Develop Reference

C# - Make UI function during like a infinite loop until button pressed

i make a code in C# where i extract some records from an Access database , but i need the while going to the next iteration to depend on the click of a button. i tried with some Thread or Tasks , but it didn't worked because it blocked the UI which i need it to be seen and clickable.
Here's the code:
bool nextClick = false ;
while (readerSelect.Read())
{
// show the correct panel
if (string.Compare(readerSelect[2].ToString(), "P1") == 0)
{
// panel with type 1
textBoxP1Text1.Text = readerSelect[3].ToString();
textBoxP1Text2.Text = readerSelect[4].ToString();
pictureBoxP1Image.ImageLocation = readerSelect[6].ToString();
}
else
{
// panel with type 2
textBoxP1Text2.Text = readerSelect[5].ToString();
}
//this while need to be kind of infinite so the interation can't be processed and
//so when i need to change iteration i click the buttonNext
while (!nextClick) {
startWhile:;
MethodInvoker mi = delegate () {
if (nextClick)
{
Application.DoEvents();
// System.Windows.Forms.Application.Run();
}
};
this.Invoke(mi);
//break;
goto startWhile;
}
private void buttonNext_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
// click on the next button
nextClick = true;
}

You can use a semaphore within an async task, have the button Release it during each click, and have the while loop await it each time through. Here's a quick example, using a form that has a button1 and a label1 added to it:
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
private readonly SemaphoreSlim signal = new SemaphoreSlim(0, int.MaxValue);
public Form1()
{
this.InitializeComponent();
this.RunLoop();
}
private async void RunLoop()
{
var i = 0;
while (true)
{
this.label2.Text = $"Enqueued: {this.signal.CurrentCount}";
await this.signal.WaitAsync(); // Wait button click async
await Task.Delay(1000); // Simulate work
this.label1.Text = $"Completed: {++i}";
}
}
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
this.signal.Release();
this.label2.Text = $"Enqueued: {this.signal.CurrentCount + 1}";
// Or if you want to limit the # people can queue up, then put this whole
// thing in an `if (signal.CurrentCount < myLimit)` block, and optionally
// disable the button once limit has been reached, and re-enable it right
// before the `WaitAsync` call above.
}
}

While Dax Fohl's answer works, it seems like you've got a problem in your design. I think you're violating the Single Responsibility Principle by having too much business logic going on in the Form class.
I'd recommend factoring out the business logic into its own class. Then rather than running through everything in a loop, you simply have the button click event process the next record and display the result. Here's an example of what I mean:
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
private readonly DataProcessor dataProcessor = new DataProcessor();
public Form1()
{
this.InitializeComponent();
}
private void button1Next_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
this.buttonNext.Enabled = false;
this.ProcessNext();
}
private async void ProcessNext()
{
string s = await this.dataProcessor.ProcessNext();
this.textBoxP1Text1.Text = s;
this.buttonNext.Enabled = true;
}
}
public class DataProcessor
{
private readonly Random r = new Random(); // Or reader or whatever.
public async Task<string> ProcessNext() // Just using `string` as an example.
{
await Task.Delay(1000);
return this.r.Next().ToString();
}
}
I think this will be easier to understand and more maintainable in the future. When a new team member looks at semaphore stuff (or your future self), it'll be hard to understand/remember what the point of all that was. Here, you just have a local function that does one thing and is easy to follow.

"Only a single ContentDialog can be open at any time." error while opening another contentdialog

I am using Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls.ContentDialog to show a confirmation. And based on the response from the first dialog I would (or would not) show another dialog. But, when I am trying to open the second content dialog it throws : "Only a single ContentDialog can be open at any time." error. Even though in the UI, first dialog would be closed but somehow I am still not able to open the second dialog. Any idea?

I have created some code to handle this type of conundrum in my Apps:
public static class ContentDialogMaker
{
public static async void CreateContentDialog(ContentDialog Dialog, bool awaitPreviousDialog) { await CreateDialog(Dialog, awaitPreviousDialog); }
public static async Task CreateContentDialogAsync(ContentDialog Dialog, bool awaitPreviousDialog) { await CreateDialog(Dialog, awaitPreviousDialog); }
static async Task CreateDialog(ContentDialog Dialog, bool awaitPreviousDialog)
{
if (ActiveDialog != null)
{
if (awaitPreviousDialog)
{
await DialogAwaiter.Task;
DialogAwaiter = new TaskCompletionSource<bool>();
}
else ActiveDialog.Hide();
}
ActiveDialog = Dialog;
ActiveDialog.Closed += ActiveDialog_Closed;
await ActiveDialog.ShowAsync();
ActiveDialog.Closed -= ActiveDialog_Closed;
}
public static ContentDialog ActiveDialog;
static TaskCompletionSource<bool> DialogAwaiter = new TaskCompletionSource<bool>();
private static void ActiveDialog_Closed(ContentDialog sender, ContentDialogClosedEventArgs args) { DialogAwaiter.SetResult(true); }
}
To use these Methods, you need to create the ContentDialog and its content in a variable, then pass the variable, and bool into the Method.
Use CreateContentDialogAsync(), if you require a callback in your app code, say if you have a button in your Dialog, and you want wait for a button press, and then get the value from the form in code after the dialog.
Use CreateContentDialog(), if you don't need to wait for the Dialog to complete in your UI Code.
Use awaitPreviousDialog to wait for the previous dialog to complete before showing the next Dialog, or set false, to remove the previous Dialog, then show the next Dialog, say, if you want to show an Error Box, or the next Dialog is more important.
Example:
await ContentDialogMaker.CreateContentDialogAsync(new ContentDialog
{
Title = "Warning",
Content = new TextBlock
{
Text = "Roaming Appdata Quota has been reached, if you are seeing this please let me know via feedback and bug reporting, this means that any further changes to data will not be synced across devices.",
TextWrapping = TextWrapping.Wrap
},
PrimaryButtonText = "OK"
}, awaitPreviousDialog: true);

William Bradley's approach above is good. Just to polish it up a bit, here is an extension method to submit and await the showing of a content dialog; the dialog will be shown after all the other content dialogs that have already been submitted. Note: by the time the user clicks through earlier backlogged dialogs you may no longer want to show the dialog that you have submitted; to indicate this you may pass a predicate that will be tested after the other dialogs have been dismissed.
static public class ContentDialogExtensions
{
static public async Task<ContentDialogResult> EnqueueAndShowIfAsync( this ContentDialog contentDialog, Func<bool> predicate = null)
{
TaskCompletionSource<Null> currentDialogCompletion = new TaskCompletionSource<Null>();
TaskCompletionSource<Null> previousDialogCompletion = null;
// No locking needed since we are always on the UI thread.
if (!CoreApplication.MainView.CoreWindow.Dispatcher.HasThreadAccess) { throw new NotSupportedException("Can only show dialog from UI thread."); }
previousDialogCompletion = ContentDialogExtensions.PreviousDialogCompletion;
ContentDialogExtensions.PreviousDialogCompletion = currentDialogCompletion;
if (previousDialogCompletion != null) {
await previousDialogCompletion.Task;
}
var whichButtonWasPressed = ContentDialogResult.None;
if (predicate == null || predicate()) {
whichButtonWasPressed = await contentDialog.ShowAsync();
}
currentDialogCompletion.SetResult(null);
return whichButtonWasPressed;
}
static private TaskCompletionSource<Null> PreviousDialogCompletion = null;
}
Another way might be to use a SemaphoreSlim(1,1).

"Only a single ContentDialog can be open at a time"
This statement is not entirely true. You can only ShowAsync one ContentDialog at a time. All you need to do is hide the current ContentDialog before opening another one. Then, after the "await ShowAsync" of the second ContentDailog, your simply call "var T = this.ShowAync()" to unhide it. Example:
public sealed partial class MyDialog2 : ContentDialog
{
...
}
public sealed partial class MyDialog1 : ContentDialog
{
...
private async void Button1_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
// Hide MyDialog1
this.Hide();
// Show MyDialog2 from MyDialog1
var C = new MyDialog2();
await C.ShowAsync();
// Unhide MyDialog1
var T = ShowAsync();
}
}

I know this is slightly old, but one simpler solution instead of going through all this pain is to just register a callback for the ContentDialog_Closed event. By this point you can be sure the previous dialog has been closed, and can open your next dialog. :)

Only a single ContentDialog can be open at any time.
That is a fact. (I was really surprised, but just for a moment)
You can't have more than one at any time and it is more like guideline from Microsoft, because it's really messy to have multiple dialogs on top of each other filled with content.
Try to change your UX to display only one sophisticated ContentDialog and for all other messages use MessageDialog - it supports multiple buttons(only two for phones, but more on desktop) for user response but without Checkboxes or similar "smart"-content stuff.
In my case MessageDialogs were really helpful, but in some areas I used chained ContentDialogs but for that you must await the first one, and open second right after without any exceptions. In your case it seems like ContentDialog was not fully closed when you tried to open next one.
Hope it helps!

I like this answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/47986634/942855, this will allow us ot handle binding all events.
So extended it a little to check the multiple calls to show dialog.
private int _dialogDisplayCount;
private async void Logout_OnClick(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
try
{
_dialogDisplayCount++;
ContentDialog noWifiDialog = new ContentDialog
{
Title = "Logout",
Content = "Are you sure, you want to Logout?",
PrimaryButtonText = "Yes",
CloseButtonText = "No"
};
noWifiDialog.PrimaryButtonClick += ContentDialog_PrimaryButtonClick;
//await noWifiDialog.ShowAsync();
await noWifiDialog.EnqueueAndShowIfAsync(() => _dialogDisplayCount);
}
catch (Exception exception)
{
_rootPage.NotifyUser(exception.ToString(), NotifyType.DebugErrorMessage);
}
finally
{
_dialogDisplayCount = 0;
}
}
modified predicate
public class Null { private Null() { } }
public static class ContentDialogExtensions
{
public static async Task<ContentDialogResult> EnqueueAndShowIfAsync(this ContentDialog contentDialog, Func<int> predicate = null)
{
TaskCompletionSource<Null> currentDialogCompletion = new TaskCompletionSource<Null>();
// No locking needed since we are always on the UI thread.
if (!CoreApplication.MainView.CoreWindow.Dispatcher.HasThreadAccess) { throw new NotSupportedException("Can only show dialog from UI thread."); }
var previousDialogCompletion = _previousDialogCompletion;
_previousDialogCompletion = currentDialogCompletion;
if (previousDialogCompletion != null)
{
await previousDialogCompletion.Task;
}
var whichButtonWasPressed = ContentDialogResult.None;
if (predicate == null || predicate() <=1)
{
whichButtonWasPressed = await contentDialog.ShowAsync();
}
currentDialogCompletion.SetResult(null);
return whichButtonWasPressed;
}
private static TaskCompletionSource<Null> _previousDialogCompletion;
}

ManagementObjectSearcher causes re-entrancy issues for onclick handler

I am having an odd problem with protecting a section of code. My application is a tray app. I create a NotifyIcon inside my class (ApplicationContext). I have assigned a balloon click handler and a double click handler to the NotifyIcon object. there is also a context menu but I am not showing all code. Only important pieces.
public class SysTrayApplicationContext: ApplicationContext
{
private NotifyIcon notifyIcon;
private MainForm afDashBoardForm;
public SysTrayApplicationContext()
{
this.notifyIcon = new NotifyIcon();
this.notifyIcon.BalloonTipClicked += notifyIcon_BalloonTipClicked;
this.notifyIcon.MouseDoubleClick += notifyIcon_MouseDoubleClick;
// ... more code
}
Both handlers launch or create/show my form:
private void notifyIcon_MouseDoubleClick(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
if (e.Button == MouseButtons.Left)
{
openDashboard();
}
}
private void notifyIcon_BalloonTipClicked(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
openDashboard();
}
private void openDashboard()
{
if (dashBoardForm != null)
{
log.Debug("Dashboard form created already, so Activate it");
dashBoardForm.Activate();
}
else
{
log.Debug("Dashboard form does not exist, create it");
dashBoardForm = new MainForm();
dashBoardForm.Show();
}
}
There is a problem with the above code. Maybe more than 1. Issue: it is possible to display 2 dashboard forms which is not what I want. If user double clicks on tray icon while balloon message is displaying causes a race condition in openDashboard. I can reproduce this easily. So I added a lock around the code in openDashboard code and, to my surprise, that did NOT prevent 2 dashboard forms from displaying. I should not be able to create 2 MainForms. Where am I going wrong here?
here is the updated code with lock statement:
private void openDashboard()
{
lock (dashBoardFormlocker)
{
if (dashBoardForm != null)
{
log.Debug("Dashboard form created already, so Activate it");
dashBoardForm.Activate();
}
else
{
log.Debug("Dashboard form does not exist, create it");
dashBoardForm = new MainForm();
dashBoardForm.Show();
}
}
}
Note: lock object was added to the class and initialized in constructor.
private object dashBoardFormlocker;
UPDATE: Showing more code. this is how code gets started :
static void Main()
{
if (SingleInstance.Start())
{
Application.EnableVisualStyles();
Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(false);
XmlConfigurator.Configure();
// For a system tray application we don't want to create
// a form, we instead create a new ApplicationContext. The Run method takes
Application.Run(new SysTrayApplicationContext());
SingleInstance.Stop();
SingleInstance.Dispose();
}
}
}
UPDATE 2: Provide more code for clarity
public partial class MainForm : Form
{
public MainForm()
{
log.Trace("MainForm constructor...");
InitializeComponent();
// ... code not shown
this.label_OSVersion.Text = getOSFriendlyName();
// .. more code
}
private string getOSFriendlyName()
{
try
{
string result = string.Empty;
var mgmtObj = (from x in new ManagementObjectSearcher("SELECT Caption FROM Win32_OperatingSystem").Get().OfType<ManagementObject>()
select x.GetPropertyValue("Caption")).FirstOrDefault();
result = mgmtObj != null ? mgmtObj.ToString() : string.Empty;
OperatingSystem os = Environment.OSVersion;
String sp = os.ServicePack ?? string.Empty;
return !string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(result) ? result + sp : "Unknown";
}
catch (System.Exception ex)
{
log.Error("Error trying to get the OS version", ex);
return "Unknown";
}
}
}

The main UI thread must always pump a message loop to support communication from COM components.
So when you do a blocking operation from the UI thread like locking or joining a thread, (EDIT: edited based on Peter Duniho's fix) the UI thread will enter an 'alertable' state, allowing COM to dispatch certain type of messages, which in turn can cause re-entrancy issues like in your scenario.
Look at the answer to this question (Why did entering a lock on a UI thread trigger an OnPaint event?) for a much more accurate explanation.
Looking at the source code of ManagementObjectSearcher.Get there is a lock (inside Initialize), and since you call it from the constructor of your form, it may lead to the second event triggering while the form's constructor has not finished. The assignment to the dashBoardFormlocker variable only happens after the constructor finishes, so that would explain why it was null on the second entry.
The moral of the story is never do blocking operations on the UI thread.

Without a good, minimal, complete code example that reliably reproduces the problem, it's impossible to know for sure what the problem is. But the guess by answerer tzachs seems reasonable. If so, you can fix your problem by changing your method to look like this:
private bool _dashboardOpen;
private void openDashboard()
{
if (_dashboardOpen)
{
if (dashBoardForm != null)
{
log.Debug("Dashboard form created already, so Activate it");
dashBoardForm.Activate();
}
}
else
{
log.Debug("Dashboard form does not exist, create it");
_dashboardOpen = true;
dashBoardForm = new MainForm();
dashBoardForm.Show();
}
}
In that way, any re-entrant attempt to open the window will be detected. Note that you still need the check for null before actually activating; you can't activate a window that hasn't actually finished being created yet. The subsequent call to Show() will take care of activation anyway, so ignoring the activation in the re-entrant case shouldn't matter.

Providing multiple instances of a form yet processing events one at a time

I need to be able to let multiple instances of the same form be open as my application can be used in different places at once. On the other hand I need to be able to process the operations during the "OK" event one at a time to ensure data is stored safely and not overwritten by another form instance by accident.
I show my form using the .Show() method as I am using a few delegates in it:
private void newToolStripMenuItem_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
bookingForm = new BookingForm(AddMemberBooking, AddUserBooking, CloseBooking);
bookingForm.Show();
}
I have tried to use the mutex to allow only one event of the OK button being pressed happen at a time, i have combined this with a Thread to meet the criteria i need.
When i click on the "OK" button I am given the following error:
Cross-thread operation not valid: Control 'comboBoxDay' accessed from a thread other than the thread it was created on.
This is the code for my booking form class:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Threading;
namespace Collection
{
//Allows the class to be serialized
[Serializable()]
public delegate void AddMemberBookingMethod(int date, int time, int mNo);
public delegate void AddUserBookingMethod(int date, int time, string fName, string lName, string pCode);
public delegate void CloseBookingFormMethod();
public partial class BookingForm : Form
{
public CloseBookingFormMethod CloseBookingForm;
public AddMemberBookingMethod AddMemberBooking;
public AddUserBookingMethod AddUserBooking;
private Mutex bookingMut = new Mutex();
private Thread thread;
public bool IsUser;
public BookingForm(AddMemberBookingMethod ambm, AddUserBookingMethod aubm, CloseBookingFormMethod cbfm)
{
InitializeComponent();
AddMemberBooking = ambm;
AddUserBooking = aubm;
CloseBookingForm = cbfm;
checkBoxMember.Checked = true;
//Control.CheckForIllegalCrossThreadCalls = false;
}
private void checkBoxUser_CheckedChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (checkBoxUser.Checked)
{
IsUser = true;
checkBoxMember.CheckState = CheckState.Unchecked;
textBoxMNo.Enabled = false;
textBoxFName.Enabled = true;
textBoxLName.Enabled = true;
textBoxPCode.Enabled = true;
}
else
{
IsUser = false;
checkBoxMember.CheckState = CheckState.Checked;
textBoxMNo.Enabled = true;
textBoxFName.Enabled = false;
textBoxLName.Enabled = false;
textBoxPCode.Enabled = false;
}
}
private void checkBoxMember_CheckedChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (checkBoxMember.Checked)
{
IsUser = false;
checkBoxUser.CheckState = CheckState.Unchecked;
textBoxFName.Enabled = false;
textBoxLName.Enabled = false;
textBoxPCode.Enabled = false;
}
else
{
IsUser = true;
checkBoxUser.CheckState = CheckState.Checked;
textBoxMNo.Enabled = false;
textBoxFName.Enabled = true;
textBoxLName.Enabled = true;
textBoxPCode.Enabled = true;
}
}
private void buttonOK_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
this.thread = new Thread(new ThreadStart(MakeBooking));
this.thread.Name = "bookingThread";
this.thread.Start();
}
private void MakeBooking()
{
this.bookingMut.WaitOne();
int date = this.comboBoxDay.SelectedIndex;
int time = this.comboBoxTime.SelectedIndex;
if (IsUser)
{
string fName = textBoxFName.Text;
string lName = textBoxLName.Text;
string pCode = textBoxPCode.Text;
AddUserBooking(date, time, fName, lName, pCode);
}
else
{
int mNo = int.Parse(textBoxMNo.Text);
AddMemberBooking(date, time, mNo);
}
this.bookingMut.ReleaseMutex();
CloseBookingForm();
}
private void buttonClose_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
CloseBookingForm();
}
}
}
I realise I may not be doing this in the most efficient way but time is a bit of a factor.
I've researched the error and have heard of using delegates and .Invoke() but I'm still not entirely sure how to fix it.
EDIT:
I've found this code snippet when searching for a fix to my problem. I don't understand where/how I would use it.
if(this.InvokeRequired)
{
this.Invoke(new MyEventHandler(this.CreateAForm()));
return;
}
EDIT2:
Seems the guy finally saw sense, by creating the from with the new word it apparently passes the criteria. I wish I'd have known this before trying to reinvent the wheel.

You are getting this exception because your thread is accessing controls. That's not legal, control properties must only ever be accessed from the UI thread. You're okay on the TextBox.Text property, that one happens to be cached. But not ComboBox.SelectedIndex. And closing the form from another thread is going to bomb too.
Your mutex has nothing to do with it, but keep it if you want to prevent threads from overlapping. Using a delegate's Invoke method isn't going to solve it, that just starts a thread as well. You'll need to collect the info that the thread is going to need in a little helper class and pass that as the argument to the Thread.Start() method.
Closing the form is a bit tricky too, the user might well have already closed it while the thread was running. That's going to cause an ObjectDisposed exception. A quick fix is to set the form's Enabled property to false so the user can't close it. You'll need to use the form's Invoke() method to ensure the closing is done on the UI thread.
Last but not least, if these threads don't take a lot of time (a second or so), consider not using threads at all and display a wait cursor instead.

One simple way to do this is to use the overload of the Thread.Start method that accepts an object: Thread.Start Method (Object). In this object you will store all the data/state necessary in order to make the update.
All the code that references the form and its controls needs to be moved into the OK click event method or refactored out to a method that just returns a data object. Then pass this object into the thread start method.
Some pseudo code:
on_click_event()
{
object data=getFormData();
thread.start(data);
}
There are better ways to do this but this is a quick fix for your code.

I think you could simply disable the OK buttons on other open forms to give users a visual cue. Then you shouldn't even have the issue. Provide a callback delegate to something in the application controller which knows which forms are open. Each form can provide a public method to disable the OK button. Disable to OK button on all the other forms.
I'm not really following your code too well. I would think the mutex could be outside of the form code in the first place (i.e. in the delegates that do the actual work), and if it is within a single application, you could just use the lock (object) method to ensure only one thread is executing a given bit of code.
I'd also like to add that a mutex is not going to stop multiple users on different machiens being able to click OK at the same time. I'm not sure if that's what you meant in your question by a form being run in different places.
I think that AddUserBooking and the other delegate should be responsible for ensuring that they are threadsafe and this should not be part of the UI. If they aren't threadsafe, why aren't they? It's relatively easy to make database commit functions each have their own connection to the database during their operations and thread-safety should not be an issue.

Any way to create a hidden main window in C#?

I just want a c# application with a hidden main window that will process and respond to window messages.
I can create a form without showing it, and can then call Application.Run() without passing in a form, but how can I hook the created form into the message loop?
Is there another way to go about this?
Thanks in advance for any tips!

Excellent! That link pointed me in the right direction. This seems to work:
Form f = new Form1();
f.FormBorderStyle = FormBorderStyle.FixedToolWindow;
f.ShowInTaskbar = false;
f.StartPosition = FormStartPosition.Manual;
f.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(-2000, -2000);
f.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(1, 1);
Application.Run(f);
To keep it from showing up in Alt-Tab, you need it to be a tool window. Unfortunately, this prevents it from starting minimized. But setting the start position to Manual and positioning it offscreen does the trick!

In the process of re-writing a VC++ TaskTray App, in C# .NET, I found the following method truly workable to achieve the following.
No initial form dislayed at startup
Running Message Loop that can be used with Invoke/BeginInvoke as needed as IsWindowHandle is true
The steps I followed:
Used an ApplicationContext in Application.Run() Instead of a form. See http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/18683/Creating-a-Tasktray-Application for the example I used.
Set the Form's ShowInTaskbar property to true within the GUI Designer. (This seems counter productive but it works)
Override the OnLoad() method in your Form Class setting Visible and ShowInTaskbar to false as shown below.
protected override void OnLoad(EventArgs e)
{
Visible = false;
ShowInTaskbar = false;
base.OnLoad(e);
}

I know this is old question, but it ranks well in google, so I will provide my solution anyway.
I do two things:
private void Form_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
Opacity = 0;
}
private void Form_Shown(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
Visible = false;
Opacity = 100;
}

The best way is to use the following 1-2 lines in the constuctor:
this.WindowState = FormWindowState.Minimized;
this.ShowInTaskbar = false; // This is optional
You can even set the Minimized property in the VS Property window.

You can create a class that inherits from System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow (which provides basic message loop capability) and reference the Handle property in its constructor to create its handle and hook it into the message loop. Once you call Application.Run, you will be able to process messages from it.

I solved the problem like this:
[STAThread]
static void Main()
{
Application.EnableVisualStyles();
Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(false);
Main main = new Main();
Application.Run();
//Application.Run(new Main());
}
This code resides in the Program.cs file, and you can see the original Application.Run method call commented out. I just create a Main class object (my main form class is named Main) and start application message loop w/o any parameters. This starts the application, initializes any form components but doesn't show the form.
Note: you have to have some method to get your window showing (like system tray icon, hotkey or timer or anything you might like).

public partial class Form1 : Form
{
private bool _isApplicationRun;
public Form1(bool applicationRun)
{
InitializeComponent();
_isApplicationRun = applicationRun;
}
protected override void SetVisibleCore(bool value)
{
if (_isApplicationRun)
{
_isApplicationRun = false;
base.SetVisibleCore(false);
return;
}
base.SetVisibleCore(value);
}
}
static class Program
{
[STAThread]
static void Main()
{
Application.Run(new Form1(true));
}
}

Why can't you just pass the form when you call Application.Run? Given that it's clearly a blocking call, on what event do you want to show the form? Just calling form.Show() should be enough.

Using Kami's answer as an inspiration, I created a more complete concept. If you use this solution, don't ever show the hidden window. If you do, the user might close it and then you've lost the ability to control the application exit in an orderly way. This approach can be used to manage a Timer, NotifyIcon, or any other component that is happy living on an invisible form.
using System;
using System.Windows.Forms;
namespace SimpleHiddenWinform
{
internal class HiddenForm : Form
{
private Timer _timer;
private ApplicationContext _ctx;
public HiddenForm(ApplicationContext ctx)
{
_ctx = ctx;
_timer = new Timer()
{
Interval = 5000, //5 second delay
Enabled = true
};
_timer.Tick += new EventHandler(_timer_Tick);
}
void _timer_Tick(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
//tell the main message loop to quit
_ctx.ExitThread();
}
}
static class Program
{
[STAThread]
static void Main()
{
var ctx = new ApplicationContext();
var frmHidden = new HiddenForm(ctx);
//pass the application context, not the form
Application.Run(ctx);
}
}
}

Form1 f1=new Form1();
f1.WindowState = FormWindowState.Minimized;
f1.ShowInTaskbar = false;

in the Form1 code file add this.Visible = false; to the constructor.
This will hide the window but it will flash for a sec before it is hidden. Alternatively you can write your own Application.Run command.
for more info http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/forums/en-US/winforms/thread/dece45c8-9076-497e-9414-8cd9b34f572f/
also you may want to set the this.ShowInTaskbar to false.

You should look at creating a 'service' as this is an application without a form.
See http://support.microsoft.com/kb/816169