Thread.Sleep(300) not working correctly

Question

I want it to execute the first part of the code, then make the pictureBox visible, pause for 3 seconds, hide the pictureBox and execute the rest of the code:

// first part of the code here
pb_elvisSherlock.Visible = true;
Thread.Sleep(300);
pb_elvisSherlock.Visible = false;
// rest of the code here

But it executes the whole block of code and only then pauses. Any ideas what to do?

Thanks!

Answer 1

If you are trying to make a PictureBox appear for 3 seconds, you probably want your application to remain responsive during this time. So using Thread.Sleep is not a good idea because your GUI thread does not process messages while sleeping.

A better alternative would be to set a System.Windows.Forms.Timer for 3000 ms, to hide the PictureBox after 3 seconds without blocking your GUI.

For example, like this:

pb.Visible = true;
var timer = new Timer();
timer.Tick += () => { pb.Visible = false; timer.Stop(); };
timer.Interval = 3000;
timer.Start();