Splash screen

The built-in splash screen displays during application startup, application updates, and any time the consumer calls ShowSplashAsync (e.g. an About menu). It overlays the application name, environment, version, exe location, and a message list on top of a background image.

Triggering the splash

The splash is not shown automatically. Three ways to trigger it:

1. Canonical — StartMainWindow<T>

The recommended path. Does everything: window registration, splash, tray icon, close behaviour, startup visibility.

private void Application_Startup(object sender, StartupEventArgs e)
{
    this.StartMainWindow<MainWindow>(
        showSplash: true,
        checkForUpdates: true);
}

2. Manual

For full control over when the splash appears:

var update = ApplicationBase.GetService<IApplicationUpdateStateService>();
await update.ShowSplashAsync(checkForUpdates: true);
// Auto-closes after a short delay when no update is found.

3. About-style

Pass showCloseButton: true so the splash stays open until the user dismisses it — typical for an "About" menu item:

await update.ShowSplashAsync(
    checkForUpdates: false,
    showCloseButton: true,
    checkForLicense: true);

Choosing a built-in image

Set SplashCreator to return a Splash with a different image from SplashImageLibrary:

protected override void Options(ThargaWpfOptions options)
{
    options.SplashCreator = data => new Splash(data with
    {
        ImagePath = SplashImageLibrary.Blue
    });
}

Available built-in images:

Light backgrounds	Dark backgrounds (need a light foreground)
Blue, Green, GreenTransparent, Orange, Red, RedTransparent, Teal, TealTransparent, White, Yellow	Colours, Fire, Mosaik, Prism, Silicon

Foreground color

Overlaid text uses WPF's default (dark) foreground, which is unreadable on a dark image. Set SplashForeground to a bright brush:

protected override void Options(ThargaWpfOptions options)
{
    options.SplashCreator = data => new Splash(data with
    {
        ImagePath = SplashImageLibrary.Silicon
    });
    options.SplashForeground = Brushes.White;
}

The same effect can be achieved per-splash by setting SplashData.Foreground inside SplashCreator. When neither is set, WPF's default foreground is used (no behaviour change for existing consumers on light images).

Using a custom image

Point ImagePath to any image file. The image should be a PNG at 500 x 309 pixels. Use a transparent PNG if you want the splash window background to show through.

For a project-bundled image, add it as a Resource and reference via pack URI:

options.SplashCreator = data => new Splash(data with
{
    ImagePath = "pack://application:,,,/MyApp;component/Images/splash.png"
});

Replacing the splash entirely

Implement ISplash and return it from SplashCreator to use a completely custom splash window:

options.SplashCreator = data => new MyCustomSplash(data);

You lose the built-in update / license / progress UX — implement them yourself or skip them.

Update behaviour

When an application update is detected, the splash stays open with a progress bar and the close button hidden, so the user knows an update is in progress. If the update fails, the close button reappears with an error message. See Application update.