form + transparent controls = flicker, please help

[raduv]

Hi

 

I have an annoying problem and don't know how to get rid of it: I have a windows form with 2 panels, each panel grouping ~ 15 controls: labels, text boxes and combo boxes. I then switch the 2 panels' visibility so that only one is visible at one specific moment.

 

Every control on the form, panels + others have transparent background and the form has a background image set.

 

The problem is that when the form is displayed, on load, or when the 2 panels are switched, all the controls kind of flicker for a while until they are all displayed properly.

 

If I take out the form's background picture, the flicker becomes less. Also, there is no flickering if the panel's are not transparent.

 

I would very much appreciate your thoughts on this one, how to get rid of the flicker when displaying the form.

 

Thanks,

raduv

[ToniMontana]

Hi raduv,

 

may be this will help you:

 

http://www.syncfusion.com/FAQ/WinForms/FAQ_c73c.asp#q1039q

 

Look for question+answer 42.9.

[raduv]

Hi,

 

Unfortunately it does not help.

 

I don't think that double buffering is the issue here as I'm not performing and GDI operations, actually I'm not even overriding Paint(...) or PaintBackground(...).

 

I think the problem lies with all the transparent controls that I have and the background image that I use for my form and, every time a control is being displayed/updated a repaint is forced, this is my best guess so far. Hence the flickering.

 

I also believe it must be something really simple to prevent this happening, but what??

 

Thanks,

raduv