Basic delay command for Visual Basic - vb.net

Question

I need a wait command in Visual Basic that suits me.
I know:
Declare Sub Sleep Lib "kernel32.dll" (ByVal milliseconds As Long)
sleep 5000
But that makes the program unresponsive.
System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(5000) 'The window doesn't load until the timing is over (useless)
My code:
Imports Microsoft.Win32 'To check if is 64Bit or 32Bit
Public Class Loading
Private Sub Loading_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
If Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey("Hardware\Description\System\CentralProcessor\0").GetValue("Identifier").ToString.Contains("x86") Then
My.Settings.Is64 = False
Else
My.Settings.Is64 = True
End If
'I need command here
If My.Settings.Is64 = True Then
Form64.Show()
Me.Close()
Else
MsgBox("No version developed for 32-bit computers.")
End
End If
End Sub
End Class
Errors:
#Idle_Mind
1. function 'OnInitialize' cannot be declared 'Overrides' because it does not override a function in a base class.
2. 'MinimumSplashScreenDisplayTime' is not a member of 'App.Loading.MyApplication'.
3. 'OnInitialize' is not a member of 'Object'.

Answer 1

From the comments:
Go into Project Properties and leave your main form as the Startup form. Set your splash screen form as the splash screen entry down at the bottom. Now click the "View Application Events" button to the right and override OnIntialize so you can set the MinimumSplashScreenDisplayTime() like this:
Namespace My
' The following events are available for MyApplication:
'
' Startup: Raised when the application starts, before the startup form is created.
' Shutdown: Raised after all application forms are closed. This event is not raised if the application terminates abnormally.
' UnhandledException: Raised if the application encounters an unhandled exception.
' StartupNextInstance: Raised when launching a single-instance application and the application is already active.
' NetworkAvailabilityChanged: Raised when the network connection is connected or disconnected.
Partial Friend Class MyApplication
Protected Overrides Function OnInitialize(ByVal commandLineArgs As System.Collections.ObjectModel.ReadOnlyCollection(Of String)) As Boolean
' Set the display time to 5000 milliseconds (5 seconds).
Me.MinimumSplashScreenDisplayTime = 5000
Return MyBase.OnInitialize(commandLineArgs)
End Function
End Class
End Namespace

Answer 2

If you want to execute the rest of your code after 5 seconds, why not create a separate thread/task, which will wait for 5 seconds and then trigger the rest of your code to run via a callback to the main thread? This approach will not hang your UI.
EDIT: If you want a splash screen, drop a Timer control, set the interval to 5 seconds and run the rest of your code inside a Tick event handler.
Assuming you have already set up the Timer, move your loading code into Timer1_Tick handler:
Public Class Loading
Private Sub Timer1_Tick(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles Timer1.Tick
'part 1
If Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey("Hardware\Description\System\CentralProcessor\0").GetValue("Identifier").ToString.Contains("x86") Then
My.Settings.Is64 = False
Else
My.Settings.Is64 = True
End If
'part 2
If My.Settings.Is64 = True Then
Form64.Show()
Me.Close()
Else
MsgBox("No version developed for 32-bit computers.")
End
End If
End Sub
End Class
Or leave part 1 in Load, and move part 2 into Tick. I would prefer this option for semantics.
Also don't forget to set Timer.Enabled = True.

Answer 3

If you want a place to CANCEL the application, you use the Application.Startup event and set e.Cancel = True from within there. When this is done the main form will not even appear; the application will simply exit. That could look something like:
Namespace My
' The following events are available for MyApplication:
'
' Startup: Raised when the application starts, before the startup form is created.
' Shutdown: Raised after all application forms are closed. This event is not raised if the application terminates abnormally.
' UnhandledException: Raised if the application encounters an unhandled exception.
' StartupNextInstance: Raised when launching a single-instance application and the application is already active.
' NetworkAvailabilityChanged: Raised when the network connection is connected or disconnected.
Partial Friend Class MyApplication
Private Sub MyApplication_Startup(sender As Object, e As Microsoft.VisualBasic.ApplicationServices.StartupEventArgs) Handles Me.Startup
If someCondition Then
MessageBox.Show("oops")
e.Cancel = True ' <-- main form will NOT show, app will simply exit
End If
End Sub
End Class
End Namespace

Answer 4

just do this:
For i As Integer = 1 To 500
System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(10)
System.Windows.Forms.Application.DoEvents()
Next
Edit: Be careful with DoEvents; it can cause problems if the user clicks on something or an event is processed when it shouldn't. See http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2004/12/is-doevents-evil.html

Answer 5

Since sleeping and busy waiting are generally frowned upon, you could do something with an AutoResetEvent:
Private ReadOnly _resetEvent As AutoResetEvent = New AutoResetEvent(False)
Sub Pause(ByVal milliseconds As Long)
Dim waitInterval As TimeSpan = TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(milliseconds)
While Not _resetEvent.WaitOne(waitInterval)
' Waiting!
End While
End Sub
This is not recommended, but here's an example using the System.Diagnostics.Stopwatch class:
Sub Pause(ByVal milliseconds As Long)
If milliseconds <= 0 Then Return
Dim sw As New Stopwatch()
sw.Start()
Dim i As Long = 0
Do
If i Mod 50000 = 0 Then ' Check the timer every 50,000th iteration
sw.Stop()
If sw.ElapsedMilliseconds >= milliseconds Then
Exit Do
Else
sw.Start()
End If
End If
i += 1
Loop
End Sub
And then where you need to pause, just call this Pause() method:
Pause(5000) ' Pause for 5 seconds