Splash screen front panel flashes in edit mode before running

[colinleer]

I've noticed that when I run a splash screen (either in a compiled exe, or right click > run in the IDE) the front panel of the splash appears in edit mode for a split second before running. It's not the end of the world, but it definitely isn't a nice clean start. It happens with the splash screen template in the AF example projects, as well as other templates I've downloaded on lava.

Does anyone have this same problem and know a fix?

Thanks,  

Using LV2015

[Thoric]

Can you set the FP to not show when called, then programmatically show the front panel within code. This ensures the FP will not display until it's actually running. Just a thought.

[hooovahh]

One work around I've yet to try is I've heard you can set the window to be transparent in the VI properties.  And then make it not transparent when the VI starts running.  Not sure if this actually works but I've seen it on several of my programs and just haven't looked into fixing it since it is a pretty minor issue that no one has complained about except me.

[A Scottish moose]

What about stripping the VI of it's borders during runtime?  This is what I've done and it's worked well.  If the VI is just a box during runtime you'll end up with that nice splash screen look... The attached shows how I set up my splash screens and that as worked for me in 2015 and 2016

[Chris_Collier]

I think the "Show front panel when loaded" is where your issue is stemming from.  This will show the UI as soon as LabVIEW loads the VI into memory. Having this in the built version allows the splash screen to show a little sooner, as you don't have to wait for your program to begin running for the splash to occur - it just needs to be loaded into memory. Perhaps you can have it set as not show when loaded while in development environment, then add a function to the build process which sets this property true for the built function?

[Neil Pate]

I have fought this for close to a decade trying to get a slick splash screen that does not exhibit some stupid behavour like spawning before the application is even ready to run (so showing toolbars etc), not being centered etc. I currently have the same code that works differently on difference PCs due to their speed.

Eventually I just stopped getting annoyed by ignoring everything as virtually nobody even comments on it.

[mje]

Having the "Show front panel when called/loaded" options cleared from the window appearance properties is very important.

For me the basic splash template is:

1. Splash VI initializes itself.
2. Splash VI shows itself.
3. Splash VI creates a notifier to pass to the main application which will indicate loading is complete or an error.
4. Splash VI executes the application entry point. This VI has been configured to reload for each call via the "Call Setup..." context menu when you right click the VI on the splash diagram. This triggers loading the VI hierarchy.
5. Application signals the notifier that was passed in when it's ready to go or if an error has occurred.
6. Splash VI hides itself then waits for the application to return and reports on errors as appropriate.

For example:

The outer error frame handles low level errors for which there's really no additional information and the inner error frame will report errors returned from the application.

[colinleer]

Thanks all for the input, and I guess I'm at least a little glad to hear this is the norm for most.

I also acknowledge that no one who uses my programs cares in the least.  

There is a CAR for this issue that has been reopened, so maybe it will be fixed in the future. 

https://forums.ni.com/t5/Actor-Framework-Discussions/Splash-screen-flash/td-p/3416175/highlight/false/page/2