Dispatcher.CurrentDispatcher returns null - c#

I'm trying to close a WPF window I created in a separate thread from the main hosting thread (The main thread is of a PDM application that I have no control over). The host application references my assembly (it's a plugin). I don't know but why the Dispatcher is always null. Creating the WaitView on the host application is not an option for me.
Thanks guys!
var WaitViewModel = new MVVM.ViewModels.WaitViewModel();
MVVM.Views.WaitView WaitView = default(MVVM.Views.WaitView);
Dispatcher dispatcher = default(Dispatcher);
var thread = new Thread(new ThreadStart(() =>
{
dispatcher = Dispatcher.CurrentDispatcher;
WaitView = new MVVM.Views.WaitView();
WaitView.Topmost = true;
WaitView.WindowStartupLocation = WindowStartupLocation.CenterScreen;
WaitView.DataContext = WaitViewModel;
WaitView.Show();
System.Windows.Threading.Dispatcher.Run();
}));
thread.SetApartmentState(ApartmentState.STA);
thread.IsBackground = true;
thread.Start();
'unrelated code here
if (dispatcher != null)
dispatcher.Invoke(()=>
{
WaitView.Close();
});

Two ways to do this:
Pass the view's dispatcher into the view model via the constructor.
public MyClass
{
public MyClass(Dispatcher dispatcher)
{
// use your view's dispatcher.
}
{
Use the Application default dispatcher.
Dispatcher dispatcher = App.Current.Dispatcher;
For clarity, a true view model will not use a dispatcher since it is on the UI thread. Nevertheless, you could use regular methods and have the view's dispatcher execute them on the View.

You should grab the dispatcher prior to creating the thread, then pass it into the thread.
In the spirit of dont do that, you shouldn't be creating any form of UI elements in other threads, even if they are marked as STA. Spawning child threads that just run to eternity is not so nice so is potentially multiple message pumps. So, your base design is kinda flawed.
Fix that and your other problems go away.
I hope you are not doing all this from say a console app that is attempting to make it look as though your windows are part of a different process?

Solution is to handle closing the view from the view code behind.
I have added a property called CloseRequest to the ViewModel.
View's code behind:
WaitViewModel WaitViewModel;
private void Window_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
// get data context
WaitViewModel = this.DataContext as WaitViewModel;
WaitViewModel.PropertyChanged += WaitViewModel_PropertyChanged;
}
private void WaitViewModel_PropertyChanged(object sender, System.ComponentModel.PropertyChangedEventArgs e)
{
if(e.PropertyName == "CloseRequest")
{
Dispatcher dispatcher = this.Dispatcher;
if (WaitViewModel.CloseRequest)
dispatcher.Invoke(() => {
this.Close();
});
}
}

Related

The calling thread cannot access this object because a different thread owns it.' error in Thread wpf

I have Window 1 in which on button click i am opening Window 2 in new thread.
Following is my code
private void Button_Click_2(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
Thread thread = new Thread(() =>
{
Scanner w = new Scanner();
w.Show();
w.Closed += (sender2, e2) =>
w.Dispatcher.InvokeShutdown();
System.Windows.Threading.Dispatcher.Run();
});
thread.SetApartmentState(ApartmentState.STA);
thread.Start();
}
Window 2 has form I am getting form values on Button click
private void EnterProduct(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
var data = ProductDetailsData;
LoadCurrentBetween objMain = new LoadCurrentBetween(); //new MainWindow();
objMain.fillorderform(data);
}
on button click of window 2 i am passing values of form to another View
public void fillorderform(dynamic data)
{
this.Dispatcher.Invoke(() =>
{
LoadCurrentdetails.Part = data.Part;
LoadCurrentBetween loadCurrentbtw = new LoadCurrentBetween();
Switcher.Switch(loadCurrentbtw);
});
} public static class Switcher
{
public static MainWindow pageSwitcher;
public static void Switch(UserControl newPage)
{
pageSwitcher.Navigate(newPage);
}
}
Following code is giving error at "this.Content = nextPage;"
The calling thread cannot access this object because a different thread owns it.
public void Navigate(UserControl nextPage)
{
this.Dispatcher.Invoke(() =>
{
var aa = nextPage.Dispatcher.CheckAccess();
this.Content = nextPage;
});
}
I have seen similar Questions asked by other developers but i am not getting how to fix.
pls help
WPF is very strict (compared to Windows forms) about requiring methods which update UI elements to be done on the main/UI thread. So you definitely want both windows to be in the main/UI thread. The error that you are seeing is what happens if you try to do UI work in WPF from a different thread, so you absolutely have to stop doing that. It's OK to have multiple windows open, all on the same UI thread.
If one of your windows is doing heavyweight processing that makes the UI lock up, then the easiest thing is probably to add the async keyword to your button click event, and put the work you are doing in another method which has an async keyword. Then, when you call the helper method, you use the await keyword.
I agree with others that BackgroundWorker and Task are two other ways to accomplish heavyweight processing in a background thread while still having a responsive UI. Tasks are easier to use than BackgroundWorker.
If you are using a BackgroundWorker, it may be good enough to use the RunWorkerCompleted event. If so, look at this post: How to use WPF Background Worker. If you are using a BackgroundWorker and you need to call a custom method in your UI class from the background thread, then pass the Dispatcher object for your window/dialog to the background thread (or get access to it some other way), and when it needs to call back into the UI, use Invoke with the Dispatcher object. By using Invoke, the method you are calling from the background thread will be executed on the UI thread.

The calling thread cannot access certain Settings because a different thread owns it [duplicate]

My code is as below
public CountryStandards()
{
InitializeComponent();
try
{
FillPageControls();
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
MessageBox.Show(ex.Message, "Country Standards", MessageBoxButton.OK, MessageBoxImage.Error);
}
}
/// <summary>
/// Fills the page controls.
/// </summary>
private void FillPageControls()
{
popUpProgressBar.IsOpen = true;
lblProgress.Content = "Loading. Please wait...";
progress.IsIndeterminate = true;
worker = new BackgroundWorker();
worker.DoWork += new System.ComponentModel.DoWorkEventHandler(worker_DoWork);
worker.ProgressChanged += new System.ComponentModel.ProgressChangedEventHandler(worker_ProgressChanged);
worker.WorkerReportsProgress = true;
worker.WorkerSupportsCancellation = true;
worker.RunWorkerCompleted += new System.ComponentModel.RunWorkerCompletedEventHandler(worker_RunWorkerCompleted);
worker.RunWorkerAsync();
}
private void worker_DoWork(object sender, System.ComponentModel.DoWorkEventArgs e)
{
GetGridData(null, 0); // filling grid
}
private void worker_ProgressChanged(object sender, System.ComponentModel.ProgressChangedEventArgs e)
{
progress.Value = e.ProgressPercentage;
}
private void worker_RunWorkerCompleted(object sender, System.ComponentModel.RunWorkerCompletedEventArgs e)
{
worker = null;
popUpProgressBar.IsOpen = false;
//filling Region dropdown
Standards.UDMCountryStandards objUDMCountryStandards = new Standards.UDMCountryStandards();
objUDMCountryStandards.Operation = "SELECT_REGION";
DataSet dsRegionStandards = objStandardsBusinessLayer.GetCountryStandards(objUDMCountryStandards);
if (!StandardsDefault.IsNullOrEmptyDataTable(dsRegionStandards, 0))
StandardsDefault.FillComboBox(cmbRegion, dsRegionStandards.Tables[0], "Region", "RegionId");
//filling Currency dropdown
objUDMCountryStandards = new Standards.UDMCountryStandards();
objUDMCountryStandards.Operation = "SELECT_CURRENCY";
DataSet dsCurrencyStandards = objStandardsBusinessLayer.GetCountryStandards(objUDMCountryStandards);
if (!StandardsDefault.IsNullOrEmptyDataTable(dsCurrencyStandards, 0))
StandardsDefault.FillComboBox(cmbCurrency, dsCurrencyStandards.Tables[0], "CurrencyName", "CurrencyId");
if (Users.UserRole != "Admin")
btnSave.IsEnabled = false;
}
/// <summary>
/// Gets the grid data.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="sender">The sender.</param>
/// <param name="pageIndex">Index of the page.( used in case of paging) </pamam>
private void GetGridData(object sender, int pageIndex)
{
Standards.UDMCountryStandards objUDMCountryStandards = new Standards.UDMCountryStandards();
objUDMCountryStandards.Operation = "SELECT";
objUDMCountryStandards.Country = txtSearchCountry.Text.Trim() != string.Empty ? txtSearchCountry.Text : null;
DataSet dsCountryStandards = objStandardsBusinessLayer.GetCountryStandards(objUDMCountryStandards);
if (!StandardsDefault.IsNullOrEmptyDataTable(dsCountryStandards, 0) && (chkbxMarketsSearch.IsChecked == true || chkbxBudgetsSearch.IsChecked == true || chkbxProgramsSearch.IsChecked == true))
{
DataTable objDataTable = StandardsDefault.FilterDatatableForModules(dsCountryStandards.Tables[0], "Country", chkbxMarketsSearch, chkbxBudgetsSearch, chkbxProgramsSearch);
dgCountryList.ItemsSource = objDataTable.DefaultView;
}
else
{
MessageBox.Show("No Records Found", "Country Standards", MessageBoxButton.OK, MessageBoxImage.Information);
btnClear_Click(null, null);
}
}
The step objUDMCountryStandards.Country = txtSearchCountry.Text.Trim() != string.Empty ? txtSearchCountry.Text : null; in get grid data throws exception
The calling thread cannot access this object because a different
thread owns it.
What's wrong here?
This is a common problem with people getting started. Whenever you update your UI elements from a thread other than the main thread, you need to use:
this.Dispatcher.Invoke(() =>
{
...// your code here.
});
You can also use control.Dispatcher.CheckAccess() to check whether the current thread owns the control. If it does own it, your code looks as normal. Otherwise, use above pattern.
To add my 2 cents, the exception can occur even if you call your code through System.Windows.Threading.Dispatcher.CurrentDispatcher.Invoke(). The point is that you have to call Invoke() of the Dispatcher of the control that you're trying to access, which in some cases may not be the same as System.Windows.Threading.Dispatcher.CurrentDispatcher. So instead you should use YourControl.Dispatcher.Invoke() to be safe. I was banging my head for a couple of hours before I realized this.
Update
For future readers, it looks like this has changed in the newer versions of .NET (4.0 and above). Now you no longer have to worry about the correct dispatcher when updating UI-backing properties in your VM. WPF engine will marshal cross-thread calls on the correct UI thread. See more details here. Thanks to #aaronburro for the info and link. You may also want to read our conversation below in comments.
Update 2
Since this is a popular post now, I thought I'd share my experience that I had in the following years. The behavior seems to be that any property bindings will update correctly in cross-thread calls (no marshalling required; WPF will handle it for you). OTOH command bindings will need to be delegated to the UI dispatcher. I have tested it with both MVVM Light and the relatively new Community Toolkit and it seems to be the case with both the old Framework and the new .NET 5 and 6. AsyncRelayCommand fails to update the UI when invoked from non-UI thread (This happens when CanExecuteChanged is fired from a worker thread which updates, for example, button's Enabled property). The solution of course is to store UI dispatcher somewhere in the global space in your VM upon startup and then use it when updating the UI.
If you encounter this problem and UI Controls were created on a separate worker thread when working with BitmapSource or ImageSource in WPF, call Freeze() method first before passing the BitmapSource or ImageSource as a parameter to any method. Using Application.Current.Dispatcher.Invoke() does not work in such instances
this happened with me because I tried to access UI component in another thread insted of UI thread
like this
private void button_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
new Thread(SyncProcces).Start();
}
private void SyncProcces()
{
string val1 = null, val2 = null;
//here is the problem
val1 = textBox1.Text;//access UI in another thread
val2 = textBox2.Text;//access UI in another thread
localStore = new LocalStore(val1);
remoteStore = new RemoteStore(val2);
}
to solve this problem, wrap any ui call inside what Candide mentioned above in his answer
private void SyncProcces()
{
string val1 = null, val2 = null;
this.Dispatcher.Invoke((Action)(() =>
{//this refer to form in WPF application
val1 = textBox.Text;
val2 = textBox_Copy.Text;
}));
localStore = new LocalStore(val1);
remoteStore = new RemoteStore(val2 );
}
You need to do it on the UI thread. Use:
Dispatcher.BeginInvoke(new Action(() => {GetGridData(null, 0)}));
For some reason Candide's answer didn't build. It was helpful, though, as it led me to find this, which worked perfectly:
System.Windows.Threading.Dispatcher.CurrentDispatcher.Invoke((Action)(() =>
{
//your code here...
}));
This works for me.
new Thread(() =>
{
Thread.CurrentThread.IsBackground = false;
Application.Current.Dispatcher.BeginInvoke(DispatcherPriority.Background, (SendOrPostCallback)delegate {
//Your Code here.
}, null);
}).Start();
As mentioned here, Dispatcher.Invoke could freeze the UI. Should use Dispatcher.BeginInvoke instead.
Here is a handy extension class to simplify the checking and calling dispatcher invocation.
Sample usage: (call from WPF window)
this Dispatcher.InvokeIfRequired(new Action(() =>
{
logTextbox.AppendText(message);
logTextbox.ScrollToEnd();
}));
Extension class:
using System;
using System.Windows.Threading;
namespace WpfUtility
{
public static class DispatcherExtension
{
public static void InvokeIfRequired(this Dispatcher dispatcher, Action action)
{
if (dispatcher == null)
{
return;
}
if (!dispatcher.CheckAccess())
{
dispatcher.BeginInvoke(action, DispatcherPriority.ContextIdle);
return;
}
action();
}
}
}
I also found that System.Windows.Threading.Dispatcher.CurrentDispatcher.Invoke() is not always dispatcher of target control, just as dotNet wrote in his answer. I didn't had access to control's own dispatcher, so I used Application.Current.Dispatcher and it solved the problem.
The problem is that you are calling GetGridData from a background thread. This method accesses several WPF controls which are bound to the main thread. Any attempt to access them from a background thread will lead to this error.
In order to get back to the correct thread you should use SynchronizationContext.Current.Post. However in this particular case it seems like the majority of the work you are doing is UI based. Hence you would be creating a background thread just to go immediately back to the UI thread and do some work. You need to refactor your code a bit so that it can do the expensive work on the background thread and then post the new data to the UI thread afterwards
There are definitely different ways to do this depending on your needs.
One way I use a UI-updating thread (that's not the main UI thread) is to have the thread start a loop where the entire logical processing loop is invoked onto the UI thread.
Example:
public SomeFunction()
{
bool working = true;
Thread t = new Thread(() =>
{
// Don't put the working bool in here, otherwise it will
// belong to the new thread and not the main UI thread.
while (working)
{
Application.Current.Dispatcher.Invoke(() =>
{
// Put your entire logic code in here.
// All of this code will process on the main UI thread because
// of the Invoke.
// By doing it this way, you don't have to worry about Invoking individual
// elements as they are needed.
});
}
});
}
With this, code executes entirely on main UI thread. This can be a pro for amateur programmers that have difficulty wrapping their heads around cross-threaded operations. However, it can easily become a con with more complex UIs (especially if performing animations). Really, this is only to fake a system of updating the UI and then returning to handle any events that have fired in lieu of efficient cross-threading operations.
Also, another solution is ensuring your controls are created in UI thread, not by a background worker thread for example.
I kept getting the error when I added cascading comboboxes to my WPF application, and resolved the error by using this API:
using System.Windows.Data;
private readonly object _lock = new object();
private CustomObservableCollection<string> _myUiBoundProperty;
public CustomObservableCollection<string> MyUiBoundProperty
{
get { return _myUiBoundProperty; }
set
{
if (value == _myUiBoundProperty) return;
_myUiBoundProperty = value;
NotifyPropertyChanged(nameof(MyUiBoundProperty));
}
}
public MyViewModelCtor(INavigationService navigationService)
{
// Other code...
BindingOperations.EnableCollectionSynchronization(AvailableDefectSubCategories, _lock );
}
For details, please see https://msdn.microsoft.com/query/dev14.query?appId=Dev14IDEF1&l=EN-US&k=k(System.Windows.Data.BindingOperations.EnableCollectionSynchronization);k(TargetFrameworkMoniker-.NETFramework,Version%3Dv4.7);k(DevLang-csharp)&rd=true
Sometimes it can be the object you created that throws the exception, not the target where I was obviously looking at.
In my code here:
xaml file:
<Grid Margin="0,0,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Stretch" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" >
<TextBlock x:Name="tbScreenLog" VerticalAlignment="Stretch" Background="Black" FontSize="12" Foreground="#FF919191" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch"/>
</Grid>
xaml.cs file:
System.Windows.Documents.Run rnLine = new System.Windows.Documents.Run(Message.Item2 + "\r\n");
rnLine.Foreground = LineAlternate ? Brushes.Green : Brushes.Orange;
Dispatcher.Invoke(()=> {
tbScreenLog.Inlines.Add(rnLine);
});
LineAlternate = !LineAlternate;
I got the exception about accessing an object from a different thread but I was invoking it on the UI thread??
After a while it daunted on me that it was not about the TextBlock object but about the Run object I created before invoking.
Changing the code to this solved my problem:
Dispatcher.Invoke(()=> {
Run rnLine = new Run(Message.Item2 + "\r\n");
rnLine.Foreground = LineAlternate ? Brushes.Green : Brushes.Orange;
tbScreenLog.Inlines.Add(rnLine);
});
LineAlternate = !LineAlternate;
I encountered this error strangely on the second item selected from a WPF Control.
The reason was that I loaded the data into a RX SourceCache, and the loaded elements had ObservableCollections as Navigation Properties wrapped into a CollectionView. The ObservableCollections are connected to the UIThread and the data was loaded by the WorkerThread. As the CollectionView was only populated on displaying the first element, the issue with the different thread only occured on the second item being selected.
Solution would be to move the sublists to the ViewModel as ReadOnlyObservableCollections and filter the full list of the sub element table by the currently selected main element.

"The calling thread cannot access this object because a different thread owns it." - How can we know which thread owns it? [duplicate]

My code is as below
public CountryStandards()
{
InitializeComponent();
try
{
FillPageControls();
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
MessageBox.Show(ex.Message, "Country Standards", MessageBoxButton.OK, MessageBoxImage.Error);
}
}
/// <summary>
/// Fills the page controls.
/// </summary>
private void FillPageControls()
{
popUpProgressBar.IsOpen = true;
lblProgress.Content = "Loading. Please wait...";
progress.IsIndeterminate = true;
worker = new BackgroundWorker();
worker.DoWork += new System.ComponentModel.DoWorkEventHandler(worker_DoWork);
worker.ProgressChanged += new System.ComponentModel.ProgressChangedEventHandler(worker_ProgressChanged);
worker.WorkerReportsProgress = true;
worker.WorkerSupportsCancellation = true;
worker.RunWorkerCompleted += new System.ComponentModel.RunWorkerCompletedEventHandler(worker_RunWorkerCompleted);
worker.RunWorkerAsync();
}
private void worker_DoWork(object sender, System.ComponentModel.DoWorkEventArgs e)
{
GetGridData(null, 0); // filling grid
}
private void worker_ProgressChanged(object sender, System.ComponentModel.ProgressChangedEventArgs e)
{
progress.Value = e.ProgressPercentage;
}
private void worker_RunWorkerCompleted(object sender, System.ComponentModel.RunWorkerCompletedEventArgs e)
{
worker = null;
popUpProgressBar.IsOpen = false;
//filling Region dropdown
Standards.UDMCountryStandards objUDMCountryStandards = new Standards.UDMCountryStandards();
objUDMCountryStandards.Operation = "SELECT_REGION";
DataSet dsRegionStandards = objStandardsBusinessLayer.GetCountryStandards(objUDMCountryStandards);
if (!StandardsDefault.IsNullOrEmptyDataTable(dsRegionStandards, 0))
StandardsDefault.FillComboBox(cmbRegion, dsRegionStandards.Tables[0], "Region", "RegionId");
//filling Currency dropdown
objUDMCountryStandards = new Standards.UDMCountryStandards();
objUDMCountryStandards.Operation = "SELECT_CURRENCY";
DataSet dsCurrencyStandards = objStandardsBusinessLayer.GetCountryStandards(objUDMCountryStandards);
if (!StandardsDefault.IsNullOrEmptyDataTable(dsCurrencyStandards, 0))
StandardsDefault.FillComboBox(cmbCurrency, dsCurrencyStandards.Tables[0], "CurrencyName", "CurrencyId");
if (Users.UserRole != "Admin")
btnSave.IsEnabled = false;
}
/// <summary>
/// Gets the grid data.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="sender">The sender.</param>
/// <param name="pageIndex">Index of the page.( used in case of paging) </pamam>
private void GetGridData(object sender, int pageIndex)
{
Standards.UDMCountryStandards objUDMCountryStandards = new Standards.UDMCountryStandards();
objUDMCountryStandards.Operation = "SELECT";
objUDMCountryStandards.Country = txtSearchCountry.Text.Trim() != string.Empty ? txtSearchCountry.Text : null;
DataSet dsCountryStandards = objStandardsBusinessLayer.GetCountryStandards(objUDMCountryStandards);
if (!StandardsDefault.IsNullOrEmptyDataTable(dsCountryStandards, 0) && (chkbxMarketsSearch.IsChecked == true || chkbxBudgetsSearch.IsChecked == true || chkbxProgramsSearch.IsChecked == true))
{
DataTable objDataTable = StandardsDefault.FilterDatatableForModules(dsCountryStandards.Tables[0], "Country", chkbxMarketsSearch, chkbxBudgetsSearch, chkbxProgramsSearch);
dgCountryList.ItemsSource = objDataTable.DefaultView;
}
else
{
MessageBox.Show("No Records Found", "Country Standards", MessageBoxButton.OK, MessageBoxImage.Information);
btnClear_Click(null, null);
}
}
The step objUDMCountryStandards.Country = txtSearchCountry.Text.Trim() != string.Empty ? txtSearchCountry.Text : null; in get grid data throws exception
The calling thread cannot access this object because a different
thread owns it.
What's wrong here?
This is a common problem with people getting started. Whenever you update your UI elements from a thread other than the main thread, you need to use:
this.Dispatcher.Invoke(() =>
{
...// your code here.
});
You can also use control.Dispatcher.CheckAccess() to check whether the current thread owns the control. If it does own it, your code looks as normal. Otherwise, use above pattern.
To add my 2 cents, the exception can occur even if you call your code through System.Windows.Threading.Dispatcher.CurrentDispatcher.Invoke(). The point is that you have to call Invoke() of the Dispatcher of the control that you're trying to access, which in some cases may not be the same as System.Windows.Threading.Dispatcher.CurrentDispatcher. So instead you should use YourControl.Dispatcher.Invoke() to be safe. I was banging my head for a couple of hours before I realized this.
Update
For future readers, it looks like this has changed in the newer versions of .NET (4.0 and above). Now you no longer have to worry about the correct dispatcher when updating UI-backing properties in your VM. WPF engine will marshal cross-thread calls on the correct UI thread. See more details here. Thanks to #aaronburro for the info and link. You may also want to read our conversation below in comments.
Update 2
Since this is a popular post now, I thought I'd share my experience that I had in the following years. The behavior seems to be that any property bindings will update correctly in cross-thread calls (no marshalling required; WPF will handle it for you). OTOH command bindings will need to be delegated to the UI dispatcher. I have tested it with both MVVM Light and the relatively new Community Toolkit and it seems to be the case with both the old Framework and the new .NET 5 and 6. AsyncRelayCommand fails to update the UI when invoked from non-UI thread (This happens when CanExecuteChanged is fired from a worker thread which updates, for example, button's Enabled property). The solution of course is to store UI dispatcher somewhere in the global space in your VM upon startup and then use it when updating the UI.
If you encounter this problem and UI Controls were created on a separate worker thread when working with BitmapSource or ImageSource in WPF, call Freeze() method first before passing the BitmapSource or ImageSource as a parameter to any method. Using Application.Current.Dispatcher.Invoke() does not work in such instances
this happened with me because I tried to access UI component in another thread insted of UI thread
like this
private void button_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
new Thread(SyncProcces).Start();
}
private void SyncProcces()
{
string val1 = null, val2 = null;
//here is the problem
val1 = textBox1.Text;//access UI in another thread
val2 = textBox2.Text;//access UI in another thread
localStore = new LocalStore(val1);
remoteStore = new RemoteStore(val2);
}
to solve this problem, wrap any ui call inside what Candide mentioned above in his answer
private void SyncProcces()
{
string val1 = null, val2 = null;
this.Dispatcher.Invoke((Action)(() =>
{//this refer to form in WPF application
val1 = textBox.Text;
val2 = textBox_Copy.Text;
}));
localStore = new LocalStore(val1);
remoteStore = new RemoteStore(val2 );
}
You need to do it on the UI thread. Use:
Dispatcher.BeginInvoke(new Action(() => {GetGridData(null, 0)}));
For some reason Candide's answer didn't build. It was helpful, though, as it led me to find this, which worked perfectly:
System.Windows.Threading.Dispatcher.CurrentDispatcher.Invoke((Action)(() =>
{
//your code here...
}));
This works for me.
new Thread(() =>
{
Thread.CurrentThread.IsBackground = false;
Application.Current.Dispatcher.BeginInvoke(DispatcherPriority.Background, (SendOrPostCallback)delegate {
//Your Code here.
}, null);
}).Start();
As mentioned here, Dispatcher.Invoke could freeze the UI. Should use Dispatcher.BeginInvoke instead.
Here is a handy extension class to simplify the checking and calling dispatcher invocation.
Sample usage: (call from WPF window)
this Dispatcher.InvokeIfRequired(new Action(() =>
{
logTextbox.AppendText(message);
logTextbox.ScrollToEnd();
}));
Extension class:
using System;
using System.Windows.Threading;
namespace WpfUtility
{
public static class DispatcherExtension
{
public static void InvokeIfRequired(this Dispatcher dispatcher, Action action)
{
if (dispatcher == null)
{
return;
}
if (!dispatcher.CheckAccess())
{
dispatcher.BeginInvoke(action, DispatcherPriority.ContextIdle);
return;
}
action();
}
}
}
I also found that System.Windows.Threading.Dispatcher.CurrentDispatcher.Invoke() is not always dispatcher of target control, just as dotNet wrote in his answer. I didn't had access to control's own dispatcher, so I used Application.Current.Dispatcher and it solved the problem.
The problem is that you are calling GetGridData from a background thread. This method accesses several WPF controls which are bound to the main thread. Any attempt to access them from a background thread will lead to this error.
In order to get back to the correct thread you should use SynchronizationContext.Current.Post. However in this particular case it seems like the majority of the work you are doing is UI based. Hence you would be creating a background thread just to go immediately back to the UI thread and do some work. You need to refactor your code a bit so that it can do the expensive work on the background thread and then post the new data to the UI thread afterwards
There are definitely different ways to do this depending on your needs.
One way I use a UI-updating thread (that's not the main UI thread) is to have the thread start a loop where the entire logical processing loop is invoked onto the UI thread.
Example:
public SomeFunction()
{
bool working = true;
Thread t = new Thread(() =>
{
// Don't put the working bool in here, otherwise it will
// belong to the new thread and not the main UI thread.
while (working)
{
Application.Current.Dispatcher.Invoke(() =>
{
// Put your entire logic code in here.
// All of this code will process on the main UI thread because
// of the Invoke.
// By doing it this way, you don't have to worry about Invoking individual
// elements as they are needed.
});
}
});
}
With this, code executes entirely on main UI thread. This can be a pro for amateur programmers that have difficulty wrapping their heads around cross-threaded operations. However, it can easily become a con with more complex UIs (especially if performing animations). Really, this is only to fake a system of updating the UI and then returning to handle any events that have fired in lieu of efficient cross-threading operations.
Also, another solution is ensuring your controls are created in UI thread, not by a background worker thread for example.
I kept getting the error when I added cascading comboboxes to my WPF application, and resolved the error by using this API:
using System.Windows.Data;
private readonly object _lock = new object();
private CustomObservableCollection<string> _myUiBoundProperty;
public CustomObservableCollection<string> MyUiBoundProperty
{
get { return _myUiBoundProperty; }
set
{
if (value == _myUiBoundProperty) return;
_myUiBoundProperty = value;
NotifyPropertyChanged(nameof(MyUiBoundProperty));
}
}
public MyViewModelCtor(INavigationService navigationService)
{
// Other code...
BindingOperations.EnableCollectionSynchronization(AvailableDefectSubCategories, _lock );
}
For details, please see https://msdn.microsoft.com/query/dev14.query?appId=Dev14IDEF1&l=EN-US&k=k(System.Windows.Data.BindingOperations.EnableCollectionSynchronization);k(TargetFrameworkMoniker-.NETFramework,Version%3Dv4.7);k(DevLang-csharp)&rd=true
Sometimes it can be the object you created that throws the exception, not the target where I was obviously looking at.
In my code here:
xaml file:
<Grid Margin="0,0,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Stretch" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" >
<TextBlock x:Name="tbScreenLog" VerticalAlignment="Stretch" Background="Black" FontSize="12" Foreground="#FF919191" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch"/>
</Grid>
xaml.cs file:
System.Windows.Documents.Run rnLine = new System.Windows.Documents.Run(Message.Item2 + "\r\n");
rnLine.Foreground = LineAlternate ? Brushes.Green : Brushes.Orange;
Dispatcher.Invoke(()=> {
tbScreenLog.Inlines.Add(rnLine);
});
LineAlternate = !LineAlternate;
I got the exception about accessing an object from a different thread but I was invoking it on the UI thread??
After a while it daunted on me that it was not about the TextBlock object but about the Run object I created before invoking.
Changing the code to this solved my problem:
Dispatcher.Invoke(()=> {
Run rnLine = new Run(Message.Item2 + "\r\n");
rnLine.Foreground = LineAlternate ? Brushes.Green : Brushes.Orange;
tbScreenLog.Inlines.Add(rnLine);
});
LineAlternate = !LineAlternate;
I encountered this error strangely on the second item selected from a WPF Control.
The reason was that I loaded the data into a RX SourceCache, and the loaded elements had ObservableCollections as Navigation Properties wrapped into a CollectionView. The ObservableCollections are connected to the UIThread and the data was loaded by the WorkerThread. As the CollectionView was only populated on displaying the first element, the issue with the different thread only occured on the second item being selected.
Solution would be to move the sublists to the ViewModel as ReadOnlyObservableCollections and filter the full list of the sub element table by the currently selected main element.

Update controls created in another thread?

I have two threads.
Thread 1: WPF thread. Shows a Window with all the information.
Thread 2: Loops constantly, receiving information & updates the Window in thread 1.
I have the following interfaces.
IModuleWindow
{
void AddModule(IModule module);
void RemoveModule(IModule module);
}
IModule
{
UserControl GetSmallScreen();
UserControl GetBigScreen();
}
IModuleWindow is implemented by the WPF window in Thread 1
IModule is implemented by an object, is instantiated in Thread 2, and then sent to thread 1.
I want to Add the UserControls in IModule to the Window object in thread 1, and show them. IModule objects get updated constantly in thread 2 and they have to change their text.
Basically the idea is that this program is supposed to show the state of objects in thread 2 , which gets updated constantly.
What is the best way to accomplish this in WPF?
IMO the best idea is to use BackgroundWorker, with the very handy ReportProgress method and ProgressChanged event.
The ProgressChanged event is raised on the GUI thread, so you can perform your updates to the GUI directly. Here's how you code should look like:
// initialize the worker
BackgroundWorker backgroundWorker1 = new BackgroundWorker();
backgroundWorker1.WorkerReportsProgress = true;
backgroundWorker1.DoWork += new DoWorkEventHandler(backgroundWorker1_DoWork);
backgroundWorker1.ProgressChanged += new ProgressChangedEventHandler(backgroundWorker1_ProgressChanged);
backgroundWorker1.RunWorkerAsync();
// thread 2 (BackgroundWorker)
private void backgroundWorker1_DoWork(object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)
{
// main loop
while(true)
{
// time-consuming work
// raise the event; use the state object to pass any information you need
ReportProgress(0, state);
}
}
// this code will run on the GUI thread
private void backgroundWorker1_ProgressChanged(object sender, ProgressChangedEventArgs e)
{
// get your state back
object state = e.UserState;
// update GUI with state
}
It helped me lot to understand what i must do.
The scenario must be like that:
ObservableCollection images = new ObservableCollection();
TaskFactory tFactory = new TaskFactory();
tFactory.StartNew(() =>
{
for (int i = 0; i < 50; i++)
{
//GET IMAGE Path FROM SERVER
System.Windows.Application.Current.Dispatcher
.BeginInvoke((Action)delegate()
{
// UPDATE PROGRESS BAR IN UI
});
images.Add(("");
}
}).ContinueWith(t =>
{
if (t.IsFaulted)
{
// EXCEPTION IF THREAD IS FAULT
throw t.Exception;
}
System.Windows.Application.Current.Dispatcher
.BeginInvoke((Action)delegate()
{
//PROCESS IMAGES AND DISPLAY
});
});
You must use System.Windows.Application.Current.Dispatcher.BeginInvoke() for updating UI in WPF.
It would be nice to be able to use controls created at another thread,
thats what I want ideally
The short answer: forget it.
A UI control belongs to a single UI thread only. The best you can do here, is to create controls in main thread, prepare data in background thread, and update controls' properties in main (UI) thread again.
For data preparation I recommend use TPL.

C# threading issue

To play a bit with threading, delegates and backgroundworkers, I'm putting together a few small applications, I'm having a bit of trouble with one of them.
I've a Windows form, with a textbox, a button and a richttext.
When I press the button, the text in the textbox is used as a paramter to instantiate a class, like this:
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
private BackgroundWorker backgroundWorker;
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
backgroundWorker = new BackgroundWorker();
backgroundWorker.DoWork += new DoWorkEventHandler(worker_DoWork);
backgroundWorker.RunWorkerAsync();
}
void worker_DoWork(object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)
{
new Thread((ThreadStart)delegate()
{
this.BeginInvoke((ThreadStart)delegate()
{
foreach (string line in textBox1.Lines)
{
Dig digger = new Dig(line, textBox1.Text);
digger.DomainChecked += new Dig.DomainCheckedHandler(OnUpdateTicker);
string response = digger.GetAllInfo();
richTextBox1.AppendText(response);
Application.DoEvents();
}
});
}).Start();
}
void OnUpdateTicker(string msg)
{
new Thread((ThreadStart)delegate()
{
this.BeginInvoke((ThreadStart)delegate()
{
label4.Text = msg;
Application.DoEvents();
});
}).Start();
}
}
When debugging I run into a 'textBox1.Lines' threw an exception of type 'Microsoft.VisualStudio.Debugger.Runtime.CrossThreadMessagingException'
Any tips on how to solve this problem?
First, there is no need to create new threads inside DoWork; the whole idea with the BackgroundWorker is that DoWork is executed on a separate thread. Second, since DoWork is executed on a separate thread and UI controls can be modified only on the UI thread, you need to invoke those updates correctly. So, a rewritten version of worker_DoWork could look like this:
void worker_DoWork(object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)
{
foreach (string line in textBox1.Lines)
{
Dig digger = new Dig(line, textBox1.Text);
digger.DomainChecked += new Dig.DomainCheckedHandler(OnUpdateTicker);
string response = digger.GetAllInfo();
richTextBox1.Invoke((Action) delegate { richTextBox1.AppendText(response); });
}
}
Note how the code does not explicitly spawn any new threads, and also how the AppendText method call is done through a Control.Invoke call, forcing it to execute on the UI thread.
The main reason is that the textbox is not owned by the background thread.
Your UI thread owns all the UI objects, and you're spinning up a background thread when a button is pressed. That background thread should not have access to any UI objects.
If you want the value of the textbox to be used, you'll need to pass it to your background thread another way.
Have a look here for an explanation (and solution).
You can only update controls on the main thread from the main thread itself, unless you explicitly tell your program that it's ok to do, by using the .Invoke method of the control.
From: http://www.albahari.com/threading/part3.aspx
Control.Invoke
In a multi-threaded Windows Forms application, it's illegal to call a method or property on a control from any thread other than the one that created it. All cross-thread calls must be explicitly marshalled to the thread that created the control (usually the main thread), using the Control.Invoke or Control.BeginInvoke method. One cannot rely on automatic marshalling because it takes place too late – only when execution gets well into unmanaged code, by which time plenty of internal .NET code may already have run on the "wrong" thread – code which is not thread-safe.

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