF 1.0 also had issues with blinking on FOrm transitions,
so make sure you're at least using SP3.