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We can use hardly or no sooner to say that two things happened in quick succession (i.e. there was a very short space of time between the two things happening). We say hardly . . . when / before . . . to say that something happened and another thing happened very soon afterwards.
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“Hardly” is an adverb that is often used to indicate scarcity or rarity in a situation. It implies that something occurs only to a minimal degree or almost never. This word is commonly employed to underscore the lack or insufficiency of an action or attribute.
Hardly is an adverb. Hardly has a negative meaning. It normally means ‘almost not at all’ or ‘only just’. We can use it in mid position, or before an adjective or a noun: He wore a big hat that covered his head and you could hardly see his face. (you could only see a small part of his face)
Some adverbs (e.g. hardly, little, never, only, scarcely and seldom) have a negative meaning. When we use these at the beginning of the clause, we invert the subject and verb: Hardly had we left the hotel when it started to pour with rain.
adverb. Definition of hardly. Synonyms for hardly. This is hardly a new idea for a movie. The changes in service have hardly been noticed. Hardly anyone showed up for the meeting. There are hardly any new features in this software. Hardly a day goes by when I don't think about you. It hardly matters what I think.
In the example you cite, the word "Hardly" is put at the beginning of the sentence, in the same spirit as "No sooner." For this reason, using "than" instead of "when" in this case does not seem unnatural; "hardly" sits in for "no sooner."
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hardly / scarcely / barely ... when no sooner ... than. When a story is told in the past tense, the adverbials hardly, scarcely, barely and no sooner are often used to emphasise that one event quickly followed another. The verb describing the earlier event is usually in the past perfect tense.
