Animate Pictures to Create Dynamic Microsoft Access Forms and Splash Screens

The Bitmap Effects control lets you create catchy effects, fades, and transitions between bitmaps on your Microsoft Access forms.

Bring Your Pictures to Life

Adding animated pictures to your forms is very simple. Just add the Bitmap Effects control to your form and specify the two pictures to use. The pictures can be in bitmap (BMP), GIF, icon, or JPG formats.

Create Great Splash Screens

The initial screen of an application leaves a lasting impression on your users. With the Bitmap Effects control, you can dynamically display a graphic when your application starts. By providing only one picture, it appears to burst from a black background.

Run the Sample Splash Screen

Open the demo database to see the form with this example.

Specify the Effect

Your bitmaps can transition in many ways:

• Left to Right
• Right to Left
• Bottom to Top
• Top to Bottom
• Shutter Horizontal
• Shutter Vertical
• Rectangle
• Checkerboard
• Multiple Rectangles

Specify the Speed

Set the number of steps and time interval between steps to control how smoothly and quickly the transitions occur.

Invoking the Visual Effects

To launch the bitmap effect, invoke the Animate method of the control.

If you want to do this when the form starts, rather than the Form_Open event, this can be invoked in a timer event to make sure the form is visible before your animations occur. An example of this is in the sample database.

Programmatic Options

All the properties of the Bitmap Effects control can be modified via VBA. Methods are available to load new pictures and show the animation.