The BackgroundWorker
We had seen in the
previous part that one way to perform asynchronous operation
was using the thread class.We create an object of thread class and after
supplying it with the method name which contains our asynchronous code we call
the thread.start() method. This approach is usefull because we have complete
control over the thread object.We can control the threads priority,status(like
abort,resume).
However this approach has a drawback since if we access shared data we need to
use locking.
In this article we will consider the safest approach to run background task :
The System.ComponentModel.BackgroundWorker class.
We can pass an object to BackgroundWorker.RunWorkerAsync() method which we can
access in the DoWork method When the BackgroundWorker begins executing, it grabs
a free thread from the CLR thread pool and then fires the DoWork event from this
thread. DoWork method contains the logic to perform a time consuming task.
Once the work is complete, the BackgroundWorker fires the RunWorkerCompleted
event to notify our application that the work is completed. Here we can access
shared data and our user interface, without incurring any problems.
We can not access shared data (such as fields in our window class) or user
interface objects in the DoWork eventHandler.In the DoWork eventhandler
DoWorkEventArgs object is used for retrieving and returning information.
DoWorkEventArgs.Argument is used for accesing the input parameters and
DoWorkEventArgs.Result is used for passing the result to the RunWorkerCompleted
eventhandler.
In the following example we call the backgroundWorker.RunWorkerAsync method from
the button click eventhandler.We declare the backgroundworker variable as a
class level variable and retrieve it from the resources collection which we
added in the xaml.
<Window.Resources>
<cm:BackgroundWorker
x:Key="backgroundWorker"
WorkerReportsProgress="True"
WorkerSupportsCancellation="True"
DoWork="backgroundWorker_DoWork"
ProgressChanged="backgroundWorker_ProgressChanged"
RunWorkerCompleted="backgroundWorker_RunWorkerCompleted">
</cm:BackgroundWorker>
</Window.Resources>
BackgroundWorker.RunWorkerAsync calls the Dowork method in which we retrieve the
input.
parameters and after performing the operations sets the "result" property of the
DoWorkEventArgs argument which we access in the RunWorkerCompleted eventhandler
to retrieve the result.
From the search button click we are calling the
backgroundWorker.RunWorkerAsync()method.From the DowWork method we are calling
the ProcessTask method in which we simulate a long running task by calling the
thread.Sleep .
Supporting Cancellation and Progress
It's just as easy to add support for canceling a long-running task with the
BackgroundWorker. The first
step is to set the BackgroundWorker.WorkerSupportsCancellation property to true.
To request a cancellation, your code needs to call the
BackgroundWorker.CancelAsync() method. In
this example, the cancellation is requested when a Cancel button is clicked.Here
is the code that performs cancelaltion of the task.
private
void btnCancel_Click(object
sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
backgroundWorker.CancelAsync();
}
The above code itself is not sufficient.
- The code that's performing the task needs to explicitly check for the cancel
request, perform any required cleanup, and return.
- The code in our DoWork event handler also needs to explicitly set the
DoWorkEventArgs.Cancel property to true to complete the cancellation.
The BackgroundWorker also provides built-in support for tracking progress, which
is useful for keeping
the client informed about how much work has been completed in a long-running
task.
Following needs to be done for updating the progress of the task.
- The DoWork event handling code or the method that implements the logic for our
long running task needs to call the BackgroundWorker.ReportProgress() method and
provide an estimated percent complete
- Every time you call ReportProgress(), the BackgroundWorker fires the
ProgressChanged event. You can react to this event to read the new progress percentage and update the user
interface.
We can update the progress bar by using the following code:
progress.Value = e.ProgressPercentage;
If we execute the attached code we will get the following screen.