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Cant get Stored Procedure to run in parallel to logging task in C# Winform

I am a newbie with C#. I am trying to get a task to run in parallel to a stored procedure execution. So for example - I have a stored procedure which in this instance will just be running WAITFOR DELAY '00:00:10'. During that ten seconds a label will be populated with text which will have full stops added and then remove as you would see in a loading screen.
Disabling Replication.
Disabling Replication..
Disabling Replication...
Once the proc is completed it will break out of the while loop. This is being handled by a boolean value. So _IsRunning = false, run stored procedure then set IsRunning = true. The code works exactly as I would want it to if I just use Thread.Sleep(1000), which I used for test purposes, instead of a stored procedure.
Can someone tell me why this will not work when using the stored procedure? It just gets stuck on the while loop and constantly says Disabling Replication with the loading full stops.
using System;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Windows.Forms;
namespace AsynchronousCoding
{
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
private DataAccess _access = new DataAccess();
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
private async Task LoadRapport()
{
await DisableReplication();
}
private async Task DisableReplication()
{
Task.Factory.StartNew(TestMethod);
await Task.Factory.StartNew(() => ShowProgressText("Disabling Replication"));
}
private bool _IsRunning;
private void TestMethod()
{
_isRunning= false;
//Thread.Sleep(10000);
_access.Rapport_ReplicationSetting();
_isRunning= true;
}
private void ShowProgressText(string txt)
{
var count = 0;
var logText = new StringBuilder();
logText.Append(txt);
var baseLen = logText.Length;
while (!_isRunning)
{
Thread.Sleep(250);
if (count >= 3)
{
logText.Remove(baseLen, count);
count = 0;
}
logText.Append(".");
count++;
BeginInvoke(new Action(() => { UpdateProgressText(logText.ToString()); }));
}
BeginInvoke(new Action(() => { UpdateProgressText(txt + " - Complete"); }));
Thread.Sleep(2000);
}
private void UpdateProgressText(string txt)
{
lblProgress.Text = txt;
}
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
LoadRapport();
}
}
}

Consider this simple example with CancellationToken usage. I don't suggest bool, it's not Thread-safe.
private async void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
IProgress<string> progress = new Progress<string>(s => lblProgress.Text = s);
using (CancellationTokenSource cts = new CancellationTokenSource());
{
Task animationTask = ProgressAnimationAsync(progress, cts.Token);
await DoSomeJobAsync();
// await Task.Run(() => DoSomeHeavyJob()); // uncomment for test
cts.Cancel();
await animationTask;
}
}
private async Task ProgressAnimationAsync(IProgress progress, CancellationToken token)
{
int i = 1;
while (!token.IsCancellationRequested)
{
progress.Report("Loading" + new string("." , i));
i = i == 3 ? 1 : i + 1;
await Task.Delay(250);
}
}
// as I/O-bound operation
private async Task DoSomeJobAsync()
{
await Task.Delay(10000);
}
// as CPU-bound operation
private void DoSomeHeavyJob()
{
Thread.Sleep(10000);
}
There's two different methods, you can test both.
Note: it's safe to use lblProgress.Text directly here, without IProgress synchronized callback. It's given here just for example. Create new Progress in UI Thread and you may call .Report() from any other Thread safely without Invoke or BeginInvoke.
You can learn more about X-bound operations here.

Dataflow Task.WhenAll causes A task was canceled Exception

I am new to Dataflow, and I follow this walkthrough How to: Cancel a Dataflow Block.
I click add button first, and then click cancel, but I got exception about "A task was canceled Exception" after clicking cancel button. I fail to find any way to resolve this error.
Any help would be appreciated.
Update:
Code for demo:
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
CancellationTokenSource cancellationTokenSource;
TransformBlock<WorkItem, WorkItem> startWork;
ActionBlock<WorkItem> completeWork;
ActionBlock<ToolStripProgressBar> incProgress;
ActionBlock<ToolStripProgressBar> decProgress;
TaskScheduler uiTaskScheduler;
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
uiTaskScheduler = TaskScheduler.FromCurrentSynchronizationContext();
Cancel.Enabled = false;
}
private void Add_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (!Cancel.Enabled)
{
CreatePipeline();
Cancel.Enabled = true;
}
for (int i = 0; i < 20; i++)
{
toolStripProgressBar1.Value++;
startWork.Post(new WorkItem());
}
}
private async void Cancel_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
Add.Enabled = false;
Cancel.Enabled = false;
cancellationTokenSource.Cancel();
try
{
await Task.WhenAll(
completeWork.Completion,
incProgress.Completion,
decProgress.Completion);
}
catch (OperationCanceledException)
{
throw;
}
toolStripProgressBar4.Value += toolStripProgressBar1.Value;
toolStripProgressBar4.Value += toolStripProgressBar2.Value;
// Reset the progress bars that track the number of active work items.
toolStripProgressBar1.Value = 0;
toolStripProgressBar2.Value = 0;
// Enable the Add Work Items button.
Add.Enabled = true;
}
private void CreatePipeline()
{
cancellationTokenSource = new CancellationTokenSource();
startWork = new TransformBlock<WorkItem, WorkItem>(workItem =>
{
workItem.DoWork(250, cancellationTokenSource.Token);
decProgress.Post(toolStripProgressBar1);
incProgress.Post(toolStripProgressBar2);
return workItem;
},
new ExecutionDataflowBlockOptions
{
CancellationToken = cancellationTokenSource.Token
});
completeWork = new ActionBlock<WorkItem>(workItem =>
{
workItem.DoWork(1000, cancellationTokenSource.Token);
decProgress.Post(toolStripProgressBar2);
incProgress.Post(toolStripProgressBar3);
},
new ExecutionDataflowBlockOptions
{
CancellationToken = cancellationTokenSource.Token,
MaxDegreeOfParallelism = 2
});
startWork.LinkTo(completeWork);
startWork.Completion.ContinueWith(delegate { completeWork.Complete(); },cancellationTokenSource.Token);
incProgress = new ActionBlock<ToolStripProgressBar>(progress =>
{
progress.Value++;
},
new ExecutionDataflowBlockOptions
{
CancellationToken = cancellationTokenSource.Token,
TaskScheduler = uiTaskScheduler
});
decProgress = new ActionBlock<ToolStripProgressBar>(progress => progress.Value--,
new ExecutionDataflowBlockOptions
{
CancellationToken = cancellationTokenSource.Token,
TaskScheduler = uiTaskScheduler
});
}
class WorkItem
{
public void DoWork(int milliseconds, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
{
if (cancellationToken.IsCancellationRequested == false)
{
Thread.Sleep(milliseconds);
}
}
}
}

As #SirRufo pointed out, the solution to your question is simply don't re-throw the exception after you've caught it. But to highlight some of the other techniques you can use with dataflow as discussed in the comments I put together a small sample. I've tried to keep the spirit and intent of your original code intact. To that end; the original code didn't show how the flow would complete normally, as opposed to cancelled, so I left it out here as well.
using System;
using System.Data;
using System.Linq;
using System.Threading;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Threading.Tasks.Dataflow;
using System.Windows.Forms;
namespace WindowsFormsApp1 {
public partial class Form1 : Form {
private CancellationTokenSource cancellationTokenSource;
private TransformBlock<WorkItem, WorkItem> startWork;
private ActionBlock<WorkItem> completeWork;
private IProgress<int> progressBar1Value;
private IProgress<int> progressBar2Value;
public Form1() {
InitializeComponent();
btnCancel.Enabled = false;
}
private async void btnAdd_Click(object sender, EventArgs e) {
if(!btnCancel.Enabled) {
CreatePipeline();
btnCancel.Enabled = true;
}
var data = Enumerable.Range(0, 20).Select(_ => new WorkItem());
foreach(var workItem in data) {
await startWork.SendAsync(workItem);
progressBar1.Value++;
}
}
private async void btnCancel_Click(object sender, EventArgs e) {
btnAdd.Enabled = false;
btnCancel.Enabled = false;
cancellationTokenSource.Cancel();
await completeWork.Completion.ContinueWith(tsk => this.Invoke(new Action(() => this.Text = "Flow Cancelled")),
TaskContinuationOptions.OnlyOnCanceled);
progressBar4.Value += progressBar1.Value;
progressBar4.Value += progressBar2.Value;
// Reset the progress bars that track the number of active work items.
progressBar1.Value = 0;
progressBar2.Value = 0;
// Enable the Add Work Items button.
btnAdd.Enabled = true;
}
private void CreatePipeline() {
cancellationTokenSource = new CancellationTokenSource();
progressBar1Value = new Progress<int>(_ => progressBar1.Value++);
progressBar2Value = new Progress<int>(_ => progressBar2.Value++);
startWork = new TransformBlock<WorkItem, WorkItem>(async workItem => {
await workItem.DoWork(250, cancellationTokenSource.Token);
progressBar1Value.Report(0); //Value is ignored since the progressbar value is simply incremented
progressBar2Value.Report(0); //Value is ignored since the progressbar value is simply incremented
return workItem;
},
new ExecutionDataflowBlockOptions {
CancellationToken = cancellationTokenSource.Token
});
completeWork = new ActionBlock<WorkItem>(async workItem => {
await workItem.DoWork(1000, cancellationTokenSource.Token);
progressBar1Value.Report(0); //Value is ignored since the progressbar value is simply incremented
progressBar2Value.Report(0); //Value is ignored since the progressbar value is simply incremented
},
new ExecutionDataflowBlockOptions {
CancellationToken = cancellationTokenSource.Token,
MaxDegreeOfParallelism = 2
});
startWork.LinkTo(completeWork, new DataflowLinkOptions() { PropagateCompletion = true });
}
}
public class WorkItem {
public async Task DoWork(int milliseconds, CancellationToken cancellationToken) {
if(cancellationToken.IsCancellationRequested == false) {
await Task.Delay(milliseconds);
}
}
}
}

After checking the code, I released that the tasks will be cancelled if I click Cancel.
await Task.WhenAll(
completeWork.Completion,
incProgress.Completion,
decProgress.Completion);
But, above code Task.WhenAll need all of the tasks return complete status, then the "A task was canceled Exception" throw as expected if it returned cancelled instead of completed.
For a possible way to resolve this issue, we should return Task completed if we cancelled the task, and the code below works for me.
await Task.WhenAll(
completeWork.Completion.ContinueWith(task => cancelWork(task, "completeWork"), TaskContinuationOptions.OnlyOnCanceled),
incProgress.Completion.ContinueWith(task => cancelWork(task, "incProgress"), TaskContinuationOptions.OnlyOnCanceled),
decProgress.Completion.ContinueWith(task => cancelWork(task, "decProgress"), TaskContinuationOptions.OnlyOnCanceled));
Is it reasonable?

winform Form becoming non responsive

I am starting a thread and updating form element but following code is making form unresposive please suggest what I am doing wrong here.
private void StartTimer()
{
Thread t = new Thread(Updates);
t.IsBackground = true;
t.Start();
}
private void Updates()
{
try
{
while (true)
{
this.Invoke((MethodInvoker)delegate
{
lblTotalImages.Text = AppHelper.GetTotalCount(textBox1.Text).ToString();
if (sitename != null)
{
lblTotalPosted.Text = AppHelper.GetPostedCount(sitename).ToString();
// Application.DoEvents();
}
});
Thread.Sleep(1000);
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
}
}
Edit-------
Thanks #Servy for introducing Task Parallel Library i have never used it here is solution i come up with i used timer and task factory
ya for .net 4 without library extension and vs 2010 i have this working perfectly
enter code here private void timer1_Tick(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
Task.Factory.StartNew(() => AppHelper.GetTotalCount(textBox1.Text)).ContinueWith(t => lblTotalImages.Text = t.Result.ToString(), TaskScheduler.FromCurrentSynchronizationContext());
if (sitename != null)
{
Task.Factory.StartNew(() => AppHelper.GetPostedCount(sitename)).ContinueWith(t => lblTotalPosted.Text = t.Result.ToString(), TaskScheduler.FromCurrentSynchronizationContext());
}
}

You are doing some sort of long running non-UI operation inside of the call to Invoke, which means it's being done in the UI thread. You should strive to only be updating the UI in the UI thread; ensure that any long running non-UI code is outside of any invocations to the UI thread.
The use of await also allows this solution to be written in a much simpler and more effective manor:
public async void StartTimer()
{
while (true)
{
string text = textBox1.Text;
lblTotalImages.Text = await Task.Run(() =>
AppHelper.GetTotalCount(text).ToString());
if (sitename != null)
{
lblTotalPosted.Text = await Task.Run(() =>
AppHelper.GetPostedCount(sitename).ToString());
}
await Task.Delay(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1));
}
}

Modal Progress Form showing IProgress and supporting Cancellation of async Task for WinForms

I have been attempting to have a re-usable modal progress window (I.e. progressForm.ShowDialog()) to show progress from a running async task, including enabling cancellation.
I have seen some implementations that launch start the async task by hooking the Activated event handler on the form, but I need to start the task first, then show the modal dialog that will show it's progress, and then have the modal dialog close when completed or cancellation is completed (note - I want the form closed when cancellation is completed - signalled to close from the task continuation).
I currently have the following - and although this working - are there issues with this - or could this be done in a better way?
I did read that I need to run this CTRL-F5, without debugging (to avoid the AggregateException stopping the debugger in the continuation - and let it be caught in the try catch as in production code)
ProgressForm.cs
- Form with ProgressBar (progressBar1) and Button (btnCancel)
public partial class ProgressForm : Form
{
public ProgressForm()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
public event Action Cancelled;
private void btnCancel_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (Cancelled != null) Cancelled();
}
public void UpdateProgress(int progressInfo)
{
this.progressBar1.Value = progressInfo;
}
}
Services.cs
- Class file containing logic consumed by WinForms app (as well as console app)
public class MyService
{
public async Task<bool> DoSomethingWithResult(
int arg, CancellationToken token, IProgress<int> progress)
{
// Note: arg value would normally be an
// object with meaningful input args (Request)
// un-quote this to test exception occuring.
//throw new Exception("Something bad happened.");
// Procressing would normally be several Async calls, such as ...
// reading a file (e.g. await ReadAsync)
// Then processing it (CPU instensive, await Task.Run),
// and then updating a database (await UpdateAsync)
// Just using Delay here to provide sample,
// using arg as delay, doing that 100 times.
for (int i = 0; i < 100; i++)
{
token.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
await Task.Delay(arg);
progress.Report(i + 1);
}
// return value would be an object with meaningful results (Response)
return true;
}
}
MainForm.cs
- Form with Button (btnDo).
public partial class MainForm : Form
{
public MainForm()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
private async void btnDo_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
CancellationTokenSource cts = new CancellationTokenSource();
CancellationToken token = cts.Token;
// Create the ProgressForm, and hook up the cancellation to it.
ProgressForm progressForm = new ProgressForm();
progressForm.Cancelled += () => cts.Cancel();
// Create the progress reporter - and have it update
// the form directly (if form is valid (not disposed))
Action<int> progressHandlerAction = (progressInfo) =>
{
if (!progressForm.IsDisposed) // don't attempt to use disposed form
progressForm.UpdateProgress(progressInfo);
};
Progress<int> progress = new Progress<int>(progressHandlerAction);
// start the task, and continue back on UI thread to close ProgressForm
Task<bool> responseTask
= MyService.DoSomethingWithResultAsync(100, token, progress)
.ContinueWith(p =>
{
if (!progressForm.IsDisposed) // don't attempt to close disposed form
progressForm.Close();
return p.Result;
}, TaskScheduler.FromCurrentSynchronizationContext());
Debug.WriteLine("Before ShowDialog");
// only show progressForm if
if (!progressForm.IsDisposed) // don't attempt to use disposed form
progressForm.ShowDialog();
Debug.WriteLine("After ShowDialog");
bool response = false;
// await for the task to complete, get the response,
// and check for cancellation and exceptions
try
{
response = await responseTask;
MessageBox.Show("Result = " + response.ToString());
}
catch (AggregateException ae)
{
if (ae.InnerException is OperationCanceledException)
Debug.WriteLine("Cancelled");
else
{
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
foreach (var ie in ae.InnerExceptions)
{
sb.AppendLine(ie.Message);
}
MessageBox.Show(sb.ToString());
}
}
finally
{
// Do I need to double check the form is closed?
if (!progressForm.IsDisposed)
progressForm.Close();
}
}
}
Modified code - using TaskCompletionSource as recommended...
private async void btnDo_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
bool? response = null;
string errorMessage = null;
using (CancellationTokenSource cts = new CancellationTokenSource())
{
using (ProgressForm2 progressForm = new ProgressForm2())
{
progressForm.Cancelled +=
() => cts.Cancel();
var dialogReadyTcs = new TaskCompletionSource<object>();
progressForm.Shown +=
(sX, eX) => dialogReadyTcs.TrySetResult(null);
var dialogTask = Task.Factory.StartNew(
() =>progressForm.ShowDialog(this),
cts.Token,
TaskCreationOptions.None,
TaskScheduler.FromCurrentSynchronizationContext());
await dialogReadyTcs.Task;
Progress<int> progress = new Progress<int>(
(progressInfo) => progressForm.UpdateProgress(progressInfo));
try
{
response = await MyService.DoSomethingWithResultAsync(50, cts.Token, progress);
}
catch (OperationCanceledException) { } // Cancelled
catch (Exception ex)
{
errorMessage = ex.Message;
}
finally
{
progressForm.Close();
}
await dialogTask;
}
}
if (response != null) // Success - have valid response
MessageBox.Show("MainForm: Result = " + response.ToString());
else // Faulted
if (errorMessage != null) MessageBox.Show(errorMessage);
}

I think the biggest issue I have, is that using await (instead of
ContinueWith) means I can't use ShowDialog because both are blocking
calls. If I call ShowDialog first the code is blocked at that point,
and the progress form needs to actually start the async method (which
is what I want to avoid). If I call await
MyService.DoSomethingWithResultAsync first, then this blocks and I
can't then show my progress form.
The ShowDialog is indeed a blocking API in the sense it doesn't return until the dialog has been closed. But it is non-blocking in the sense it continues to pump messages, albeit on a new nested message loop. We can utilize this behavior with async/await and TaskCompletionSource:
private async void btnDo_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
CancellationTokenSource cts = new CancellationTokenSource();
CancellationToken token = cts.Token;
// Create the ProgressForm, and hook up the cancellation to it.
ProgressForm progressForm = new ProgressForm();
progressForm.Cancelled += () => cts.Cancel();
var dialogReadyTcs = new TaskCompletionSource<object>();
progressForm.Load += (sX, eX) => dialogReadyTcs.TrySetResult(true);
// show the dialog asynchronousy
var dialogTask = Task.Factory.StartNew(
() => progressForm.ShowDialog(),
token,
TaskCreationOptions.None,
TaskScheduler.FromCurrentSynchronizationContext());
// await to make sure the dialog is ready
await dialogReadyTcs.Task;
// continue on a new nested message loop,
// which has been started by progressForm.ShowDialog()
// Create the progress reporter - and have it update
// the form directly (if form is valid (not disposed))
Action<int> progressHandlerAction = (progressInfo) =>
{
if (!progressForm.IsDisposed) // don't attempt to use disposed form
progressForm.UpdateProgress(progressInfo);
};
Progress<int> progress = new Progress<int>(progressHandlerAction);
try
{
// await the worker task
var taskResult = await MyService.DoSomethingWithResultAsync(100, token, progress);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
while (ex is AggregateException)
ex = ex.InnerException;
if (!(ex is OperationCanceledException))
MessageBox.Show(ex.Message); // report the error
}
if (!progressForm.IsDisposed && progressForm.Visible)
progressForm.Close();
// this make sure showDialog returns and the nested message loop is over
await dialogTask;
}

Can Task MaxDegreeOfParallelism can report after finish handle file?

I am opening n concurrent threads in my function:
List<string> _files = new List<string>();
public void Start()
{
CancellationTokenSource _tokenSource = new CancellationTokenSource();
var token = _tokenSource.Token;
Task.Factory.StartNew(() =>
{
try
{
Parallel.ForEach(_files,
new ParallelOptions
{
MaxDegreeOfParallelism = 5 //limit number of parallel threads
},
file =>
{
if (token.IsCancellationRequested)
return;
//do work...
});
}
catch (Exception)
{ }
}, _tokenSource.Token).ContinueWith(
t =>
{
//finish...
}
, TaskScheduler.FromCurrentSynchronizationContext() //to ContinueWith (update UI) from UI thread
);
}
there is a way to know while this function still processing that 1 file finish ? i am now talking about ContinueWith which this is the case after all my list has finished.

Not sure I perfectly understand your issue but you could use some standard notification through a method:
public void Start()
{
CancellationTokenSource _tokenSource = new CancellationTokenSource();
var token = _tokenSource.Token;
Task.Factory.StartNew(() =>
{
try
{
Parallel.ForEach(_files,
new ParallelOptions
{
MaxDegreeOfParallelism = 5 //limit number of parallel threads
},
file =>
{
if (token.IsCancellationRequested)
return;
//do work...
OnDone(file);
});
}
catch (Exception)
{ }
}, _tokenSource.Token).ContinueWith(
t =>
{
//finish...
}
, TaskScheduler.FromCurrentSynchronizationContext() //to ContinueWith (update UI) from UI thread
);
}
public void OnDone(string fileName)
{
// Update the UI, assuming you're using WPF
someUIComponent.Dispatcher.BeginInvoke(...)
}
You may need additional locks if you update some shared state, but to only update the UI (e.g. a row in a datagrid or an element in a list) should be fine because the synchronization is enforced by the dispatcher invocation.