I have a form with a WebBrowser control, and an extra seperate thread that controls the browser and waits for it to load. Here's a code example:
private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e){
JobClass.mainAsync();
}
-
public static class JobClass
{
public static void mainAsync()
{
Thread t = new Thread(main);
t.Start();
}
private static void main()
{
Form1 frm = (Form1)Application.OpenForms["Form1"];
WebBrowser wb = frm.webBrowser1;
gotoGoogle(frm, wb);
}
private static void gotoGoogle(Form1 frm, WebBrowser wb)
{
frm.Invoke((MethodInvoker)delegate
{
wb.Navigate("google.com");
string loc = wb.Document.Url.AbsolutePath;
// ... some extra code ...
});
}
private static void gotoYoutube(Form1 frm, WebBrowser wb)
{
frm.Invoke((MethodInvoker)delegate
{
wb.Navigate("youtube.com");
wb.Document.Body.getElementById("...");
// ... some extra code ...
});
}
}
Everything runs fine but as you see, I have to pass the Form1 variable to each method that deals with the browser control, and I have to write frm.Invoke() in all of them, which makes my code less portable and more painful as the code gets bigger.
I was wondering if there's something I could do inside the "main()" method to make the WebBrowser maybe a child of the same thread so I don't have to keep invoking it from the form each time ? If not, how can I just get rid of this ugly invoke thing ?
you can do the following
define an event in your JobClass call it OnNavigationChanged
handle the event raise in your Form1
in the handled event method you can call wb.Navigate(url);
here a sample code
1- JobClass delegate
// define this delegate just above the JobClass
public delegate void JobClassNavigationEvent(string url);
2- define the event
public delegate void JobClassNavigationEvent(string url);
public static class JobClass
{
public static event JobClassNavigationEvent OnNavigationChanged;
private static BackgroundWorker worker;
public static void mainAsync()
{
worker = new BackgroundWorker();
worker.DoWork += (s, e) =>
{
main();
};
worker.RunWorkerAsync();
}
private static void main()
{
gotoGoogle();
}
private static void gotoGoogle()
{
if (OnNavigationChanged != null)
OnNavigationChanged.Invoke("google.com");
}
private static void gotoYoutube()
{
if (OnNavigationChanged != null)
OnNavigationChanged.Invoke("youtube.com");
}
}
3- in your form
private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e){
JobClass.OnNavigationChanged+=(url)=>{
webBrowser1.Navigate(url);
// other code come here
};
JobClass.mainAsync();
}
hope this will help you
Related
I have a Windows Form application and managed DLL in one solution. DLL contains some time consuming functions during which I wish to update the Form contents (callback from the DLL to the Form with progess updates). I have the following code:
Form code, where I initialize the DLL and give it a callback function in the Initialize method. I also start a separate Thread to periodicly check the message_queue for new messages from the DLL. The DLL function is also called in a separate Thread (non blocking for the UI).
private LibraryDLL library_dll;
private ConcurrentQueue<string> message_queue;
public MainForm()
{
InitializeComponent();
library_dll = new LibraryDLL();
message_queue = new ConcurrentQueue<string>();
library_dll.Initialize(ProcessMessage);
new Thread(() =>
{
Thread.CurrentThread.IsBackground = true;
string message;
if (message_queue.TryDequeue(out message))
{
PrintMessage(message);
}
}).Start();
}
private void ProcessMessage(string message)
{
message_queue.Enqueue(message);
}
private void PrintMessage(string message)
{
this.Invoke((MethodInvoker)delegate
{
listBox_rows.Items.Add(message);
});
}
private void button_send_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
new Thread(() =>
{
Thread.CurrentThread.IsBackground = true;
library_dll.DoWork();
}).Start();
}
In DLL code, I use the callback method to report progress:
private CallBack callback;
public delegate void CallBack(string message);
public LibraryDLL() { }
public void Initialize(CallBack callback)
{
this.callback = callback;
}
public void DoWork()
{
callback("working...")
Thread.Sleep(500);
callback("working...")
Thread.Sleep(500);
callback("working...")
Thread.Sleep(500);
}
My problem is, that instead of string "working" appearing every 500ms, it appears 3 times after 1500ms (only after the Thread in which the DoWork method is running ends). I also tried the Invalidate()-Update()-Refresh() sequence in the Form's PrintMessage function, but without any effect.
Thanks for the advice!
EDIT1:
I modified the code to use the BackgroundWorker, however, the problem remains (nothing for 1500ms, than all 3 strings at once).
BackgroundWorker bck_worker;
public MainForm()
{
InitializeComponent();
library_dll = new LibraryDLL();
library_dll.Initialize(bck_worker);
bck_worker = new BackgroundWorker();
bck_worker.ProgressChanged += new ProgressChangedEventHandler(bckWorker_ProgressChanged);
bck_worker.WorkerReportsProgress = true;
bck_worker.WorkerSupportsCancellation = true;
}
private void bckWorker_DoWork(object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)
{
library_dll.DoWork();
}
private void bckWorker_ProgressChanged(object sender, ProgressChangedEventArgs e)
{
PrintMessage((string)e.UserState);
}
private void button_send_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
bck_worker.DoWork += new DoWorkEventHandler(bckWorker_DoWork);
bck_worker.RunWorkerAsync();
}
private void PrintMessage(string message)
{
listBox_rows.Items.Add(message);
}
And the DLL:
private BackgroundWorker bck_worker;
public LibraryDLL() { }
public void Initialize(BackgroundWorker bck_worker)
{
this.bck_worker = bck_worker;
}
public void DoWork()
{
bck_worker.ReportProgress(25, "working...");
Thread.Sleep(500);
bck_worker.ReportProgress(50, "working...");
Thread.Sleep(500);
bck_worker.ReportProgress(75, "working...");
Thread.Sleep(500);
}
EDIT2:
OK, I now tried to add the Invalidate-Update-Refresh sequence at the end of the PrintMessage function and it finaly works (with the BackgroundWorker approach)!
Use background worker and workers's report progress to update your UI: background worker doc
I've created a TimerManager class for my WPF application.
This class handles the start and stop the dispatcher timer.
Here is the class:
public static class TimerManager
{
static DispatcherTimer disTimer;
static Model m = Model.GetInstance();
static TimerManager()
{
disTimer = new DispatcherTimer();
disTimer.Tick += disTimer_tick;
disTimer.Interval = new TimeSpan(0, 0, 1);
}
public static void StartTimer()
{
disTimer.Start();
}
public static void StopTimer()
{
disTimer.Stop();
}
private static void disTimer_tick(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
m.Tick++;
}
}
And I've created a Model class that represents the ticking in the UI.
(Binding in MainWindow.xaml -> xy textbox text field "{Binding Tick}").
class Model : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
private Model()
{
}
static Model instance;
public static Model GetInstance()
{
if (instance == null)
{
instance = new Model();
}
return instance;
}
int tick;
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
public void OnNotifyPropertyChanged([CallerMemberName] string propertyName = null)
{
PropertyChangedEventArgs e = new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName);
PropertyChangedEventHandler handler = PropertyChanged;
if (handler != null)
{
handler(this, e);
}
}
public int Tick
{
get
{
return tick;
}
set
{
tick = value;
OnNotifyPropertyChanged();
}
}
}
And here is the MainWindow class:
Model m;
public MainWindow()
{
InitializeComponent();
m = Model.GetInstance();
this.DataContext = m;
}
private void startButton_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem(o =>
{
TimerManager.StartTimer();
});
//TimerManager.StartTimer();
}
private void stopButton_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
TimerManager.StopTimer();
}
When I click the start button I use the ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem() method. In that method, I start the timer but the timer tick is not run at every one second.
When I don't use ThreadPool this works. But this solution is not good for me; ThreadPool is important for me because I use an HTTP web server (in local).
My question is: why is the ticking not working if I use ThreadPool?
The DispatcherTimer object has thread affinity. That is, it is tied to a specific thread. In particular, it is designed specifically to raise its Tick event in the thread in which it was created, using the Dispatcher for that thread.
Your ThreadManager class's static constructor will be called when the type is first used. In your non-working example, this occurs in the queued work item method, causing the static constructor to be executed in the thread pool thread used to execute that work item method. This in turn causes the DispatcherTimer object you create to be owned by that thread, and to have its Tick event raised in that thread by the Dispatcher for that thread.
Except, thread pool threads don't have Dispatchers. So there's no Dispatcher there to raise the Tick event for the DispatcherTimer object. Even if there was, without a call to Application.Run() to have the dispatcher loop executed, the Dispatcher wouldn't actually get to dispatch anything, including the Tick event.
What you need is to make sure that when you create the DispatcherTimer object, the code that creates that object is executed in the dispatcher thread, which is your main UI thread.
There are a couple of ways to do that. IMHO, the best way is to make your ThreadManager class not a static class and to create an instance of it in your MainWindow constructor. For example:
class TimerManager
{
DispatcherTimer disTimer;
Model m = Model.GetInstance();
public TimerManager()
{
disTimer = new DispatcherTimer();
disTimer.Tick += disTimer_tick;
disTimer.Interval = new TimeSpan(0, 0, 1);
}
public void StartTimer()
{
disTimer.Start();
}
public void StopTimer()
{
disTimer.Stop();
}
private void disTimer_tick(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
m.Tick++;
}
}
and:
public partial class MainWindow : Window
{
TimerManager _timerManager = new TimerManager();
public MainWindow()
{
InitializeComponent();
this.DataContext = Model.GetInstance();
}
private void startButton_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem(o =>
{
_timerManager.StartTimer();
});
}
private void stopButton_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
_timerManager.StopTimer();
}
}
Since you know your MainWindow object has to be created in the dispatcher thread, and you know that non-static field initialization happens at the same time the constructor is called, in that same dispatcher thread, the above ensures that your TimerManager object is created in the dispatcher thread.
This gives you complete control over the lifetime of the TimerManager object, particularly when it's created but of course also when it can be discarded. Given the nature of the DispatcherTimer object itself, it's my opinion that this is better than maintaining a statically-held instance.
This approach also gives you the option of having a manager object for each dispatcher thread (in rare cases, a program might have more than one…you should try very hard to avoid getting into that situation, but it can be useful for types to at least be compatible with such a situation).
That said, if you really want to keep the static implementation, you can do that by providing a method that can be called explicitly when you want to initialize the class, so you can make sure that the initialization happens in the right thread:
static class TimerManager
{
static DispatcherTimer disTimer;
static Model m = Model.GetInstance();
public static void Initialize()
{
disTimer = new DispatcherTimer();
disTimer.Tick += disTimer_tick;
disTimer.Interval = new TimeSpan(0, 0, 1);
}
public static void StartTimer()
{
disTimer.Start();
}
public static void StopTimer()
{
disTimer.Stop();
}
private static void disTimer_tick(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
m.Tick++;
}
}
Then in your MainWindow class:
public partial class MainWindow : Window
{
public MainWindow()
{
InitializeComponent();
this.DataContext = Model.GetInstance();
StaticTimerManager.Initialize();
}
private void startButton_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem(o =>
{
StaticTimerManager.StartTimer();
});
}
private void stopButton_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
StaticTimerManager.StopTimer();
}
}
All you need to do here is make sure you call the Initialize() method from the main UI thread where you actually have a running dispatcher, before you attempt to call either of the other two static methods in the class.
This approach could also be made to work with multiple threads (i.e. if you have more than one dispatcher thread), but it would be trickier, especially if you want to be able to call the StartTimer() method from a different thread that actually owns the timer object. I'd recommend against the static class approach if you really did wind up in that situation.
I'm actually learning (the hard way) c# and been fighting for days with a problem :
I'm writing my first c# application with WPF (dotNet 4.0). When I click on a button, a BackgroundWorker thread is used and call a method from an external class, this way my UI don't freeze -> my method run as expected.
Then I tried to update a ListView control from thos external class to get some kind of progress (text) and I miserably failed.
I understand that I need to use a delegate and the dispatcher to update my control.
I tried to use the solution offered here How to update UI from another thread running in another class . (I cannot comment on it because of my low rep) and I miss some parts of the puzzle.
What the YourEventArgs(status) is referring to ? I just don't get the way to fire an event and pass the content back to my UI while my method is running inside the BGW.
So far I have this piece of code (Updated from answer):
namespace AppMain
{
public partial class MainWindow
{
BackgroundWorker AppWorker = new BackgroundWorker();
public MainWindow()
{
InitializeComponent();
AppWorker.WorkerSupportsCancellation = true;
AppWorker.DoWork += AppWorker_DoWork;
AppWorker.RunWorkerCompleted += AppWorker_RunWorkerCompleted;
}
private void btnLoad_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
lstTest.Items.Add("Processing data...");
AppWorker.RunWorkerAsync();
}
public void AppWorker_DoWork(object sender, System.ComponentModel.DoWorkEventArgs e)
{
SetXmlData xml = new SetXmlData();
xml.ProgressUpdate += (s, evt) =>
{
Dispatcher.BeginInvoke((Action)(() =>
{
lstTest.Items.Add("this is a test : " + evt.myData); //how to retrieve the myData property from evt ?
}));
};
xml.FlushData();
}
public void AppWorker_RunWorkerCompleted(object sender, System.ComponentModel.RunWorkerCompletedEventArgs e)
{
if (!(e.Cancelled))
{
lstTest.Items.Add("Done");
}
else
{
MessageBox.Show("Cancelled");
}
}
}
}
SetXmlData.cs
namespace AppMain
{
public class SetXmlData
{
public event EventHandler ProgressUpdate;
//update method
public void update(object input)
{
if (ProgressUpdate != null)
ProgressUpdate(this, new YourEventArgs { myData = (string)input });
}
//calculation method
public void FlushData()
{
MessageBox.Show("this is a test !");
update("test");
}
}
public class YourEventArgs : EventArgs
{
public string myData { get; set; }
}
}
Thanks for your help.
You can simply Invoke the ProgressUpdate event from the FlushData() method.
Simply call:
If (ProgressUpdate !=null )
{
ProgressUpdate(this,new YourEventArgs())
}
this is the source instance where the event originated from.
You could just create YourEventArgs by inheriting from EventArgs class.
public class YourEventArgs : EventArgs
{
//Put any property that you want to pass back to UI here.
}
When the event gets raised in the UI:
RaiseEvent.ProgressUpdate += (s, e) =>
{
Dispatcher.BeginInvoke((Action)(() =>
{
lstTest.Items.Add("this is a test : ");
//Add items to your UI control here...
}));
};
e will be of type YourEventArgs.
On a side note, you should never touch UI thread from a diffent thread (like background worker thread in your example). Since your event-handler already does the Dispatcher.BeginInvoke, that's safe.
Also, your ProgressUpdate event should be inside of your class SetXmlData.
try get;set; Example:
Form1:
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
static public string gettext { get; set; }
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
Class1.send(); //call to class function
textBox1.Text = gettext; //items.add(gettext)
}
}
Class1:
class Class1
{
static public void send()
{
Form1.gettext = "Marko"; //Set gettext to string "Marko"
}
}
I have an application that takes a Wireshark capture file and feeds it (all the containing packets) into a network adapter.
Currently my application is a big mess - countless global variables & every task opened within a seperate BackgroundWorker instance etc...
To clarify - the purpose of using BackgroundWorkers here (more specifically the DoWork, RunWorkerCompleted events and the WorkerReportsProgress property) is to prevent the packet feeding operations from freezing my UI. To stop an operation, I need access to these workes - for now, global variables are used to achieve this.
So the question is - should I place my BackgroundWorker objects inside a Singleton-type class and then call this object when necessary?
From a technical point of view is possible, after all the singleton pattern is a design pattern that restricts the instantiation of a class to one object
you can try something like this
public class BackWorkerSingleton
{
private BackgroundWorker _backgroundWorker;
private static readonly object myLock = new object();
private static BackWorkerSingleton _backWorkerSingleton = new BackWorkerSingleton();
public delegate void ReportProgressEventHandler(object sender,MyEventsArgs e);
public event ReportProgressEventHandler ReportProgress = delegate{ };
private BackWorkerSingleton()
{
_backgroundWorker = new BackgroundWorker();
_backgroundWorker.DoWork += new DoWorkEventHandler(_backgroundWorker_DoWork);
_backgroundWorker.ProgressChanged += new ProgressChangedEventHandler(_backgroundWorker_ProgressChanged);
}
void _backgroundWorker_ProgressChanged(object sender, ProgressChangedEventArgs e)
{
this.ReportProgress( this, new MyEventsArgs(){Progress = e.ProgressPercentage});
}
void _backgroundWorker_DoWork(object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)
{
// do your work here
}
public void StartTheJob()
{
_backgroundWorker.RunWorkerAsync();
}
public static BackWorkerSingleton Worker
{
get
{
lock (myLock)
{
if (_backWorkerSingleton == null)
{
_backWorkerSingleton = new BackWorkerSingleton();
}
}
return _backWorkerSingleton;
}
}
}
class MyEventsArgs:EventArgs
{
public int Progress { get; set; }
}
and here the report progress
private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
BackWorkerSingleton.Worker.ReportProgress += new BackWorkerSingleton.ReportProgressEventHandler(Worker_ReportProgress);
}
void Worker_ReportProgress(object sender, MyEventsArgs e)
{
}
and call it like this
BackWorkerSingleton.Worker.StartJob()
Would you look at my code and tell me where I went wrong? in following code I am trying to send a notification to myMethod() method when Form1 gets maximized.
Thanks!
namespace WindowsDelegate1
{
public delegate void ChangedEventHandler(object sender, EventArgs e);
class myForm : Form
{
public event ChangedEventHandler Changed;
protected virtual void OnChanged(EventArgs e)
{
if (Changed != null)
Changed(this,e);
}
public override System.Drawing.Size MaximumSize
{
//get
//{
// return base.MaximumSize;
//}
set
{
base.MaximumSize = value;
OnChanged(EventArgs.Empty);
}
}
}
}
namespace WindowsDelegate1
{
class EventListener
{
private myForm TheForm;
public EventListener(myForm theform)
{
TheForm = theform;
TheForm.Changed += new ChangedEventHandler(myMethod);
}
private void myMethod(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
MessageBox.Show("hey, window should be maximized now!");
}
public void Detach()
{
TheForm.Changed -= new ChangedEventHandler(myMethod);
TheForm = null;
}
}
}
Here is the testing unit / or main()
namespace WindowsDelegate1
{
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
myForm f = new myForm();
EventListener listener = new EventListener(f);
f.ShowDialog();
f.WindowState = FormWindowState.Maximized;
listener.Detach();
}
}
}
What's probably happening is the event is either fired after your .Detach() call, or is never fired at all. I would start by removing the listener.Detach() call. Generally, you attach to events when the form is created or when it loads and detach when it is unloading.
Other than that, your Detach method is problematic because it tries to remove a different ChangedEventHandler instance than the one added. If you're wrapping your methods in ChangedEventHandler you need to store the instance you added.
Thank you for sharing your ideas!
I fixed it by removing the property (not idea why I used that!!) and using method instead by:
protected override void OnActivated(EventArgs e)
{
base.OnActivated(e);
OnChanged(EventArgs.Empty);
}
I have updated my source code above too