Windows Form building failed in second thread - c#

first of all my issue:
I try to build a winform in a background worker. This Form class only include one webbrowser controll. The form will not build and jump out to main thread.
Im using c# with .NET 4.5 on Visual Studio 2013 Pro with WinForms
What i do:
Start Background worker
private void bt_dashboard_chat_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (!this.bw_webchat.IsBusy)
{
this.bw_webchat.RunWorkerAsync(this.auth.getUserName());
}
}
The worker
{
String name = e.Argument as String;
DashBoard.Forms.Chat.DummyChat tmp = new Forms.Chat.DummyChat(name);
tmp.ShowDialog();
}
Form constructor
InitializeComponent();
this.wb_twitchchat.Url = new Uri("http://link.tld/" + name + "/chat");
this.Text = "Chat of " + name;
The issue. The thread jumps out at InitializeComponent(); on the line
this.wb_twitchchat = new System.Windows.Forms.WebBrowser();
This is the seconde line.
Have somebody any ideas why this happened? Other forms working fine in backgroundworker threads :/

Exception is catch by background worker itself. Use try/catch block around code you are mentioning "The worker".
Catched exception should be something like:
ActiveX control '8856f961-340a-11d0-a96b-00c04fd705a2' cannot be instantiated because the current thread is not in a single-threaded apartment.
Exception is based on code:
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
var bw = new BackgroundWorker();
bw.DoWork += BwOnDoWork;
bw.RunWorkerAsync();
}
private void BwOnDoWork(object sender, DoWorkEventArgs doWorkEventArgs)
{
try
{
WebBrowser wb = new WebBrowser();
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
}
}

Related

Create a child window from a FileSystemWatcher

I have a FileSystemWatcher watching for newly created files.
When it sees one, I would like it to open a child window.
Using this:
private void FileSystemWatcher_Created(object sender, FileSystemEventArgs e)
{
TableWindow win = new TableWindow();
win.Owner = this;
win.Text = "xxx";
win.ShowInTaskbar = false;
win.Show();
}
The error I'm getting is:
Cross-thread operation not valid: Control 'Form1' accessed from a thread other than the thread it was created on
After some googling. I ended up with this
TableWindow win = new TableWindow();
win.Owner = this;
win.Text = "xxx";
win.ShowInTaskbar = false;
win.Invoke((MethodInvoker)delegate
{
win.Show();
});
which gives me a different error:
Invoke or BeginInvoke cannot be called on a control until the window handle has been created.
Here's the scenario. on a game, each time a new table is opened, a new file is created. When that file is created, I want to open a child window to display statistics on that table.
Is this even possible?
What I've done in the past to work with InvokeRequired is to place it within an if statement that will call the method on the UI thread if it hasn't been called from the UI thread.
private void FileSystemWatcher_Created(object sender, FileSystemEventArgs e)
{
ShowWindow();
}
private void ShowWindow()
{
if (this.InvokeRequired)
{
var del = new MethodInvoker(ShowWindow);
this.BeginInvoke(del);
return;
}
TableWindow win = new TableWindow();
win.Owner = this;
win.Text = "xxx";
win.ShowInTaskbar = false;
win.Show();
}

C# Background Worker Append TextBox

first off I'd like to say I'm brand new to C# so I am not too aware with how the background worker is supposed to be implemented. I have a GUI program that basically pings a domain a returns the response to a textbox. I am able to get it to work normally, however, it freezes the code because it is running on the same thread which is why I am trying to implement a background worker.
Here is the basic setup
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
url = textBox1.Text;
button1.Enabled = false;
button2.Enabled = true;
bgWorker.DoWork += new DoWorkEventHandler(bgWorker_DoWork);
bgWorker.RunWorkerAsync();
}
private void bgWorker_DoWork(object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)
{
do
{
if (bgWorker.CancellationPending)
break;
Invoke((MethodInvoker)delegate { monitor(); });
} while (true);
}
public void monitor()
{
textBox2.AppendText("Status of: " + url + "\n");
Status(url);
System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(30000);
}
private void Status(string url)
{
// This method does all the ping work and also appends the status to the Text box as it goes through , as OK or down
}
I have not worked with bgworkers before and as you can imagine it's confusing. I've looked at tons of other articles and I can't seem to get it. Sorry if the code looks crazy, I'm trying to learn.
Use Microsoft's Reactive Framework (NuGet "System.Reactive.Windows.Forms" and add using System.Reactive.Linq;) and then you can do this:
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
var url = textBox1.Text;
Observable
.Interval(TimeSpan.FromMinutes(0.5))
.SelectMany(_ => Observable.Start(() => Status(url)))
.ObserveOn(this)
.Subscribe(status => textBox2.AppendText("Status of: " + status + "\n"));
}
You then just need to change Status to have this signature: string Status(string url).
That's it. No background worker. No invoking. And Status is nicely run on a background thread.
You've got several mistakes. First,
Invoke((MethodInvoker)delegate
{
monitor();
});
will call monitor() on your UI thread. In almost all cases you should not call methods on other threads. You especially should not call methods that block or do anything that takes more than a few milliseconds on your UI thread, and that is what this does:
System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(30000);
Instead of calling a method on another thread; submit immutable data to the other thread and let the thread decide when to handle it. There is an event already built in to BackgroundWorker which does that. Before you call bgWorker.RunWorkerAsync() do this:
url = new Uri(something);
bgWorker.WorkerReportsProgress = true;
bgWorker.WorkerSupportsCancellation = true;
bgWorker.ProgressChanged += Bgw_ProgressChanged;
private void Bgw_ProgressChanged(object sender, ProgressChangedEventArgs e)
{
textBox2.AppendText("Status of: " + url + ": " + e.UserState.ToString()
+ Environment.NewLine);
}
Your bgWorker_DoWork should look more like this:
void bgWorker_DoWork(object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)
{
while (!bgw.CancellationPending)
{
System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(new TimeSpan(0, 0, 30));
var status = ResultOfPing(e.Argument as Uri);
bgw.ReportProgress(0, status);
}
e.Cancel = true;
}
and you should call it like this:
bgWorker.RunWorkerAsync(url);
You've got a second problem. BackgroundWorker creates a thread, and your thread is going to spend most of its time blocked on a timer or waiting for network responses. That is a poor use of a thread. You would be better off using completion callbacks or async/await.
The background worker is running on a thread pool thread, but your call to Status and Sleep is running on the UI thread. You need to move that stuff back into bgWorker_DoWork.
Try this code:
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
bool cancel;
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
public void StartPinging()
{
this.cancel = false;
startButton.Enabled = false;
stopButton.Enabled = true;
responseBox.Clear();
responseBox.AppendText("Starting to ping server.");
responseBox.AppendText(Environment.NewLine);
var bw = new BackgroundWorker
{
WorkerReportsProgress = false,
WorkerSupportsCancellation = true
};
bw.DoWork += (obj, ev) =>
{
while (!cancel)
{
// Ping Server Here
string response = Server.PingServer();
this.Invoke(new UiMethod(() =>
{
responseBox.AppendText(response);
responseBox.AppendText(Environment.NewLine);
}));
}
};
bw.RunWorkerCompleted += (obj, ev) =>
{
this.Invoke(new UiMethod(() =>
{
responseBox.AppendText("Stopped pinging the server.");
responseBox.AppendText(Environment.NewLine);
startButton.Enabled = true;
stopButton.Enabled = false;
}));
};
bw.RunWorkerAsync();
}
delegate void UiMethod();
private void startButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
StartPinging();
}
private void stopButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
responseBox.AppendText("Cancelation Pressed.");
responseBox.AppendText(Environment.NewLine);
cancel = true;
}
}
public class Server
{
static Random rng = new Random();
public static string PingServer()
{
int time = 1200 + rng.Next(2400);
Thread.Sleep(time);
return $"{time} ms";
}
}
Erwin, when dealing with C# - threads and UI elements usually you will come across cross-thread operations i.e. Background thread with UI threads. This interaction needs to be done in thread safe way with the help of Invoke to avoid invalid operations.
Please look into below resource: InvokeRequired section.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/framework/winforms/controls/how-to-make-thread-safe-calls-to-windows-forms-controls

Updating UI with BackgroundWorker in WPF

I am currently writing a simple WPF 3.5 application that utilizes the SharePoint COM to make calls to SharePoint sites and generate Group and User information. Since this process takes awhile I want to show a ProgressBar while the groups are being generated. The desired process is as follows:
User enters url and clicks button to fetch site data.
ProgressBar begins animation
Groups are generated and names are added to a ListView
Upon completion ProgressBar animation ends
The problem I am running into is that the UI is never updated. Neither the ProgressBar or the ListView makes any changes. If anyone has any ideas to help with the code below it would be greatly appreciated.
private void GetGroupsAndUsersButton_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
siteUrl = "";
if (SiteURLTextBox.Text.Length > 0)
{
FetchDataProgressBar.IsIndeterminate = true;
mWorker = new BackgroundWorker();
mWorker.DoWork += new DoWorkEventHandler(worker_DoWork);
mWorker.WorkerSupportsCancellation = true;
mWorker.RunWorkerCompleted += new RunWorkerCompletedEventHandler(worker_RunWorkerCompleted);
mWorker.RunWorkerAsync();
}
else
{
System.Windows.MessageBox.Show("Please enter a URL for the SharePoint site you wish to retrieve data");
}
}
private void worker_DoWork(object sender, System.ComponentModel.DoWorkEventArgs e)
{
siteUrl = SiteURLTextBox.Text;
GroupListView.ItemsSource = null;
try
{
using (SPSite site = new SPSite(siteUrl))
{
SPWeb web = site.OpenWeb();
SPGroupCollection collGroups = web.SiteGroups;
if (GroupNames == null)
GroupNames = new List<string>();
foreach (SPGroup oGroup in collGroups)
{
GroupListView.Items.Add(new ListViewItem() { Content = oGroup.Name });
}
foreach (ListViewItem item in GroupListView.Items)
{
item.MouseLeftButtonUp += item_MouseLeftButtonUp;
}
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
System.Windows.MessageBox.Show("Unable to locate a SharePoint site at: " + siteUrl);
}
}
private void worker_RunWorkerCompleted(object sender, System.ComponentModel.RunWorkerCompletedEventArgs e)
{
FetchDataProgressBar.Dispatcher.Invoke(System.Windows.Threading.DispatcherPriority.Normal,
new Action(
delegate()
{
FetchDataProgressBar.IsIndeterminate = false;
}
));
}
At first you need to support ProgressChanged events.
Update your BackgroundWorker initialization to:
GroupListView.ItemSource = null;
mWorker = new BackgroundWorker();
mWorker.DoWork += new DoWorkEventHandler(worker_DoWork);
mWorker.WorkerSupportsCancellation = true;
mWorker.WorkerReportsProgress = true;
mWorker.ProgressChanged += OnProgressChanged;
mWorker.RunWorkerCompleted +=
new RunWorkerCompletedEventHandler(worker_RunWorkerCompleted);
mWorker.RunWorkerAsync(SiteURLTextBox.Text);
After that you have to add a OnProgressChanged handler:
private void OnProgressChanged(object sender, ProgressChangedEventArgs e)
{
FetchDataProgressBar.Value = e.ProgressPercentage;
ListViewItem toAdd = (ListViewItem)e.UserState;
toAdd.MouseLeftButtonUp += item_MouseLeftButtonUp;
GroupListView.Items.Add(toAdd);
}
Therefore you have to change your DoWork:
private void worker_DoWork(object sender, System.ComponentModel.DoWorkEventArgs e)
{
BackgroundWorker worker = (BackgroundWorker)sender;
try
{
using (SPSite site = new SPSite((String)e.Argument))
{
SPWeb web = site.OpenWeb();
SPGroupCollection collGroups = web.SiteGroups;
if(GroupNames == null)
GroupNames = new List<string>();
int added = 0;
foreach(SPGroup oGroup in collGroups)
{
added++;
ListViewItem tmp = new ListViewItem() {
Content = oGroup.Name
};
worker.ReportProgress((added * 100)/collGroups.Count,tmp);
}
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
MessageBox.Show("Unable to locate a SharePoint site at: " + siteUrl);
}
}
That's because you're not allowed to change GUI on DoWork.
After that, each ListViewItem is added separately to your ListView. I would also recommend, that your URL is passed as an argument to RunWorkerAsync.
Edit: Add percentage to OnProgressChanged.
In your DoWork method, you are manipulating WPF controls in code on a background thread, which you are not supposed to do. Actually, you should receive errors like "Cannot access control from other thread". Probably those exceptions are caught by your catch-all error handler, and maybe even the MessageBox doesn't work from the background thread.
As a quick fix, you would have to make siteURL and collGroups class fields, move everything before the using block to your GetGroupsAndUsersButton_Click method, and everything starting with the first foreach loop to the RunworkerCompleted event, so that all code which accesses controls runs on the UI thread.
Another thing you should change is that you should not create ListViewItems in code, but use a DataTemplate instead... this is not connected to your problem, though.
You'll need:
mWorker.WorkerReportsProgress = true;
mWorker.ProgressChanged +=
new ProgressChangedEventHandler(worker_ProgressChanged);
Then in your DoWork you'll need to call:
var worker = (BackgroundWorker)sender;
worker.ReportProgress(progressAmount);
Good worked example here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc221403(v=vs.95).aspx

How to kill a thread?

I have a thread in Winform. After I exit the application or shut down the server console application, the thread continues to work. Here is the code:
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
StreamReader sr;
StreamWriter sw;
TcpClient connection;
string name;
private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
connection = new TcpClient("127.0.0.1", 5000);
sr = new StreamReader(connection.GetStream());
sw = new StreamWriter(connection.GetStream());
ChatterScreen.Text = "Welcome, please enter your name";
}
private void button3_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
//Thread t2 = new Thread(Reader);
//t2.IsBackground = true;
//t2.Start(connection);
ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem(Reader,connection);//How do i kill this thread
name = InputLine.Text;
}
string textinput;
private void button2_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
textinput = InputLine.Text;
sw.WriteLine(name+":"+textinput);
sw.Flush();
}
string msg;
string allMessages;
public void Reader(object o)
{
TcpClient con = o as TcpClient;
if (con == null)
return;
while (true)
{
msg = sr.ReadLine() + Environment.NewLine;
allMessages += msg;
Invoke(new Action(Output)); // An exception is thrown here constantly. sometimes it is thrown and sometimes if i quite the server application , the winform application freezes.
Invoke(new Action(AddNameList));
}
}
public void Output()
{
ChatterScreen.Text = allMessages;
}
}
There is no safe way to kill a thread without doing a bit of work: you should never call Abort on a thread; what you need to do is to detect in the thread that it is required to terminate prior to completing its normal execution and then you need to tell it how to carry out this termination.
In C# the easiest way to do this is to use a BackgroundWorker which is essentially an object that executes code in a background thread; it is similar to calling invoke, except you have more control over the thread's execution. You start the worker by calling RunWorkerAsync() and you instruct it to cancel by calling RunWorkerAsync(). After calling RunWorkerAsync(), the CancellationPending property of the background worker is set to true; you watch for this change in your code (i.e. in your while loop) and when it is true you terminate (i.e. exit your while loop)
while (!CancellationPending )
{
// do stuff
}
Personally I do all threading through BackgroundWorkers because they are easy to understand and offer easy ways to communicate between background and main threads
You should put an ManualResetEvent in your Reader function. Instead of while(true), do while(!mManualReset.WaitOne(0)). Then before you quit the program do mManualReset.Set() This will let the thread exit gracefully.

Multi threading in WPF using C# (with background worker)

I have written code to save an image which is generated by the application. The size of the image is around 32-35 MB. While saving the image to a BMB file, it is taking a long time, around 3-5 secs. For this purpose, I have used a background worker but when running the background worker, it shows an error like..."can't access the object as it is created on different thread".
Following is the code:
private void btnSaveDesign_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
Microsoft.Win32.SaveFileDialog sfd = new Microsoft.Win32.SaveFileDialog();
sfd.Title = "Save design as...";
sfd.Filter = "BMP|*.bmp";
if (sfd.ShowDialog() == true)
{
ww = new winWait();
ww.Show();
System.ComponentModel.BackgroundWorker bw = new System.ComponentModel.BackgroundWorker();
bw.DoWork += new System.ComponentModel.DoWorkEventHandler(bw_DoWork);
bw.RunWorkerCompleted += new System.ComponentModel.RunWorkerCompletedEventHandler(bw_RunWorkerCompleted);
fName = sfd.FileName;
cache = new CachedBitmap((BitmapSource)imgOut.Source, BitmapCreateOptions.None, BitmapCacheOption.OnLoad);
bw.RunWorkerAsync();
}
}
void bw_RunWorkerCompleted(object sender, System.ComponentModel.RunWorkerCompletedEventArgs e)
{
ww.Close();
}
void bw_DoWork(object sender, System.ComponentModel.DoWorkEventArgs e)
{
BmpBitmapEncoder encoder = new BmpBitmapEncoder();
encoder.Frames.Add(BitmapFrame.Create(cache)); //here... it says cant access...
using (FileStream file = File.OpenWrite(fName))
{
encoder.Save(file);
}
}
I have declared "cache" as a global object. (A similar trick worked when I was programming in Windows Forms with VB.NET.)
ww is the wait window that I want to be displayed while the precess is being executed.
How to do this? Is there any other simple method for multi threading in WPF?
When WPF objects are created they are assigned to a Dispatcher object. This disallows any threads other than the creating thread to access the object. This can be circumvented by freezing the object by calling the freeze method. You would need to call Freeze on your bitmapsource object. Once you have frozen your object it becomes uneditable
Your problem comes about because you are accessing an object which is not created by the background worker thread. Normally this would happen if you access a UI control which is created in the main thread and accessed from different thread.
Use the code below.
Dispatcher.Invoke
(
new Action(
delegate()
{
BmpBitmapEncoder encoder = new BmpBitmapEncoder();
encoder.Frames.Add(BitmapFrame.Create(cache));
using (FileStream file = File.OpenWrite(fName))
{
encoder.Save(file);
}
}
)
);
I think you have to pass cache as a parameter to the new thread:
bw.RunWorkerAsync(cache);
and get it from the DoWork method:
var cache=(CacheType) e.Argument;
.NET framework provides a simple way to get started in threading with
the BackgroundWorker component. This wraps much of the complexity and
makes spawning a background thread relatively safe. In addition, it
allows you to communicate between your background thread and your UI
thread without doing any special coding. You can use this component
with WinForms and WPF applications. The BackgroundWorker offers
several features which include spawning a background thread, the
ability to cancel the background process before it has completed, and
the chance to report the progress back to your UI.
public BackgroudWorker()
{
InitializeComponent();
backgroundWorker = ((BackgroundWorker)this.FindResource("backgroundWorker"));
}
private int DoSlowProcess(int iterations, BackgroundWorker worker, DoWorkEventArgs e)
{
int result = 0;
for (int i = 0; i <= iterations; i++)
{
if (worker != null)
{
if (worker.CancellationPending)
{
e.Cancel = true;
return result;
}
if (worker.WorkerReportsProgress)
{
int percentComplete =
(int)((float)i / (float)iterations * 100);
worker.ReportProgress(percentComplete);
}
}
Thread.Sleep(100);
result = i;
}
return result;
}
private void startButton_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
int iterations = 0;
if (int.TryParse(inputBox.Text, out iterations))
{
backgroundWorker.RunWorkerAsync(iterations);
startButton.IsEnabled = false;
cancelButton.IsEnabled = true;
outputBox.Text = "";
}
}
private void cancelButton_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
// TODO: Implement Cancel process
this.backgroundWorker.CancelAsync();
}
private void BackgroundWorker_DoWork(object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)
{
// e.Result = DoSlowProcess((int)e.Argument);
var bgw = sender as BackgroundWorker;
e.Result = DoSlowProcess((int)e.Argument, bgw, e);
}
private void BackgroundWorker_ProgressChanged(object sender, ProgressChangedEventArgs e)
{
workerProgress.Value = e.ProgressPercentage;
}
private void BackgroundWorker_RunWorkerCompleted(object sender, RunWorkerCompletedEventArgs e)
{
if (e.Error != null)
{
MessageBox.Show(e.Error.Message);
}
else if (e.Cancelled)
{
outputBox.Text = "Canceled";
workerProgress.Value = 0;
}
else
{
outputBox.Text = e.Result.ToString();
workerProgress.Value = 0;
}
startButton.IsEnabled = true;
cancelButton.IsEnabled = false;
}

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