Thread: Splash Screen

My program is getting rather large and it it has to itialize alot in WM_CREATE(it includes a database it has to get info from and different fonts to make). I want to create a splash screen to show while my program is loading. I already have the bitmap created but can't figure out how to acturally incorporate it into my program. Do I need to just basically double up WINMAIN and put in two showwindow commands? SHould I create a child window the very beginning of WM_CREATE? Won't that mean the the main window will be displayed in the background of the splash?

I would put that in WinMain right before CreateWindow correct?

vrek, I would recommend against Brad0407's suggestion (Sorry brad, its not personal). The reason is, programs normaly load while the splash screen is up, and that could take a while on slow computers, in which case, the desktop its self is going to be drawing over your stuff! Even if you constantly draw, there will be an annoying flickering.

I would say create another window, it really isn't that hard, then simply close the window when its done with its timer loop and loading.

Using the normal method of displaying bitmaps I need the size of the window I am copying to but I only want the image centered in the the middle of the screen. How can I do this?

I ended up taking the easy way out and using this: Splash Screen Class
It does everything I wanted and worked perfectly out of the box.