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Dear Tech Support,

Is there a way to make my main CFrameWnd (CMainFrame) to come up initially hidden? I tried turning off the WS_VISIBLE flag in the PreCreateWindow call, but the frame window still shows up after OnCreate is finished.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
-Brett

Look in your application class’ InitInstance method. There should be either a pFrame->ShowWindow(SW_SHOW) or an pFrame->ActivateFrame(SW_SHOW) call. If you have the ActivateFrame call, it probably means that your application is set to handle window placement persistence, which I guess you dont need in your case. You should have pFrame->ShowWindow( SW_HIDE ) and pFrame->UpdateWindow() calls instead. But this will mean that your application window won’t be seen as long as you call ShowWindow(SW_SHOW) somewhere else in your code.
Another solution would be to have every other initialization code in your InitInstance method, before calling ShowWindow(SW_SHOW) in it. What exactly you’d like to achieve with this hidden window?

Indeed, I am in fact currently doing what you describe: In CWinApp::InitInstance, I call ShowWindow( SW_HIDE ) after CMainFrame::OnCreate() is done, and then call ShowWindow( SW_SHOW ) after the rest of my application is finished initializing.

The problem arises when CMainFrame::OnCreate() returns, but before control is given back to CWinApp::InitInstance(). The UI frame is drawn and shows up briefly, until control is returned back to CWinApp::InitInstance() at which point I call the ShowWindow( SW_HIDE ), while the rest of the application initializes.

It is that flash of the UI between when CMainFrame::OnCreate() returns and control comes back to CWinApp::InitInstance(), that I want to avoid.

Is there anyway to tell the CMainFrame to come up initially hidden, and only show itself after I call the ShowWindow( SW_SHOW ) call?

Thanks,
-Brett

I tried it with SDI sample of ProfUIS. InitInstance code little changed in it:

{	...
	CMainFrame* pFrame = new CMainFrame;
	m_pMainWnd = pFrame;

	// create and load the frame with its resources

	pFrame->LoadFrame(IDR_MAINFRAME,
		WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW | FWS_ADDTOTITLE, NULL,
		NULL);

	// The one and only window has been initialized, so show and update it.
	pFrame->ShowWindow(SW_HIDE);
	pFrame->UpdateWindow();

	AfxMessageBox(_T("Initializing..."));

	pFrame->ShowWindow(SW_SHOW);
	pFrame->UpdateWindow();

	return TRUE;
}

Testing it, mainframe doesn’t show up, not even for a blink, before pressing OK on MessageBox. So there must be something in your code that causes the window to show up.