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Need to click button twice to have an effect

The application is a machine control, so it needs access to ui to show status etc. (I know, goes against the recommendation to separate UI and work code, but it is what it is, at least for now). The issue boils down to this: When one button event handler is not finished, another button needs to be clicked twice. First click gives the focus to the button, next click fires the event.
Here is the issue simplified to extreme. There are two buttons and a label. Stop button needs two clicks to stop the machine:
bool Stop = true;
private void Start_button_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
RunMachine();
}
private void Stop_button_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
Stop = true;
}
private void RunMachine()
{
Stop = false;
Status_label.Text = "Running";
do
{
Application.DoEvents();
Thread.Sleep(50);
}
while (!Stop);
Status_label.Text = "Stopped";
}
How can I make the button to react to the first click?

DoEvents() is bad. Don't use it.
If you have to use it (e.g. as workaround), then you are adding technical debt and likely to pay in the future, similar to your case.
A better approach is to run work inside the task and use cancellation token, but in your case the minimum modification required is this (add async modifier to a method):
while (!Stop)
{
await Task.Delay(50);
// or
await Task.Run(() => Thread.Sleep(50));
}
The UI should be responsive now.
The latter is simulating synchronous code, put it instead of Sleep, don't forget to invoke if there you have to modify UI.

Thank you! I wasn't aware of the implications of Doevents, and using async and await is just as simple. I added a counter to show myself that the toy example is doing what I think it is. To make the answer complete and to help other noobs like me that might search answers for the same issue, here is the full example again. This works as wanted (stops with one click) and doesn't leave the RunMachine() running if the main form is closed without clicking stop. (My real application has enough code in the form closing event to prevent that, but I certainly wasn't aware of the trap.)
bool Stop = true;
private async void Start_button_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
await RunMachine();
}
private void Stop_button_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
Stop = true;
}
internal async Task RunMachine()
{
Status_label.Text = "started";
Stop = false;
int i=0;
do
{
await Task.Delay(500);
Status_label.Text = i.ToString();
i++;
} while (!Stop);
Status_label.Text = "Stopped";
}

C# Form Application - Stop an ongoing process with a click of another button

Is it possible to stop an ongoing process with a button click in Windows form application?
For example, let's say there are 2 buttons, "START" and "STOP"
When you press "START", it will start an infinite loop, printing numbers from 1 to infinity.
When I press "STOP", the process should stop at that moment.
But the problem is, I cannot press the "STOP" button as it does not allow me, since there's an ongoing process.
Is there a way to overcome this?
I know there's something called "MethodInvoker", but I have no idea how that works or whether it is relevant to this.
private bool keepRunning = true;
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
private void StartBtn_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
var number = 1;
while (keepRunning)
{
Thread.Sleep(1000);
MesgeLabel.Text = "" + number++;
}
}
private void StopBtn_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
//Cannot even click this button
keepRunning = false;
//or
Application.Exit();
}

EDIT 1:
If you need to interact with UI controls, doing it from a background task would throw invalid operation -> illegal cross thread exception. To overcome this,
check Control.InvokeRequired
if(myLabel.InvokeRequired)
myLabel.Invoke(new Action(() => myLabel.Text = newText));
else
myLabel.Text = newText;
You can start a Task by providing a CancellationToken and cancel the operation when the stop button is clicked.
The task will execute the infinite loop on another thread and your main thread (the UI thread) should not be affected and should be accessible.
Try this:
/*
Please add these on top of your form class
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Threading;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
*/
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
CancellationTokenSource cancellationTokenSource;
CancellationToken cancellationToken;
private void CountToInfinity()
{
while (true)
{
cancellationToken.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
Debug.WriteLine(new Random().Next());
}
}
private async void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (cancellationTokenSource == null)
{
cancellationTokenSource = new CancellationTokenSource();
cancellationToken = cancellationTokenSource.Token;
Task.Run((Action)CountToInfinity, cancellationToken);
}
}
private void button2_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (cancellationTokenSource != null)
{
cancellationTokenSource.Cancel();
cancellationTokenSource.Dispose();
cancellationTokenSource = null;
}
}
}

If you have spawned a new process then you can call kill method.
Process myProcess = Process.Start("Notepad.exe")//starts new process
myProcess.Kill();// kills the process. save reference to myProcess and call kill on STOP button click
If you have started new thread then call abort method to stop the thread.
Thread thread = new Thread(new ThreadStart(method));
thread.Start();
thread.Abort(); // terminates the thread. call abort on STOP button click

When you press the "start" button, the code that runs and prints the numbers will run on the ui thread. (from your explanation, i assume that all you have is the message handler for the button press event and nothing else. e.g.: Not setting up a seperate thread.).
Running an infinite loop on the ui thread means, that you do not get any more time for processing other messages. (the thread that is responsible for processing the ui messages is stuck in your infinite loop.)
So, in order to be able to press the "stop" button, you need to run the code with the infinite loop in a different thread or in a different process altogether. This is what Arjun is trying to tell you. (if you want the code in the infinite loop to access resources from your form app, you need a thread. [the thread is inside the forms app process.])
please note: if you create a thread and run your number printing code inside that thread, this will not be the ui thread. Thus, you will not be able to interact with the forms controls as if you'd be on the ui thread. (i.e.: trying to set the windows.text in order to display your numbers will most likely throw an exception.)

Is it possible to change views, once during the start of an event handler and once during end?

I get data from database on a click.
I have an event handler which when triggered should show "data retrieving..." in status bar and should change to "Ready" again just before the event handler ends.
But the text updates only once, the second Ready one. How is it generally done?
private void Next_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e){
this.footerText = "Waiting for dataRetreival";
someRandomTimeTakingMethod(); //Gets Data from DB.
this.footerText = "Ready";
}
Even though code executes line 2, the view updates only when the function is over, ie only the second one actually works.

You should put your data-intensive work on a background thread so the UI can update properly. This provides the best user experience.
To elaborate on FZysset's answer with some code...
private async void Next_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
footerText.Text = "Waiting for dataRetreival";
IsEnabled = false;
await SomeRandomTimeTakingMethodAsync();
IsEnabled = true;
footerText.Text = "Ready";
}
private async Task SomeRandomTimeTakingMethodAsync()
{
await Task.Delay(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(new Random().Next(2, 5)));
// or await Task.Run(() => { ... });
}
The above example allows you to leverage await/async that was introduced in .NET 4.5. Notice how nicely it flows? No nonsense!
We're putting stuff onto the background thread so the UI can remain unblocked (thus it will show your updates to your status bar and allow user interaction.) Of course, you have to be careful not to update anything on the UI from your background thread.
If you are using an older version of .NET, you can just use TPL without async/await:
private void Next_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
footerText.Text = "Waiting for dataRetreival";
IsEnabled = false;
Task.Factory.StartNew(() =>
{
SomeRandomTimeTakingMethod();
}).ContinueWith(t =>
{
IsEnabled = true;
footerText.Text = "Ready";
}, TaskScheduler.FromCurrentSynchronizationContext());
}
private void SomeRandomTimeTakingMethod()
{
Thread.Sleep(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(new Random().Next(2, 5)));
}
Two important things to note about the latter example:
You must provide TaskScheduler.FromCurrentSynchronizationContext() to the ContinueWith call, or you will encounter exceptions because the continuation is not on the UI thread. You must get the context in a method that isn't running on a background thread.
You will want to check for exceptions on the Task object in your ContinueWith.
This example is very rudimentary though. If you were to have a bunch of background operations kicked off with click handlers, you'd want to give yourself some helper classes/services to make life easier. (And investigate MVVM, which I cannot tell if you are using.)
A colleague of mine gave a presentation on using various asynchronous patterns in C# and .NET. You can check it out here: https://github.com/mtusk/TplLunchAndLearn

That's because you're "someRandomTimeTakingMethod" is launched on the UI Thread. Therefore it will not update the view until it is finished.
To go around this you have the following possibilities :
Make your method "someRandom..." asynchronous with a task, and use the await operator : http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh191443.aspx
Launch your randomTimeTaking method into a thread, and launch an event when your execution is finished, to update the footer text
I strongly recommend you the first option, for some sample : http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh873191.aspx

You need to run those lines asynchronously. You can do that using the Task class:
private void Next_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e){
Task.Factory.StartNew(() => footerText = "Waiting for dataRetreival");
someRandomTimeTakingMethod(); //Gets Data from DB.
Task.Factory.StartNew(() => footerText = "Ready");
}

There is one way to do it using Dispatcher. The original post is here.
The code is:-
private void Next_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e){
UpdateUI("Please wait for data retrieval", delegate() { someRandomTimeTakingMethod(); });
this.footerText = "Ready";
}
public delegate void NoArgsDelegate();
public void UpdateUI(string description, NoArgsDelegate operation)
{
this.FooterText= description;
DispatcherFrame frame = new DispatcherFrame();
DispatcherOperation dispatcherOperation = Dispatcher.CurrentDispatcher.BeginInvoke(DispatcherPriority.ContextIdle, operation);
dispatcherOperation.Completed += delegate(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
frame.Continue = false;
};
Dispatcher.PushFrame(frame);
}
If my understanding is right, this uses Asynchronous programming, not different thread. The thread will update UI first and then call the someRandomTimeTakingMethod().

How to update a text box continously without halting the button in windows form application C#?

I need to update my text box continuously after clicking the button but the button should perform its remaining task as it is.
simple is that when click event is performed then Text box should not wait for the completion of click event but to start updating its text continuously.
sample code
using System.threading;
namespace name
{
public class sA
{
public void th()
{
textbox.invoke(new MethodInvoke(()=> textbox.AppendText("hello\n")));
}
private void Button1Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
thread cThread=new thread(th);
cThread.start();
while(true)
{
// do any thing
}
}
}
}
Important :: when it performs the event " Cthread.start();" text box should immediately start updating the text while the remaining functions of click event like "while loop" should perform in parallel.

IF this is inside Windows Forms.. then add Application.DoEvents(); anywhere in the loop
e.g.
private void Button1Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
thread cThread=new thread(th);
cThread.start();
while(true)
{
// do any thing
textbox.Invalidate();
Application.DoEvents(); // Releases the current thread back to windows form
// NOTE Thread sleep different in Application.DoEvents();
//Application.DoEvents() is available only in System.Windows.Forms
}
}
Hope this help you although late.. :)

Your while(true) block has to happen on another thread as well.
Right now its blocking the UI thread from performing any updates.
Method th() is running on a background thread but the call to Invoke can't run until the UI thread is available again.

If I understood your question correctly, you need to keep updating the TextBox's text while the button click procedure is running inside it's "while" loop. You didn't really specify where will the textbox be updated from, but I will assume that it is coming from the code inside your "while" loop.
As "akatakritos" has stated, your while loop inside the button click is the reason why your application is halting. That happens because the while loop is blocking the User Interface (UI) Thread.
What you should be doing is moving the code inside your "while" loop to run inside a different thread, and use the button click to start this new thread.
Here is a way to do this, maybe not the best, but it will do what you need:
Create a new class:
public class ClassWithYourCode
{
public TextBox TextBoxToUpdate { get; set; }
Action<string> updateTextBoxDelegate;
public ClassWithYourCode()
{ }
public void methodToExecute()
{
bool IsDone = false;
while (!IsDone)
{
// write your code here. When you need to update the
// textbox, call the function:
// updateTextBox("message you want to send");
// Below you can find some example code:
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
Thread.Sleep(1000);
updateTextBox(string.Format("Iteration number: {0}", i));
}
// Don't forget to set "IsDone" to "true" so you can exit the while loop!
IsDone = true;
}
updateTextBox("End of method execution!");
}
private void updateTextBox(string MessageToShow)
{
if (TextBoxToUpdate.InvokeRequired)
{
updateTextBoxDelegate = msgToShow => updateTextBox(msgToShow);
TextBoxToUpdate.Invoke(updateTextBoxDelegate, MessageToShow);
}
else
{
TextBoxToUpdate.Text += string.Format("{0}{1}", MessageToShow, Environment.NewLine);
}
}
}
and, inside your button1_Click method, you can add the following code:
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
ClassWithYourCode myCode = new ClassWithYourCode();
myCode.TextBoxToUpdate = textBox1;
Thread thread = new Thread(myCode.methodToExecute);
thread.Start();
}
Now, your "while" loop is executing inside a new thread and, whenever you need to update the textbox, you do so from the UI thread, because you cannot update Windows Forms controls from a thread other than the UI thread.

DataGridView selection change doesn't show until the SelectionChanged event handler has completed

I'm catching the DataGridView control's SelectionChanged event and my event handler takes about 1/2 a second to complete its task (setting the values of several controls, etc.). In UI terms, that's an eternity.
The problem is that the DataGridView's user interface doesn't update the selection immediately. What I want is for the user to see the selection change in the DataGridView as soon as they click and then the lengthy work to be done. It will still take 1/2 a second to complete the whole task and the UI will not be responsive during that time, and that's OK -- at least the user will get immediate feedback.
You can see this behaviour by inserting the following code into a new Form1 class:
private System.Windows.Forms.DataGridView dataGridView1;
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
dataGridView1 = new DataGridView();
dataGridView1.Dock = DockStyle.Fill;
dataGridView1.Columns.Add("Column0", "Column 0");
dataGridView1.Rows.Add("Row 0");
dataGridView1.Rows.Add("Row 1");
dataGridView1.Rows.Add("Row 2");
dataGridView1.Rows.Add("Row 3");
dataGridView1.SelectionChanged +=
new EventHandler(dataGridView1_SelectionChanged);
this.Controls.Add(dataGridView1);
}
private void dataGridView1_SelectionChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (this.Handle != null)
{
this.DoSomethingForAWhile();
// Even BeginInvoke doesn't help
//this.BeginInvoke((MethodInvoker)this.DoSomethingForAWhile);
}
}
private void DoSomethingForAWhile()
{
// Do anything that causes a noticable delay
DateTime t0 = DateTime.Now;
while ((DateTime.Now - t0).TotalSeconds < 2)
{
// Do nothing
}
}
I would normally use Control.BeginInvoke so that the paint messages could be processed before my 1/2 second task starts. This works with a ListView control but for some reason it doesn't work with DataGridView.
I could do the processing on another thread and use Invoke to set the UI values, but that seems like a lot of complexity for something that should be a simple task.
Surely there's a better way.

Whilst I think it's appropriate to stick your long running task into a BackgroundWorker and callback to the UI to update it, you can get the behaviour you want with a call to DataGridView.Refresh(), and use of BeginInvoke;
private void dataGridView1_SelectionChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
dataGridView1.Refresh();
if (this.Handle != null)
{
this.BeginInvoke((MethodInvoker)this.DoSomethingForAWhile);
}
}
This approach sticks a Paint message on the UI thread before your long running task, which is blocking the UI thread. At that point, I don't believe the DataGridView has yet been instructed to Paint itself, hence why you weren't seeing it update.