Order of events 'Form.Load', 'Form.Shown' and 'Form.Activated' in Windows Forms

Question

What is the difference between form Form.Load, Form.Shown and Form.Activated events? What is the order in which they are fired?

Answer 1

See the Windows Forms Events Lifecycle:

• Move: This event occurs when the form is moved. Although by default, when a form is instantiated and launched, the user does not move it, yet this event is triggered before the Load event occurs.
• Load: This event occurs before a form is displayed for the first time.
• VisibleChanged: This event occurs when the Visible property value changes.
• Activated: This event occurs when the form is activated in code or by the user.
• Shown: This event occurs whenever the form is first displayed.
• Paint: This event occurs when the control is redrawn.
• Deactivate: This event occurs when the form loses focus and is not the active form.
• Closing: This event occurs when the form is closing.
• Closed: This event occurs when the form is being closed.

Answer 2

• The Load event fires when the form has been initialized, after its handle has been created but before it is shown.

• The Shown event fires after the first time the form becomes visible, when you call form.Show() (or form.Visible = true).
  If you hide your form, then show it again, Shown will fire again. (But Load won't)

• The Activate event fires when the user switches to your form.
  If the user switches to a different program (or form), then switches back to your form, Activate will fire again.