In my application I am using a timer to check for updates in an RSS feed, if new items are found I pop up a custom dialog to inform the user. When I run the check manually everything works great, but when the automatic check runs in the timers Elapsed event the custom dialog is not displayed.
First of all is this a thread issue? (I am assuming it is because both the manual and automatic check use the same code).
When I run the automatic check, do I have to invoke the method that runs the check from the Timers Elapsed event handler?
Is there something I need to do in my custom dialog class?
Edit:
this is a winforms application.
Here is an example of what the code is like. (Please don't point out syntax errors in this code example, this is just a simple example not real code).
public class MainForm : System.Windows.Forms.Form
{
//This is the object that does most of the work.
ObjectThatDoesWork MyObjectThatDoesWork = new ObjectThatDoesWork();
MyObjectThatDoesWork.NewItemsFound += new NewItemsFoundEventHandler(Found_New_Items);
private void Found_New_Items(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
//Display custom dialog to alert user.
}
//Method that doesn't really exist in my class,
// but shows that the main form can call Update for a manual check.
private void Button_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
MyObjectThatDoesWork.Update();
}
//The rest of MainForm with boring main form stuff
}
public class ObjectThatDoesWork
{
System.Timers.Timer timer;
public ObjectThatDoesWork()
{
timer = new System.Timers.Timer();
timer.Interval = 600000;
timer.AutoReset = true;
timer.Elapsed += new new System.Timers.ElapsedEventHandler(TimeToWork);
timer.Start();
}
private void TimeToWork(object sender, System.Timers.ElapsedEventArgs e)
{
Update();
}
public void Update()
{
//Check for updates and raise an event if new items are found.
//The event is consumed by the main form.
OnNewItemsFound(this);
}
public delgate void NewItemsFoundEventHandler(object sender, System.EventArgs e);
public event NewItemsFoundEventHandler NewItemsFound;
protected void OnNewItemsFound(object sender)
{
if(NewItemsFound != null)
{
NewItemsFound(sender, new System.EventArgs());
}
}
}
After reading some of the comments and answers, I think my problem is that I am using a System.Timers.Timer not a System.Windows.Forms.Timer.
EDIT:
After changing to a Forms.Timer initial testing looks good (but no new items exist yet so have not seen the custom dialog). I added a bit of code to output the thread ID to a file when the update method is called. Using the Timers.Timer the thread ID was not the GUI thread, but using the Forms.Timer the thread ID is the same as the GUI.
Which timer are you using? System.Windows.Forms.Timer automatically fires the event on the UI thread. If you are using other one you will need to use Control.Invoke to call the method on UI thread.
You should use Forms.Timer here, or if you use other kind of timers, serialize calls to UI with .Invoke()
Is your application a WPF-Application? If so, you must delegate the work from your background-thread to the Dispatcher associated with the UI thread.
Post some code, so you can get better help and have a look at the Dispatcher class http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.threading.dispatcher.invoke.aspx
private static System.Threading.SynchronizationContext _UI_Context;
//call this function once from the UI thread
internal static void init_CallOnUIThread()
{
_UI_Context = System.Threading.SynchronizationContext.Current;
}
public static void CallOnUIThread(Action action, bool asynchronous = false)
{
if (!asynchronous)
_UI_Context.Send((o) =>
{
action();
}, null);
else
_UI_Context.Post((o) =>
{
action();
}, null);
}
Related
I'm writing a simple game that uses timers from the system.threading namespace to simulate wait times for actions. My goal is to have the timer execute once every second for x amount of seconds. To achieve this I added a counter in the timer callback.
The problem is any code I place after invoking the DeliveryProgressChangedEvent event seems to get ignored. My counter is never incremented thus allowing the timer to run forever.
If I invoke the event after I increment the counter, everything works fine. Just nothing after invoking the event will execute. Rather than going the easy route I'd like to understand if not resolve this problem.
I did a fair bit of research into the system.threading timer object as well as events but wasn't able to find any information related to my issue.
I created a bare bones example of my project to demonstrate the issue below.
Game Class
class Game
{
private Timer _deliveryTimer;
private int _counter = 0;
public event EventHandler DeliveryProgressChangedEvent;
public event EventHandler DeliveryCompletedEvent;
public Game()
{
_deliveryTimer = new Timer(MakeDelivery);
}
public void StartDelivery()
{
_deliveryTimer.Change(0, 1000);
}
private void MakeDelivery(object state)
{
if (_counter == 5)
{
_deliveryTimer.Change(0, Timeout.Infinite);
DeliveryCompletedEvent?.Invoke(this, EventArgs.Empty);
}
DeliveryProgressChangedEvent?.Invoke(this, EventArgs.Empty);
++_counter;
}
}
Form Class
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
Game _game = new Game();
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
_game.DeliveryProgressChangedEvent += onDeliveryProgressChanged;
_game.DeliveryCompletedEvent += onDeliveryCompleted;
pbDelivery.Maximum = 5;
}
private void onDeliveryProgressChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (InvokeRequired)
pbDelivery.BeginInvoke((MethodInvoker)delegate { pbDelivery.Increment(1); });
MessageBox.Show("Delivery Inprogress");
}
private void onDeliveryCompleted(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
MessageBox.Show("Delivery Completed");
}
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
_game.StartDelivery();
}
}
EDIT
Just to clarify what I mean. Any code I put after DeliveryProgressChangedEvent?.Invoke(this, EventArgs.Empty); will not execute. In my example ++_counter will not run. The event does fire and the onDeliveryProgressChanged handler does run.
The problem:
Using a System.Threading.Timer class, when the TimerCallback is called, events are raised, to notify the subscribers of the DeliveryProgressChangedEvent and DeliveryCompletedEvent of custom Game class of the progress of a procedure and the termination of it.
In the sample class, the subscriber (a Form class, here) updates an UI, settings the value of a ProgressBar control and also showing a MessageBox (used in the actual implementation of the class sample shown here).
It appears that after the first event is invoked:
DeliveryProgressChangedEvent?.Invoke(this, EventArgs.Empty);
++_counter;
the line where the _counter should be increased is never reached, thus the code that inspects the _counter to set the Timer to a new value is never executed.
What happens:
The System.Threading.Timer is served by ThreadPool threads (more than one). Its callback is called on a thread other than the UI thread. The events invoked from the callback are also raised in a ThreadPool thread.
The code in the handler delegate, onDeliveryProgressChanged, is then run on the same Thread.
private void onDeliveryProgressChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (InvokeRequired)
pbDelivery.BeginInvoke((MethodInvoker)delegate { pbDelivery.Increment(1); });
MessageBox.Show("Delivery Inprogress");
}
When the MessageBox is shown - it's a Modal Window - it blocks the Thread from where it's run, as usual. The code following the line where the event is invoked is never reached, so _counter is never increased:
DeliveryProgressChangedEvent?.Invoke(this, EventArgs.Empty);
++_counter;
The System.Threading.Timer can be served by more than one thread. I'm just quoting the Docs on this point, it's quite straightforward:
The callback method executed by the timer should be reentrant, because
it is called on ThreadPool threads. The callback can be executed
simultaneously on two thread pool threads if the timer interval is
less than the time required to execute the callback, or if all thread
pool threads are in use and the callback is queued multiple times.
What happens, in practice, is that while the Thread where the CallBack is executed, is blocked by the MessageBox, this doesn't stop the Timer from executing the CallBack from another thread: a new MessageBox is shown when the event is invoked and it keeps on running until it has resources.
The MessageBox has no Owner. When a MessageBox is shown without specifying the Owner, its class uses GetActiveWindow() to find an Owner for the MessageBox Window. This function tries to return the handle of the active window attached to the calling thread's message queue. But the thread from which the MessageBox is run has no active Window, as a consequence, the Owner is the Desktop (actually, IntPtr.Zero here).
This can be manually verified by activating (clicking on) the Form where the MessageBox is called: the MessageBox Window will disappear under the Form, since it's not owned by it.
How to solve:
Of course, using another Timer. The System.Windows.Forms.Timer (WinForms) or the DispatcherTimer (WPF) are the natural substitutes. Their events are raised in the UI Thread.
► The code presented here is just a WinForms implementation made to
reproduce a problem, hence these may not apply to all contexts.
Use a System.Timers.Timer: the SynchronizingObject property provides means to marshal the events back to the Thread that created the current class instance (same consideration in relation to the concrete implementation context).
Generate an AsyncOperation using the AsyncOperationManager.CreateOperation() method, then use a SendOrPostCallback delegate to let the AsyncOperation call the SynchronizationContext.Post() method (classic BackGroundWorker style).
BeginInvoke() the MessageBox, attaching it to the UI Thread SynchronizationContext. E.g.,:
this.BeginInvoke(new Action(() => MessageBox.Show(this, "Delivery Completed")));
Now the MessageBox is owned by the Form and it will behave as usual. The ThreadPool thread is free to continue: the Modal Window is synched with the UI Thread.
Avoid using a MessageBox for this kind of notifications, since it's really annoying :) There are many other ways to notify a User of status changes. The MessageBox is probably the less thoughtful.
To make them work as intended, without changing the current implementation, the Game and Form1 classes can be refactored like this:
class Game
{
private System.Threading.Timer deliveryTimer = null;
private int counter;
public event EventHandler DeliveryProgressChangedEvent;
public event EventHandler DeliveryCompletedEvent;
public Game(int eventsCount) { counter = eventsCount; }
public void StartDelivery() {
deliveryTimer = new System.Threading.Timer(MakeDelivery);
deliveryTimer.Change(1000, 1000);
}
public void StopDelivery() {
deliveryTimer?.Dispose();
deliveryTimer = null;
}
private void MakeDelivery(object state) {
if (deliveryTimer is null) return;
DeliveryProgressChangedEvent?.Invoke(this, EventArgs.Empty);
counter -= 1;
if (counter == 0) {
deliveryTimer?.Dispose();
deliveryTimer = null;
DeliveryCompletedEvent?.Invoke(this, EventArgs.Empty);
}
}
}
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
Game game = null;
public Form1() {
InitializeComponent();
pbDelivery.Maximum = 5;
game = new Game(pbDelivery.Maximum);
game.DeliveryProgressChangedEvent += onDeliveryProgressChanged;
game.DeliveryCompletedEvent += onDeliveryCompleted;
}
private void onDeliveryProgressChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
this.BeginInvoke(new MethodInvoker(() => {
pbDelivery.Increment(1);
// This MessageBox is used to test the progression of the events and
// to verify that the Dialog is now modal to the owner Form.
// Of course it's not used in an actual implentation.
MessageBox.Show(this, "Delivery In progress");
}));
}
private void onDeliveryCompleted(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
this.BeginInvoke(new Action(() => MessageBox.Show(this, "Delivery Completed")));
}
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
game.StartDelivery();
}
}
Good information. The callback method executed by the timer should be reentrant, because it is called on ThreadPool threads. The callback can be executed simultaneously on two thread pool threads if the timer interval is less than the time required to execute the callback, or if all thread pool threads are in use and the callback is queued multiple times.
This question is possibly a duplicate of How do you add a timer to a C# console application and few other similar questions but couldn't find the answer I'm looking for so asking again.
Question: How do you pass data from the Elapsed event of a Timer (System.Timers.Timer) to the thread that created the timer (that thread may not be the Main thread but another thread spawned by Main)?
I assume there could be some trivial way of achieving this eg. like the BackgroundWorker ProgressChanged event being called in the thread that created the worker, but couldn't find a way in MSDN documentation or SO. Most examples I've seen do some action in the timer thread (https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.timers.timer(v=vs.110).aspx) but don't pass anything to the original thread. Needless to say I'm pretty new to C#/.NET so a solution + pointers to references are appreciated.
Edit: I'd prefer not to use the Invoke()/InvokeRequired pattern (cf. How to use safe threading for a timer(Change timer properties from different thread) ) as this is not for a Forms application. I'm tempted to solve this by creating a BackgroundWorker that reports to the original thread at intervals (DoWork will be just a sleep() inside a loop) but thought .NET might have this already and hence the question.
Will you consider use a dispatcher? (although you need invoke some method too)
When some thread (maybe not the main thread) create the timer which you mentioned, you can create the dispatcher with the same thread too. After that, dispatcher.invoke() will let the original thread to do those task for you. See the MSDN for more information.
It seems to me that a simple locking mechanism is what you need:
private Object _sync = new Object();
void MyTimerFinished()
{
lock (_sync)
{
// Access shared data
...
}
}
void CodeExecutingInMainThread()
{
lock (_sync)
{
// Access shared data
...
}
}
Ok, so this is what I came up with (a solution with locks and Queues sounds a bit too complex for me - may be simpler but haven't tried)
public class ReportingTimer
{
public event EventHandler Elapsed;
private int _interval;
private BackgroundWorker _worker;
public ReportingTimer(int interval)
{
_interval = interval;
_worker = new BackgroundWorker();
_worker.WorkerReportsProgress = true;
_worker.WorkerSupportsCancellation = true;
_worker.DoWork += _worker_DoWork;
_worker.ProgressChanged += _worker_ProgressChanged;
}
public void Start()
{
if (!_worker.IsBusy)
{
_worker.RunWorkerAsync();
}
}
public void Stop()
{
if (_worker.IsBusy)
{
_worker.CancelAsync();
}
}
private void _worker_DoWork(object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)
{
while (!_worker.CancellationPending)
{
Thread.Sleep(_interval);
_worker.ReportProgress(1);
}
if (_worker.CancellationPending)
{
e.Cancel = true;
}
}
private void _worker_ProgressChanged(object sender, ProgressChangedEventArgs e)
{
if (!_worker.CancellationPending)
{
if (Elapsed != null)
{
Elapsed(this, new EventArgs());
}
}
}
}
Please critique.
Edit: This serves my purpose and the interface is similar to the Timer class and is actually what I wanted from the stock Timer.
So I've got an application that employs a filesystemWatcher and triggers an event just fine. The FSW will trigger a bunch of times pretty close together. I want to create a function that triggers say an hour after the last time the FSW was triggered.
I first tried using a backgroundworker: (All code is shortened for clarity)
namespace Devo
{
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
BackgroundWorker bw = new BackgroundWorker();
private void fileSystemWatcher_Created(object sender, FileSystemEventArgs e)
{
if (bw.IsBusy)
{
bw.CancelAsync(); //this is to, in a way, reset the timer for the delayed method.
}
//do a lot of stuff
bw.RunWorkerAsync();
}
private void backgroundWorker_DoWork(object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)
{
Stopwatch sw = new Stopwatch();
sw.Start();
while(sw.ElapsedMilliseconds < 180000)
{
if (bw.CancellationPending == true)
{
sw.Stop();
sw.Reset();
e.Cancel = true;
return;
}
}
sw.Stop();
sw.Reset();
DelayedMethod();
}
}
}
This didn't work as the second time bw.RunWorkerAsync() was called it was apparently busy, even though the call to bw.CancelAsync().
My next attempt involved a regular thread as I read somewhere on SO (can't find the link now) that one could not "restart" a backgroundWorker as I am trying to do.
The thread attemp is nearly identical but I thought I'd try in since there might be some constraints within the backgroundWorker that is not present in a regular thread. I thought.
namespace Devo
{
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
Thread PWC_counter_thread = new Thread(PWC_Counter);
private void fileSystemWatcher_Created(object sender, FileSystemEventArgs e)
{
if (PWC_counter_thread.IsAlive)
PWC_counter_thread.Abort();
//do a lot of stuff
PWC_counter_thread.Start();
}
static void PWC_Counter()
{
Thread.Sleep(180000);
DelayedMethod();
}
}
}
But this gave me the same error. On the second call to PWC_counter_thread.Start() is was busy.
I'm assuming that a race condition is not present as the second thread waits for, in this example, 3 minutes, and the initial FSW method takes a good full second to execute, therefore I believe that the call to .Abort() and .CancelAsync() both are done before their respective methods are completed.
Now for the questions:
Is it possible to restart a thread in the fashion I am trying? If so, what am I doing wrong?
Should I delay my method call in another way? If so, tips?
EDIT/UPDATE/SOLUTION
I never got starting and stopping a thread to work as I wanted so I found another solution to my situation.
The situation was that I had a second thread that worked as a sort of timer where it would call a method after a set amount of time. My first thread did some work and upon finishing it would start the second thread. If the first thread got fired up again before the timer-thread had finished it was supposed to kill the thread and restart it.
This proved, for me, to be difficult to get the way I wanted. So I instead took another approach towards my wanted end result. Instead of restarting the thread I simply restarted the stopwatch that my second thread was using as a counter. This gave me the result I wanted. It's probably bad practice but it works.
In your BackgroundWorker example you probably have an issue with racing. CancelAsync(), as its name implies, is an asynchronious call, meaning that BackgroundWorker does not stop working immediately and it might still work when try to restart it. To avoid that, you should subscribe to RunWorkerCompleted event and wait for it to fire before calling bw.RunWorkerAsync(); again. For example:
public Form1()
{
bw = new BackgroundWorker();
bw.RunWorkerCompleted += OnCompleted;
}
private BackgroundWorker bw;
private ManualResetEvent completed = new ManualResetEvent(false);
private void OnCompleted(object sender, RunWorkerCompletedEventArgs e)
{
completed.Set();
}
private void fileSystemWatcher_Created(object sender, FileSystemEventArgs e)
{
if (bw.IsBusy)
{
bw.CancelAsync();
completed.WaitOne();
}
//do a lot of stuff
completed.Reset();
bw.RunWorkerAsync();
}
You have multiple issues with your Thread-based example.
You should never call Thread.Abort(). Instead, you should implement a cancellation mechanism, similar to that of BackgroundWorker. Make a bool field (_isCancelled or something) and check it periodically in thread delegate.
You can not reuse a Thread object. You should always create a new one.
You would be best off encapsulating this in a class, and use a System.Threading.Timer to detect the inactivity.
Here's an example I put together. The idea is that you create an InactivityDetector with the appropriate inactivity threshold (an hour in your case) and a callback method that will be called when that period of inactivity is exceeded.
You have to call InactivityDetector.RegisterActivity() whenever activity is detected (e.g. in your case a file creation is detected).
Once the inactivity callback has been issued, it will not be called again until RegisterActivity() has been called again (this prevents multiple callbacks for the same period of extended inactivity).
Your code would pass DelayedMethod for the inactivity Action delegate.
Note that the callback is on a separate thread!
(Also note that I didn't put in any parameter validation, to keep the code shorter.)
using System;
using System.Threading;
namespace ConsoleApp1
{
sealed class Program
{
void test()
{
using (var inactivityDetector = new InactivityDetector(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(2), inactivityDetected))
{
for (int loop = 0; loop < 3; ++loop)
{
Console.WriteLine("Keeping busy once a second for 5 seconds.");
for (int i = 0; i < 5; ++i)
{
Thread.Sleep(1000);
Console.WriteLine("Registering activity");
inactivityDetector.RegisterActivity();
}
Console.WriteLine("Entering 3 second inactivity");
Thread.Sleep(3000);
inactivityDetector.RegisterActivity();
}
}
}
static void inactivityDetected()
{
Console.WriteLine("Inactivity detected.");
}
static void Main(string[] args)
{
new Program().test();
}
}
public sealed class InactivityDetector: IDisposable
{
public InactivityDetector(TimeSpan inactivityThreshold, Action onInactivity)
{
_inactivityThreshold = inactivityThreshold;
_onInactivity = onInactivity;
_timer = new Timer(timerCallback, null, (int)inactivityThreshold.TotalMilliseconds, -1);
}
public void RegisterActivity()
{
_timer.Change(-1, -1);
_timer.Change((int)_inactivityThreshold.TotalMilliseconds, -1);
}
private void timerCallback(object state)
{
_timer.Change(-1, -1);
_onInactivity();
}
public void Dispose()
{
_timer.Dispose();
}
private readonly TimeSpan _inactivityThreshold;
private readonly Action _onInactivity;
private readonly Timer _timer;
}
}
EDIT #1: I have placed worker.RunWorkerAsync() within my timer loop and my application does not shut down anymore. Although nothing seems to happen now.
For performance reasons i need to replace DispatcherTimers with a other timer that runs in a different thread. There are to much delays / freezes so DispatcherTimer is no longer a option.
I am having problems to actually update my GUI thread, my application always seems to shut down without any warnings / errors.
I have mainly been trying to experiment with BackGroundWorker in attempt to solve my problem. Everything results in a shut down of my application when i launch it.
Some code examples would be greatly apperciated.
Old code dispatcher code:
public void InitializeDispatcherTimerWeging()
{
timerWegingen = new DispatcherTimer();
timerWegingen.Tick += new EventHandler(timerWegingen_Tick);
timerWegingen.Interval = new TimeSpan(0, 0, Convert.ToInt16(minKorteStilstand));
timerWegingen.Start();
}
private void timerWegingen_Tick(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
DisplayWegingInfo();
CaculateTimeBetweenWegingen();
}
Every 5 seconds the DisplayWegingInfo() and Calculate method should be called upon.
The GUI updates happen in the Calculate method. There a button gets created dynamically and added to a observerableCollection.
Button creation (short version):
public void CreateRegistrationButton()
{
InitializeDispatcherTimerStilstand();
RegistrationButton btn = new RegistrationButton(GlobalObservableCol.regBtns.Count.ToString());
btn.RegistrationCount = GlobalObservableCol.regBtnCount;
btn.Title = "btnRegistration" + GlobalObservableCol.regBtnCount;
btn.BeginStilstand = btn.Time;
GlobalObservableCol.regBtns.Add(btn);
GlobalObservableCol.regBtnCount++;
btn.DuurStilstand = String.Format("{0:D2}:{1:D2}:{2:D2}", 0, 0, 0);
}
New code using threading timer that runs in a different thread then the GUI
public void InitializeDispatcherTimerWeging()
{
worker = new BackgroundWorker();
worker.DoWork += new DoWorkEventHandler(Worker_DoWork);
worker.RunWorkerAsync();
}
void Worker_DoWork(object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)
{
TimerCallback callback = MyTimerCallBack;
timerWegingen = new Timer(callback);
timerWegingen.Change(0, 5000);
}
private void MyTimerCallBack(object state)
{
DisplayWegingInfo();
CaculateTimeBetweenWegingen();
}
I timer runs in a separate thread then the GUI thread (that dispatcherTimer uses). But i cannot seem to be able to send this update to the UI thread itself so the updates get actually implemented in the UI.
The button gets refilled with new values every 1 sec trough a other timer. "DuurStilstand" is a dependency property
private void FillDuurStilstandRegistrationBtn()
{
TimeSpan tsSec = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(stopWatch.Elapsed.Seconds);
TimeSpan tsMin = TimeSpan.FromMinutes(stopWatch.Elapsed.Minutes);
TimeSpan tsHour = TimeSpan.FromMinutes(stopWatch.Elapsed.Hours);
if (GlobalObservableCol.regBtns.Count >= 1
&& GlobalObservableCol.regBtns[GlobalObservableCol.regBtns.Count - 1].StopWatchActive == true)
{
GlobalObservableCol.regBtns[GlobalObservableCol.regBtns.Count - 1].DuurStilstand =
String.Format("{0:D2}:{1:D2}:{2:D2}", tsHour.Hours, tsMin.Minutes, tsSec.Seconds);
}
}
Would i need to use the invoke from Dispatcher in the above method? If so how exactly?
Not sure how to call the ui thread after initializing the doWork method of the BackGroundWorker, my application keeps shutting down after right after start up.
I have tried using Dispatcher.BeginInvoke in several methods but all failed so far. At the moment i have no clue how to implement it.
All the above code is written in a separate c# class.
Best Regards,
Jackz
When I ran my sample of your code, the DisplayWegingInfo() was throwing an exception trying to access UI components. We need to call Invoke() from the Timer thread to update the UI. See DisplayWegingInfo() below. Note: this assumes that CaculateTimeBetweenWegingen() does not interact with the UI.
void Worker_DoWork(object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)
{
TimerCallback callback = MyTimerCallBack;
timerWegingen = new System.Threading.Timer(callback);
timerWegingen.Change(0, 3000);
}
private void MyTimerCallBack(object state)
{
DisplayWegingInfo();
CaculateTimeBetweenWegingen();
}
private void DisplayWegingInfo()
{
if (this.InvokeRequired)
{
this.Invoke(new Action(DisplayWegingInfo));
return;
}
// at this point, we are on the UI thread, and can update the GUI elements
this.label1.Text = DateTime.Now.ToString();
}
private void CaculateTimeBetweenWegingen()
{
Thread.Sleep(1000);
}
So I have two event handlers button1_Click() and button2_Click()
In button1_Click() I have something running like this:
toGet = textbox1.Text;
got = 0;
while (got <= toGet)
{
//DoStuff
}
But button2_Click is supposed to be a stop button, and stop button1 early.
How do I go about this?
Thanks for the help. I saw this article here about it, but couldn't get it to work.
Windows.Forms answer
The least sophisticated method is this:
private bool m_stop;
private void button1_Click (object s, EventArgs ea)
{
try
{
// Don't forget to disable all controls except the ones you want a user to be able to click while your method executes.
toGet = textbox1.Text;
got = 0;
while (got <= toGet)
{
Application.DoEvents ();
// DoEvents lets other events fire. When they are done, resume.
if (m_stop)
break;
//DoStuff
}
finally
{
// Enable the controls you disabled before.
}
}
private void button2_Click (object s, EventArgs ea)
{
m_stop = true;
}
It has the distinct advantage of letting you execute button1_Click on the UI thread, still lets the UI respond to your stop button.
It has a disadvantage that you must protect against reentrancy. What happens if they click your button1 while button1_click is already executing!?!?
Edit: Another way I have used is to use a Timer instead of a loop. Then, the stop method just stops the timer.
As much as I understood, correct me if I'm wrong, you're on single thread.
Wired, but you can check for single boolean value inside the your While loop, just as post suggested.
May be to make life easier (may be this is what "couldn't get it to work" means) is inside loop call
1) Windows Forms: Application.DoEvents()
2) WPF (little bit more tricky) : DoEvents in WPF
This to make breathe system.
You need to start the process inside the button1 in new thread, and when you press the button2 flag a local variable to false to stop the loop. like:
using System.Threading;
private volatile bool _requestStop = false;
private readonly object _oneExecuteLocker = new object();
private void OnButton1Click(ojbect sender, EventArgs e)
{
new Thread(() =>
{
if (Monitor.TryEnter(_oneExecuteLocker))
{//if we are here that is means the code is not already running..
try
{
while (!_requestStop)
{
//DoStuff
}
}
finally
{
Monitor.Exit(_oneExecuteLocker);
}
}
}){ IsBackground = true }.Start();
}
private void OnButton2Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
_requestStop = true;
}
Notes:
When ever you want to update a UI control inside the newly created thread you should use contorl.Invoke(/*the code get/set or call method in the UI*/).
The Monitro.Enter is just to be sure that your code will not executed multiple time per click if it already running.