Dispatcher.Invoke from a new thread is locking my UI - c#

i'm using wpf, there's a button on my ui.
when the user clicks it, i have a for loop that runs a new method, on a new thread using autoresetevent.
in that method on that new thread, i'm using a label, let's call it lblStatus. i want to update that label on this thread that's not on the ui. using wpf, i have to use Dispatcher.Invoke.
here's a sample of my code:
Thread thread= new Thread(StartLooking);
thread.Start();
_waitHandle.WaitOne();
private void StartLooking(object value)
{
if (lblStatus.Dispatcher.Thread == Thread.CurrentThread)
{
lblStatus.Content = "Scanning>...";
}
else
{
lblStatus.Dispatcher.Invoke(DispatcherPriority.Background, new Action(() => lblStatus.Content = "Scanning>>>>>"));
}
_waitHandle.Set();
}
the program just stops here. it doesn't change the content of the label, it returns to my ui, but blocks it.
i've tried
lblStatus.Dispatcher.Invoke(DispatcherPriority.Normal, new LblStatusThreadCheck(lblStatusThreadCheck), "Scanning...");
as well, but that isn't working also. any ideas?

The problem is that you're making it impossible for this to execute, since you're using Invoke.
Dispatcher.Invoke will not return until the UI thread processes. However, you've blocked the UI thread by calling _waitHandle.WaitOne();, and don't set the wait handle until AFTER this processes. The two effectively cause a dead lock.
If you switch this to use BeginInvoke instead, the UI will queue the element, the wait handle will set, THEN the label will update. It will work and not block, however.

Since the two previous posts already cover the problem in your code, just a suggestion: instead of
if (lblStatus.Dispatcher.Thread == Thread.CurrentThread)
try using
if (!lblStatus.CheckAccess())
It's cleaner and has the exact intent you want. Just read about it here.

You probably want to use BeginInvoke instead. Invoke will block the thread that called it until the UI thread has run the Action, and since you're setting the priority to Background, this could take some time.

Best solution I have found for .net 4.5+ is using SynchronizationContext Post
Example (Task.Run's can be as many as you want in parallel accessing UI):
private void MainWindow_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
var context = SynchronizationContext.Current;
Task.Run(() =>
{
var i = 0;
while (true)
{
context.Post((tmp) =>
{
uiText.Text = $"{i}";
}), this);
Thread.Sleep(1000);
i++;
}
});
}

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.

WPF Progress bar working but blocked in UI thread even using async

I am trying to implement an indeterminate progress bar into my program. I'm new to threading, but as far as I know one of the best options here is to add an async method, and await the "heavy" function to perform its results. So I wrote this:
public void Window_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
firstLoad();
}
private async void firstLoad()
{
LW.Title = "Loading...";
LW.Show();
filterTextBox.Text = defaultSearch;
await Task.Run(() => InitializeFilter());
}
private void InitializeFilter()
{
//Asynchronous???
Dispatcher.BeginInvoke(new Action(() => {
//... some lines of code that takes some time to run.
dataGrid.ItemContainerGenerator.StatusChanged += new EventHandler(closeLoadingWindow);
}));
private void closeLoadingWindow(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (LW != null)
{
LW.closable = true;
LW.Close();
}
}
firstLoad runs when the window is loaded, showing an indeterminate LW loadingWindow, and running the InitializeFilter() method (the heavy one). Finally, when the grid is populated and loaded, an event fires, allowing the LW window to be closed and closing it (if I didn't make it unclosable, a funny user could just close it clicking or using F4, which is not nice).
The system is working properly and everything works as expected regarding time frames, but the loading bar is frozen, not showing progress. The same LW bar works in the MainWindow with a similar set up What am I missing? Thanks in advance!
as far as I know one of the best options here is to add an async method, and await the "heavy" function to perform its results
The best option is to use Task.Run to move the heavy processing to the thread pool, and use await to retrieve its results.
The code as it currently stands uses Task.Run to move to the thread pool and then immediately turns around and uses Dispatcher to move back to the UI thread before doing the heavy processing. Thus, it's blocking the UI thread.
what this particular DataGrid displays is a CollectionView, which is not thread-safe.
Right, you can't update data-bound objects from a thread pool thread.
The best solution is to separate the heavy processing from the UI updates, something like this:
public async void Window_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
await firstLoadAsync();
}
private List<FilterType> InitializeFilter()
{
//... some lines of code that takes some time to run.
}
private async Task firstLoadAsync()
{
LW.Title = "Loading...";
LW.Show();
filterTextBox.Text = defaultSearch;
var filterData = await Task.Run(() => InitializeFilter()); // Get the plain data on a background thread
myCollectionView = new CollectionView(filterData); // Update the UI
if (LW != null)
{
LW.closable = true;
LW.Close();
}
}
do not use your dispatcher. Microsoft had the foresight to use it's magic (SynchronizationContext) to be able to update the UI thread in a method that is being executed in an async context. This is demonstrated in their async/await example found here
while under previous/other circumstances, you would have to either marshal back to the main (UI) thread to update the UI thread, or wait until completed and retrieve the results from objects who share state. Since you are using async/await then you should be fine to not use the dispatcher, and update the UI directly.

Starting task in the button click handler causes aggregate exception

please help someone.
I want to create and start a new task in the button click handler and it always causes aggregate exception. I'm doing the following:
private void btn_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
Task<Image> t = Task<Image>.Factory.StartNew(InvertImage,
TaskCreationOptions.LongRunning);
t.ContinueWith( task => {
some code here;
pictureBox1.Image = t.Result;
},
TaskContinuationOptions.OnlyOnRanToCompletition);
t.ContinueWith( task => { some code here },
TaskContinuationOptions.OnlyOnFaulted);
}
private Image InvertImage()
{ some code here }
The code if run in the main thread works perfectly, so here is definetely something wrong with my understanding of using Tasks. Thank you in advance.
By default continuation runs on default scheduler which is Threadpool Scheduler. Threadpool threads are always background threads so they can't update the UI components (as UI components always run on foreground thread). So your code won't work.
Fix: Get the scheduler from UI thread.This will ensure that the continuation runs on the same thread which created the UI component
var scheduler = TaskScheduler.FromCurrentSynchronizationContext();
and than pass it to ContinueWith function.
t.ContinueWith( task => {
some code here;
pictureBox1.Image = t.Result;
},
TaskContinuationOptions.OnlyOnRanToCompletition,scheduler);
In Winforms(or even in WPF) only the thread who create the component can update it you should make your code thread-safe.
For this reason the debugger raises an InvalidOperationException with the message, "Control control name accessed from a thread other than the thread it was created on." which is encapsulated as AggregateException because tasks encapsulate all exceptions in aggregate exception
you can use this code to iterate through all exceptions in aggregate exception raised by the task
try
{
t.Wait();
}
catch (AggregateException ae)
{
// Assume we know what's going on with this particular exception.
// Rethrow anything else. AggregateException.Handle provides
// another way to express this. See later example.
foreach (var e in ae.InnerExceptions)
{
if (e is MyCustomException)
{
Console.WriteLine(e.Message);
}
else
{
throw;
}
}
}
To make your thread safe just do something like this
// If the calling thread is different from the thread that
// created the pictureBox control, this method creates a
// SetImageCallback and calls itself asynchronously using the
// Invoke method.
// This delegate enables asynchronous calls for setting
// the text property on a TextBox control.
delegate void SetPictureBoxCallback(Image image);
// If the calling thread is the same as the thread that created
// the PictureBox control, the Image property is set directly.
private void SetPictureBox(Image image)
{
// InvokeRequired required compares the thread ID of the
// calling thread to the thread ID of the creating thread.
// If these threads are different, it returns true.
if (this.picturebox1.InvokeRequired)
{
SetPictureBoxCallback d = new SetPictureBoxCallback(SetPictureBox);
this.Invoke(d, new object[] { image });
}
else
{
picturebox1.Image= image;
}
}
Another option to use a Task result within the calling thread is using async/await key word. This way compiler do the work of capture the right TaskScheduler for you. Look code below. You need to add try/catch statements for Exceptions handling.
This way, code is still asynchronous but looks like a synchronous one, remember that a code should be readable.
var _image = await Task<Image>.Factory.StartNew(InvertImage, TaskCreationOptions.LongRunning);
pictureBox1.Image = _image;

Parallel.ForEach freezing on last loop [duplicate]

More newbie questions:
This code grabs a number of proxies from the list in the main window (I couldn't figure out how to make variables be available between different functions) and does a check on each one (simple httpwebrequest) and then adds them to a list called finishedProxies.
For some reason when I press the start button, the whole program hangs up. I was under the impression that Parallel creates separate threads for each action leaving the UI thread alone so that it's responsive?
private void start_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
// Populate a list of proxies
List<string> proxies = new List<string>();
List<string> finishedProxies = new List<string>();
foreach (string proxy in proxiesList.Items)
{
proxies.Add(proxy);
}
Parallel.ForEach<string>(proxies, (i) =>
{
string checkResult;
checkResult = checkProxy(i);
finishedProxies.Add(checkResult);
// update ui
/*
status.Dispatcher.Invoke(
System.Windows.Threading.DispatcherPriority.Normal,
new Action(
delegate()
{
status.Content = "hello" + checkResult;
}
)); */
// update ui finished
//Console.WriteLine("[{0}] F({1}) = {2}", Thread.CurrentThread.Name, i, CalculateFibonacciNumber(i));
});
}
I've tried using the code that's commented out to make changes to the UI inside the Parallel.Foreach and it makes the program freeze after the start button is pressed. It's worked for me before but I used Thread class.
How can I update the UI from inside the Parallel.Foreach and how do I make Parallel.Foreach work so that it doesn't make the UI freeze up while it's working?
Here's the whole code.
You must not start the parallel processing in your UI thread. See the example under the "Avoid Executing Parallel Loops on the UI Thread" header in this page.
Update: Or, you can simply create a new thread manuall and start the processing inside that as I see you have done. There's nothing wrong with that too.
Also, as Jim Mischel points out, you are accessing the lists from multiple threads at the same time, so there are race conditions there. Either substitute ConcurrentBag for List, or wrap the lists inside a lock statement each time you access them.
A good way to circumvent the problems of not being able to write to the UI thread when using Parallel statements is to use the Task Factory and delegates, see the following code, I used this to iterate over a series of files in a directory, and process them in a Parallel.ForEach loop, after each file is processed the UI thread is signaled and updated:
var files = GetFiles(directoryToScan);
tokenSource = new CancellationTokenSource();
CancellationToken ct = tokenSource.Token;
Task task = Task.Factory.StartNew(delegate
{
// Were we already canceled?
ct.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
Parallel.ForEach(files, currentFile =>
{
// Poll on this property if you have to do
// other cleanup before throwing.
if (ct.IsCancellationRequested)
{
// Clean up here, then...
ct.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
}
ProcessFile(directoryToScan, currentFile, directoryToOutput);
// Update calling thread's UI
BeginInvoke((Action)(() =>
{
WriteProgress(currentFile);
}));
});
}, tokenSource.Token); // Pass same token to StartNew.
task.ContinueWith((t) =>
BeginInvoke((Action)(() =>
{
SignalCompletion(sw);
}))
);
And the methods that do the actual UI changes:
void WriteProgress(string fileName)
{
progressBar.Visible = true;
lblResizeProgressAmount.Visible = true;
lblResizeProgress.Visible = true;
progressBar.Value += 1;
Interlocked.Increment(ref counter);
lblResizeProgressAmount.Text = counter.ToString();
ListViewItem lvi = new ListViewItem(fileName);
listView1.Items.Add(lvi);
listView1.FullRowSelect = true;
}
private void SignalCompletion(Stopwatch sw)
{
sw.Stop();
if (tokenSource.IsCancellationRequested)
{
InitializeFields();
lblFinished.Visible = true;
lblFinished.Text = String.Format("Processing was cancelled after {0}", sw.Elapsed.ToString());
}
else
{
lblFinished.Visible = true;
if (counter > 0)
{
lblFinished.Text = String.Format("Resized {0} images in {1}", counter, sw.Elapsed.ToString());
}
else
{
lblFinished.Text = "Nothing to resize";
}
}
}
Hope this helps!
If anyone's curious, I kinda figured it out but I'm not sure if that's good programming or any way to deal with the issue.
I created a new thread like so:
Thread t = new Thread(do_checks);
t.Start();
and put away all of the parallel stuff inside of do_checks().
Seems to be doing okay.
One problem with your code is that you're calling FinishedProxies.Add from multiple threads concurrently. That's going to cause a problem because List<T> isn't thread-safe. You'll need to protect it with a lock or some other synchronization primitive, or use a concurrent collection.
Whether that causes the UI lockup, I don't know. Without more information, it's hard to say. If the proxies list is very long and checkProxy doesn't take long to execute, then your tasks will all queue up behind that Invoke call. That's going to cause a whole bunch of pending UI updates. That will lock up the UI because the UI thread is busy servicing those queued requests.
This is what I think might be happening in your code-base.
Normal Scenario: You click on button. Do not use Parallel.Foreach loop. Use Dispatcher class and push the code to run on separate thread in background. Once the background thread is done processing, it will invoke the main UI thread for updating the UI. In this scenario, the background thread(invoked via Dispatcher) knows about the main UI thread, which it needs to callback. Or simply said the main UI thread has its own identity.
Using Parallel.Foreach loop: Once you invoke Paralle.Foreach loop, the framework uses the threadpool thread. ThreadPool threads are chosen randomly and the executing code should never make any assumption on the identity of the chosen thread. In the original code its very much possible that dispatcher thread invoked via Parallel.Foreach loop is not able to figure out the thread which it is associated with. When you use explicit thread, then it works fine because the explicit thread has its own identity which can be relied upon by the executing code.
Ideally if your main concern is all about keeping UI responsive, then you should first use the Dispatcher class to push the code in background thread and then in there use what ever logic you want to speedup the overall execution.
if you want to use parallel foreach in GUI control like button click etc
then put parallel foreach in Task.Factory.StartNew
like
private void start_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
await Task.Factory.StartNew(() =>
Parallel.ForEach(YourArrayList, (ArraySingleValue) =>
{
Console.WriteLine("your background process code goes here for:"+ArraySingleValue);
})
);
}//func end
it will resolve freeze/stuck or hang issue

c# thread and a waiting form

I connect to a webserive. While the webservice is connected i want to have a waiting form with an animated gif inside of it. The waiting form is correctly displayed but the animated give is not animated it is fixed.
Can anybody help me. I have already tried : DoEvents but the gif is still not animated.
// Create the new thread object
Thread NewThread = new Thread(new ThreadStart(RunThread));
// Start the new thread.
NewThread.Start();
// Inform everybody that the main thread is waiting
FRM_Wait waitingDialog = new FRM_Wait();
waitingDialog.Show();
waitingDialog.Activate();
Application.DoEvents();
// Wait for NewThread to terminate.
NewThread.Join();
// And it's done.
waitingDialog.Close();
MessageBox.Show("Upload erfolgreich erledigt.", "Upload Erfolgreich",
MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Exclamation);
}
public void RunThread()
{
mfsportservicedev.ServiceSoapClient servicedev = new mfsportservicedev.ServiceSoapClient();
int status = servicedev.addEvent(videosNames, videos);
}
Don't call Join on a thread from within the UI thread. Instead, disable any controls you don't want to act on until the task has completed (e.g. buttons) and then call back into the UI thread when the operation has completed - so move the "And it's done" code into a new method which is invoked at the end of the operation. If you're using .NET 4, I'd suggest using the TPL for this, as it makes it easier to represent "a task which is in progress" and to add a continuation to it. (It's also a good start for what will become the idiomatic way of doing async operations in .NET 4.5.)
The problem is coming from your join. join is synchronous, so basically you are making your UI wait till the thread finishes its work.
You want to use a callback function to come back to your UI.
Edit : ive been skeetified
You problem is here:
NewThread.Join();
This blocks the UI thread until NewThread ends.
Here's one way to do it:
private myDelegate;
// ...
myDelegate = new Action(RunThread);
myDelegate.BeginInvoke(new AsyncCallback(MyCallback),null);
// You RunThread method is now running on a separate thread
// Open your wait form here
// ...
// This callback function will be called when you delegate ends
private void MyCallback(IAsyncResult ar)
{
myDelegate.EndInvoke(ar);
// Note this is still not the UI thread, so if you want to do something with the UI you'll need to do it on the UI thread.
// using either Control.Invoke (for WinForms) or Dispatcher.Invoke (for WPF)
}
Thread.Join is a blocking call that does not pump messages so that is your problem. It is typically advised to avoid calling any kind of synchronization mechanism that causes the UI thread to block.
Here is a solution using the Task class and the Invoke marshaling technique.
private void async InitiateWebService_Click(object sender, EventArgs args)
{
FRM_Wait waitingDialog = new FRM_Wait();
waitingDialog.Show();
Task.Factory.StartNew(
() =>
{
mfsportservicedev.ServiceSoapClient servicedev = new mfsportservicedev.ServiceSoapClient();
int status = servicedev.addEvent(videosNames, videos);
waitingDialog.Invoke(
(Action)(() =>
{
waitingDialog.Close();
}));
});
}
Here is a solution using a raw Thread.
private void async InitiateWebService_Click(object sender, EventArgs args)
{
FRM_Wait waitingDialog = new FRM_Wait();
waitingDialog.Show();
var thread = new Thread(
() =>
{
mfsportservicedev.ServiceSoapClient servicedev = new mfsportservicedev.ServiceSoapClient();
int status = servicedev.addEvent(videosNames, videos);
waitingDialog.Invoke(
(Action)(() =>
{
waitingDialog.Close();
}));
});
thread.Start();
}
C# 5.0 makes this kind of pattern even easier with its new async and await keywords1.
private void async InitiateWebService_Click(object sender, EventArgs args)
{
FRM_Wait waitingDialog = new FRM_Wait();
waitingDialog.Show();
await Task.Run(
() =>
{
mfsportservicedev.ServiceSoapClient servicedev = new mfsportservicedev.ServiceSoapClient();
int status = servicedev.addEvent(videosNames, videos);
});
waitingDialog.Close();
}
1Not yet released.

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