I have a nice bitmap that was developed for me to use as part of my
application's splash screen.  It is slow loading though.  Is there any
way I can speed it?  I load the screen first and then show it.  That
helped some, but my application still takes too long to start.  Any
ideas?

Thanks,
Julie

Joe

Never underestimate the power of a WAG.

http://www.citilink.com/~jgarrick/vbasic/

First, try eliminating the bitmap. Does the application start any faster?
If not, your problem could be the time it takes VB to start. If it does
load faster try converting your bitmap to an .RLE file. RLE stands for
Run Length Encoding and stores the same bitmap in much less space. You
need a program that can output such a file to do the conversion. Paint
Shop Pro will do the trick. This dramatically reduces the size of the
bitmap in both stand alone files and embedded in forms (in the .FRM
file).

The bitmap will be expanded in memory after it loads so it only speeds up
loading time. For embedded bitmaps the .EXE size of your app will be
decreased accordingly and loading the form with the bitmap will go
faster. Unfortunately, this savings will probably not carry over into
your distribution disks. Most installation packages, such as the VB Setup
Wizard or Wise, will compress the files to be installed. The .RLE bitmap
will not compress much since it is effectively compressed already.

Hope this helps.

-Stu

(1) Load the bitmap in your form or picture box in design time
(2) Load the bitmap in your form or picture box in run time from disk time
(3) Load the bitmap in your form or picture box in run time from resource file
(4) Split your exe into two. One of them is just a start up form. Call this exe from
your main exe to run it.
...
There is a nice book on performance etc..
VB4 Performance tunning and optimization
by SAMS

Jeff Hong YAN