Android Question How Do I Delete the Initial Screen?

[spaceman]

Hi

When creating a new Basic4Android project, we get an initial screen(Activity).

If we then open the Designer, we're actually esigning a different screen, and not eiting the Initial one that already exists.


This causes the following phenomenon:

When I run my app,
the initial screen is shown for a second,
and only then, the second screen is shown.

I want to get rid of the initial one, because I don't want the user to first see an empty screen, which is then replaced by a secnod one.


How do I do it?


Thank you

 

[DonManfred]

In you main/first activity you load a layout in activity_create
Load the right one, not the one you dont want...

 

[spaceman]

Hi

I do load the right one.

I only have 1 Layout that I created with the designer.
The other screen is created by B4A...

 

[DonManfred]

Then it must be something wrong with your code.
Maybe export your prject as zip and post it here. We ´ll have a look then.

 

[spaceman]

Sub Activity_Create(FirstTime As Boolean)
Activity.LoadLayout("Layout1")
End Sub

You see here Layout1 being loaded right?


So when I run the app, I first see the Initial screen(created by B4A, not by me - the one titled as "B4A Example"),
and then 1 scond after it, I see my designed screen("Layout1" - the one I created with the designer).

I am looking to get rid of the initial screen..

It doesn't look professional that 1 screen appears, and after 1 second it's being covered by another one..

 

[Erel]

You are probably seeing an empty activity. No layout is created automatically. The title is the value of the Application Label attribute.

 

[spaceman]

Hi Erel

Yes the first screen is an empty activity..
I am looking to eliminate it, so the user will not see the empty activity, and then the one I created(Layout1).

Or:
Another solution may be, If I could Edit the main activity with the Designer,
and then I will not have to create a Second one(Layout1)..


Is one of these options possible?

 

[TomA]

So when I run the app, I first see the Initial screen(created by B4A, not by me - the one titled as "B4A Example"),
and then 1 scond after it, I see my designed screen("Layout1" - the one I created with the designer).

In B4A, with your project loaded, the first line on the screen shows:
#Region Project Attributes
with a "+" in front of it.
Click on the "+" to open the region. Within that you will see the first line showing:
#ApplicationLabel: B4A Example

That is where you initial heading is being shown from. Change that line to your application name and save the project. That should resolve your problem.

 

[spaceman]

Hi TomA

Thank you for this workaround - it works very well!

It's interesting:
On the emulator, because the emulator is slow,
you see the first screen being shown(which is completely empty of any controls),
and then after 1-2 seconds you see the second screen - Layout1, with my controls.

The title is the same now,
but it's possible to differentiate betwen the 2 screens, because the first one is empty, and the second is populated.

But when I run this on a real device, now,
you don't see the first (empty) screen,
there's no delay at all, so you immediately see the second screen.


Thank you for this help.


BTW, If I want my app to use a bright theme instead of black,
should I manually edit the Background and Foreground colors, etc,
or is there a way to define that the app uses a bright theme, and all the relevant settings will change accordingly?

 

[DonManfred]

If i remember correctly then you can set the Theme in Manifest. but if you change it to bright your app is bright then and cannot be changed to dark theme. And vice verda...

 

[corwin42]

The effect you see is the starting window which Android adds to a launching app.

The whole subject is discussed very well in this article.

You can remove the starting window in the manifest if you set the android:windowDisablePreview attribute of the activity to true. Though this is not recommended. Read the article then you will know, why.
The way to go is to use a correct theme which better matches the app design.

 

[spaceman]

If i remember correctly then you can set the Theme in Manifest.

Right..
I added this line to the manifest:

SetApplicationAttribute(android:theme, "@android:style/Theme.Holo.Light")

and indeed the Theme changed.

Thank you very much.

The effect you see is the starting window which Android adds to a launching app.
The whole subject is discussed very well in this article.
You can remove the starting window in the manifest if you set the android:windowDisablePreview attribute of the activity to true. Though this is not recommended. Read the article then you will know, why.

Wow,
this is definately explaining it well

Thank you corwin

 

[Mashiane]

Would be nice to define an image for the 'preview screen' though..