New Post: Help with "Improving perceived WPF app startup performance with MEF and a Splash Screen".

Hi,

Need help trying to get my custom splash screen working based on this example from Channel 9"Improving perceived WPF app startup performance with MEF and a Splash Screen".

I can't get any of the Storyboards to work nor display text in a TextBlock, creating the splash screen during InitializeModules() in my MefBootstrapper:

public class NatsarBootstrapper : MefBootstrapper
{
    #region Private Properties
    private IEventAggregator EventAggregator
    {
        get { return ServiceLocator.Current.GetInstance<IEventAggregator>(); }
    }
    #endregion

    protected override void InitializeModules()
    {
        IModuleManager manager = ServiceLocator.Current.GetInstance<IModuleManager>();

        Loading loading = this.Container.GetExportedValue<Loading>();
        Shell shellMain = this.Container.GetExportedValue<Shell>();

        loading.WindowStartupLocation = WindowStartupLocation.CenterScreen;
        loading.WindowState = WindowState.Normal;

        Application.Current.MainWindow = loading;
        Application.Current.MainWindow.Show();

        EventAggregator.GetEvent<MessageUpdateEvent>().Publish(new MessageUpdateEvent { Message = "Loading TurahStudyUIModule" });
        manager.LoadModule("TurahStudyUIModule");

        Application.Current.MainWindow.Hide();

        TurahStudyUIView view = ServiceLocator.Current.GetInstance<TurahStudyUIView>();

        shellMain.Height = 768;
        shellMain.Width = 1024;
        shellMain.WindowStartupLocation = WindowStartupLocation.CenterScreen;
        shellMain.WindowState = WindowState.Maximized;
        shellMain.Activate();

        Application.Current.MainWindow = shellMain;
        Application.Current.MainWindow.Content = view;
        Application.Current.MainWindow.Show();
    }

    protected override void ConfigureAggregateCatalog()
    {
        try
        {
            this.AggregateCatalog.Catalogs.Add(new AssemblyCatalog(typeof(NatsarBootstrapper).Assembly));
            this.AggregateCatalog.Catalogs.Add(new AssemblyCatalog(typeof(NatsarCommonModule).Assembly));
            this.AggregateCatalog.Catalogs.Add(new AssemblyCatalog(typeof(TurahStudyUIModule).Assembly));
        }
        catch (Exception msg)
        {
            .....
        }
    }

    protected override DependencyObject CreateShell()
    {
        DependencyObject shell = null;

        return shell;
    }
}

Loading.xaml Window:

<Window 
    x:Class="NatsarTurahStudyMaster.Views.Loading"
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
    AllowsTransparency="True" WindowStyle="None" >
    <Window.Background>
        <ImageBrush ImageSource="habakkuk-paleo-hebrew.png"  Stretch="UniformToFill"/>
    </Window.Background>
    <Window.Resources>
        <Storyboard  x:Key="InTransition">

                <!-- Create an animation that repeats indefinitely. -->
                <DoubleAnimation 
                  Storyboard.TargetName="foreverRepeatingRectangle" Storyboard.TargetProperty="(Rectangle.Width)" 
                  From="50" To="300" Duration="0:0:2" RepeatBehavior="Forever" />

                <!-- Create an animation that repeats for four seconds. As a result, the
                     animation repeats twice. -->
                <DoubleAnimation Storyboard.TargetName="fourSecondsRepeatingRectangle" Storyboard.TargetProperty="(Rectangle.Width)"
                  From="50" To="300" Duration="0:0:2" RepeatBehavior="0:0:4" />

                <!-- Create an animation that repeats twice. -->
                <DoubleAnimation Storyboard.TargetName="twiceRepeatingRectangle" Storyboard.TargetProperty="(Rectangle.Width)" 
                  From="50" To="300" Duration="0:0:2" RepeatBehavior="2x" />

                <!-- Create an animation that repeats 0.5 times. The resulting animation
                     plays for one second, half of its Duration. It animates from 50 to 150. -->
                <DoubleAnimation Storyboard.TargetName="halfRepeatingRectangle" Storyboard.TargetProperty="(Rectangle.Width)" 
                  From="50" To="300" Duration="0:0:2" RepeatBehavior="0.5x" />

                <!-- Create an animation that repeats for one second. The resulting animation
                     plays for one second, half of its Duration. It animates from 50 to 150. -->
                <DoubleAnimation Storyboard.TargetName="oneSecondRepeatingRectangle" Storyboard.TargetProperty="(Rectangle.Width)" 
                  From="50" To="300" Duration="0:0:2" RepeatBehavior="0:0:1" />
            </Storyboard>
    </Window.Resources>

    <Window.Triggers>
        <EventTrigger RoutedEvent="FrameworkElement.Loaded">
            <BeginStoryboard Storyboard="{StaticResource InTransition}"/>
        </EventTrigger>
    </Window.Triggers>
    <Grid>
        <Border HorizontalAlignment="Stretch">
            <StackPanel Margin="20" >
                <TextBlock>RepeatBehavior="Forever"</TextBlock>
                <Rectangle Name="foreverRepeatingRectangle" Fill="#AA3333FF" Width="50" Height="20" HorizontalAlignment="Left" />
                <TextBlock Margin="0,20,0,0">RepeatBehavior="0:0:4"</TextBlock>
                <Rectangle Name="fourSecondsRepeatingRectangle" Fill="#AA3333FF" Width="50" Height="20" HorizontalAlignment="Left" />
                <TextBlock Margin="0,20,0,0">RepeatBehavior="2x"</TextBlock>
                <Rectangle Name="twiceRepeatingRectangle" Fill="#AA3333FF" Width="50" Height="20" HorizontalAlignment="Left" />
                <TextBlock Margin="0,20,0,0">RepeatBehavior="0.5x"</TextBlock>
                <Rectangle Name="halfRepeatingRectangle" Fill="#AA3333FF" Width="50" Height="20" HorizontalAlignment="Left" />
                <TextBlock Margin="0,20,0,0">RepeatBehavior="0:0:1"</TextBlock>
                <Rectangle Name="oneSecondRepeatingRectangle" Fill="#AA3333FF" Width="50" Height="20" HorizontalAlignment="Left" />
            </StackPanel>
        </Border>

        <TextBlock Text="{Binding Status}" Margin="10,0" Grid.Row="2" Grid.ColumnSpan="2" 
                   TextAlignment="Right">
            <TextBlock.Effect>
                <DropShadowEffect ShadowDepth="1" Color="#99ffffff"/>
            </TextBlock.Effect>
        </TextBlock>
    </Grid>
</Window>
[/code]

Loading.xaml.cs:

[Export(typeof(Loading))]
[PartCreationPolicy(CreationPolicy.NonShared)]
public partial class Loading : Window, IPartImportsSatisfiedNotification
{
    public Loading()
    {
        InitializeComponent();
    }

    [Import]
    public LoadingModel ViewModel
    {
        set
        {
            this.DataContext = value;
        }
        get
        {
            return DataContext as LoadingModel;
        }
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Called when a part's imports have been satisfied and it is safe to use.
    /// </summary>
    public void OnImportsSatisfied()
    {
        // IPartImportsSatisfiedNotification is useful when you want to coordinate doing some work
        // with imported parts independent of when the UI is visible.
        Debug.WriteLine("Loading OnImportsSatisfied instantiation");
    }
}

LoadingModel.cs is where I'm just sending test text:

[Export(typeof(LoadingModel))]
[PartCreationPolicy(CreationPolicy.NonShared)]
public class LoadingModel : NotificationObject
{
    [ImportingConstructor]
    public LoadingModel(IEventAggregator eventAggregator)
    {
        Debug.WriteLine("LoadingModel instantiation");
        eventAggregator.GetEvent<MessageUpdateEvent>().Subscribe(e => UpdateMessage(e.Message));
    }

    private string _status;
    public string Status
    {
        get { return _status; }
        set
        { 
            _status = value; 
            RaisePropertyChanged(() => this.Status); 
        }
    }

    private void UpdateMessage(string message)
    {
        if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(message))
        {
            return;
        }

        int maxRecords = 1000;
        for (int x = 1; x < maxRecords; x++)
        {
            System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(10);
            Status = string.Format("{0}: {1} {2}",message ,Convert.ToInt32( ((decimal)x / (decimal)maxRecords) * 100), "...");
        }
    }
}

But, nothing is working?