Remove WPF element while program is running with C#

Question

I was wanting to get some information from the user before they get to see or use the program. Currently I just have a black rectangle hiding my GUI with a text box in front of it. When the information is entered into the box I have it and the rectangle's visibility set to collapsed.

I only need them at the very start of the program and I am assuming they are still existing and taking memory while collapsed. Is there a way to remove the elements completely once I have no use for them?

Answer 1

Why not have a modal window that pops up, then when its closed it'll be removed form the visual/logical tree automatically

for example

Window win = new MyPopupWindow();
win.ShowDialog();

Answer 2

Using some sort of standard UI element like a modal windows suggested above or the ChildWindow in silverlight would be better.

However, collapsed elements shouldn't cause you any memory trouble, they are taken out of the rendering pipeline. Opacity = 0 will stick around though. If you really want to remove it, the parent Panel (eg Grid) has a Children collection with a Remove() method.

Answer 3

You can do this with a technique meant for splash screens, like in the following example.

Two differences:

1. Use ShowDialog() instead of Show() to make window modular (always on top and freezes execution).

2. Run on main.thread, not on separate thread.

Example:

Hide WPF Window Until Fully Loaded

However, you may want to consider rethinking your approach, since it does not seem user friendly.