Question

EDIT 1: changed the code to:

delegate.h:

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>

@class ViewController;

@interface AppDelegate : NSObject <UIApplicationDelegate> {
    UIWindow *window;
    ViewController *viewController;
    UIImageView *splashView;
}

@property (nonatomic, retain) IBOutlet UIWindow *window;
@property (nonatomic, retain) IBOutlet ViewController *viewController;
@property (nonatomic, retain) IBOutlet UIImageView *splashView;

- (void)removeSplash;

@end

delegate.m:

#import "AppDelegate.h"
#import "ViewController.h"

@implementation AppDelegate

@synthesize window;
@synthesize viewController;
@synthesize splashView;


- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:(NSDictionary *)launchOptions {    
    splashView = [[UIImageView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, 320, 480)];
    splashView.image = [UIImage imageWithContentsOfFile:[[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"Splash" ofType:@"png"]];
    [window addSubview:splashView];
    [window bringSubviewToFront:splashView];
    [window makeKeyAndVisible];

    [self performSelector:@selector(removeSplash) withObject:nil afterDelay:5.0];

    [window addSubview:viewController.view];

    return YES;
}

- (void)removeSplash {
    [splashView removeFromSuperview];
    [splashView release];
}

- (void)dealloc {
    [viewController release];
    [window release];
    [super dealloc];
}

@end

EDIT 2:

when I use:

splashView = [[UIImageView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, 320, 480)];
splashView.image = [UIImage imageWithContentsOfFile:[[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"Splash" ofType:@"png"]];
if (splashView.image == nil) {
    NSLog(@"splashView is nil");
}

it logs “splashView is nil”

My Viewcontroller is empty, just for debugging purposes.

Answer 1

As you probably already know, splash screens are discouraged. Since your image is Default.png, isn’t it already being shown on app launch automatically?

In any case, the sleep() call is probably blocking the UI. Remove the sleep() and move the statements after it (the removeFromSuperview, etc) to another method in the app delegate. Call this method using performSelector:withObject:afterDelay:. Put the performSelector call where you currently have the sleep call.

Also, you should use the didFinishLaunchingWithOptions method instead of the old applicationDidFinishLaunching method.