Popup Form Class Problems

[Chris Quick]

I am creating an application that will create a notify window similar to outlook 2003 notify popup. I am making an asyncronous remoting call using system.thread that raises an event to show the form. However, the form shows up as a black box and then immediately disappears when the event is called. If I call the function through a menu item or button, it works fine. Here's the popup code:

Private Sub ATU\_RetrieveDone(ByVal e As AsyncUpdater.AsyncUpdaterEventArgs) Handles ATU.RetrieveDone
    Me.UpdateTimer.Enabled = False
    If e.Forums Is Nothing Then
        UpdateTopicListView(e.Results) ' Updates a list view and 
                                       ' displays the popup.
    Else
        UpdateForumListView(e.Forums)
    End If
    Me.UpdateTimer.Enabled = True
End Sub

Private Sub UpdateTopicListView(ByVal Topics As ResultsCollection)
    For index As Integer = 0 To Topics.Count - 1
        ...
    Next
    Dim Message As String
    Message = "{0} new topic updates have been retrieved from {1}"
    Me.ShowPopup(String.Format(Message, Topics.Count, ClientSettings.WebURL))
End Sub


Private Sub ShowPopup(ByVal Message As String, Optional ByVal TimeOut As Integer = 0)
    Dim displaytime As Integer
    If TimeOut < 1000 Then
        displaytime = ClientSettings.PopupTime \* 1000
    Else
        displaytime = TimeOut
    End If
    Dim PW As New PopupWindow
    PW.SetProperties(NewMessagePopup.Blend, Message, displaytime)
    PW.ShowPopup()
End Sub

And here's routine that creates the popup using a seperate windows form.

Public Sub ShowPopup()
    Dim tbl As TaskBarLocation
    Dim workingArea As Rectangle
    Dim pt As Point

    pt = New Point
    pt.X = 0 : pt.Y = 0

    workingArea = SystemInformation.WorkingArea
    tbl = GetTaskBarLocation() ' Gets an enumerator 
                               ' indicating the windows task bar 
                               ' location.

    Select Case tbl
        Case TaskBarLocation.Bottom
            pt.X = workingArea.Right - Me.Width
            pt.Y = workingArea.Bottom - Me.Height
        Case TaskBarLocation.Left
            pt.X = workingArea.Left
            pt.Y = workingArea.Bottom - Me.Height
        Case TaskBarLocation.Right
            pt.X = workingArea.Right - Me.Width

[S Senthil Kumar]

I guess the problem is because you're calling methods/setting properties on the control from another thread. You should use BeginInvoke or Invoke methods on the UI (the Form object in your case) to marshal the call to the UI thread. Regards Senthil _____________________________ My Blog | My Articles | WinMacro