Updating Labels on a Form

Hi,

I have a form that has about 200 labels on it, to display various bits of data. The form background is green, and the labels have a white background, with an alpha value of 100, to give a semi-transparent look. However, when the form loads, it updates each label individually from the appearance of the previous screen, taking about 10 seconds, and similarly whenever I move another window infront of this form and away again.

This did not happen when the labels were opaque with alpha set at 255. Any ideas on why the refreshing is so slow? Thanks.

Alpha composition is slow. That's just how it is.

If the labels are static, you might try creating a bitmap of your layout, loading it into a PictureBox, and using the PictureBox for all of your static elements.

Also try double buffering

Alpha composition is slow since Windows XP is running the GUI through software (aka the CPU). Under Windows Vista I'd expect to see a big increase in rendering speed. Or at least it'll be as fast as when you are not using opacity. ;)

Edit: See! Windows Vista is actually good for something. :p