>In short we have a lengthy process when a form is loaded that adds
>activex controls to our windows form. This process in itself works
>fine however we would like to push this processing to a thread but are
>stumped so far.
>
>Our goal is simply to allow the form to fully display while the
>controls are being added. Preferrably with a progressbar to let them
>know that the form is still being built.
>
>Here are some snippets.
>
>    Private Sub Form_Shown(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As
>System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Shown
>        Dim myThread As Threading.Thread
>        myThread = New Threading.Thread(AddressOf load_udfSections)
>        myThread.SetApartmentState(Threading.ApartmentState.STA)
>        myThread.Start()
>    End Sub
>
>Private Sub load_udfSections()
>       ...
>        udfSection = New AxTdF_DynamicUDF.AxDynUDF
>
>                udfSection.BeginInit()
>                udfSection.Anchor =
>CType(((System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles.Top Or
>System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles.Left) _
>                    Or System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles.Right),
>System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles)
>                udfSection.Enabled = True
>                udfSection.Visible = False
>                udfSection.Location = New
>System.Drawing.Point(ToolStripContainer1.ContentPanel.Margin.Left,
>currentTop)
>                udfSection.Name = "AxDynUDF" & CStr(controlIndex + 1)
>
>                With ToolStripContainer1.ContentPanel
>                    axWidth = .Width - (.Margin.Left + .Margin.Right)
>                End With
>
>                udfSection.Size = New System.Drawing.Size(axWidth, 1)
>
>                ToolStripContainer1.ContentPanel.Invoke(New
>addControl(AddressOf addControlToToolstrip), udfSection)
>                udfSection.EndInit()
>
> udfSection.load_Controls(CShort(reader("ControlGroupID")), True)
>
>         .....
>    End Sub
>
>
>There is a delegate called addcontroltoToolstrip for the following
>function.
>
>Private Sub addControlToToolstrip(ByVal activexControl As
>AxTdF_DynamicUDF.AxDynUDF)
>        ToolStripContainer1.ContentPanel.Controls.Add(activexControl)
>    End Function
>
>The invoke on the toolstrip seems to work fine but then when we try to
>call endinit() it errors telling us that the control has been modified
>in a different thread.
>
>Any ideas? Only been using .NET for a week so there is no chance of
>offending me. In VB6 we would have just started a timer in the show
>event of the form which would let the event exit and then the timer
>would process our lengthy code. Ugly but it at least allowed the form
>to fully display before adding the remaining controls. Looking for
>something a little bit more interactive.
>
>Glenn Welker

>
>Based on what you posted, you are essentially continuing what would
>normally happen in the Load Event, so I'm not sure why you want to use
>a separate thread to continue loading controls.  Is there some other
>background process going on that is not shown in your code?
>
>In VB6, I used a similar concept which worked fine - show the main
>form ASAP, then continue with the load event.  In VB2005, my
>experience, so far, hs been that this is a bit more difficult to
>implement from app to app as, in some cases, the main form has a
>tendency to do an undesirable repaint when adding and positioning
>controls after the main form is visible particularly when I have code
>in the Layout Event.
>
>Gene

>
>>
>>Based on what you posted, you are essentially continuing what would
>>normally happen in the Load Event, so I'm not sure why you want to use
>>a separate thread to continue loading controls.  Is there some other
>>background process going on that is not shown in your code?
>>
>>In VB6, I used a similar concept which worked fine - show the main
>>form ASAP, then continue with the load event.  In VB2005, my
>>experience, so far, hs been that this is a bit more difficult to
>>implement from app to app as, in some cases, the main form has a
>>tendency to do an undesirable repaint when adding and positioning
>>controls after the main form is visible particularly when I have code
>>in the Layout Event.
>>
>>Gene
>
>We were really just trying to clean up a hack that has been in our
>code too long.
>
>You are right we are trying to continue the load event. The code I
>have referenced takes up to 10 seconds. Without any progress
>indication to the user, it appears that the form has locked up. It
>seemed like I could load the controls in a background process while
>updating a progress bar in the main thread. This would have enabled
>the user to move the gui and get feedback on the progress while the
>background process finished.
>
>Our solution for VB6 seems to be less robust under vb 2005. Since the
>documentation for doevents points to multithreading it seems possible,
>although quite complicated.
>
>I appreciate your feedback.