I'm starting my adventure with mobile developing and already faced a problem. I know in WPF I would use BackgroundWorker to update the UI, but how does it work with Android using Xamarin?
I've found many advises but none of these worked for me. The code below won't change the text while the rest is being executed, it just awaits and performs all at once, which isn't what I want.
private void Btn_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
RunOnUiThread(() => txt.Text = "Connecting...");
//txt.Text = sql.testConnectionWithResult();
if (sql.testConnection())
{
txt.Text = "Connected";
load();
}
else
txt.Text = "SQL Connection error";
}
Here your action comes from a button click action, so you don't need to use RunOnUiThread because you are ready working on this one.
If I understand correctly your code it should look like this :
private void Btn_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
txt.Text = "Connecting...";
//do your sql call in a new task
Task.Run(() => {
if (sql.testConnection())
{
//text is part of the UI, so you need to run this code in the UI thread
RunOnUiThread((() => txt.Text = "Connected"; );
load();
}
else{
//text is part of the UI, so you need to run this code in the UI thread
RunOnUiThread((() => txt.Text = "SQL Connection error"; );
}
});
}
The code inside Task.Run will be called asynchronously without blocking the ui.
You can use await word inside the Task.Run if you need to wait for specific work before update UI elements.
There are many ways to do this, but in the form of your example code:
button.Click += (object sender, System.EventArgs e) =>
{
Task.Run(async () =>
{
RunOnUiThread(() => txt.Text = "Connecting...");
await Task.Delay(2500); // Simulate SQL Connection time
if (sql.testConnection())
{
RunOnUiThread(() => txt.Text = "Connected...");
await Task.Delay(2500); // Simulate SQL Load time
//load();
}
else
RunOnUiThread(() => txt.Text = "SQL Connection error");
});
};
FYI: There are some great libraries that can help create a reactive user experience, with ReactiveUI being at the top of my list as it also is a MVVM framework...
Like WPF Xamarin supports Async/Await too!
https://developer.xamarin.com/guides/cross-platform/advanced/async_support_overview/
https://developer.xamarin.com/samples/mobile/AsyncAwait/
Related
I'm newer to the concept of threading and I would like to use Task that is a component of Thread in my application because the save task takes time for executing.
This is my code:
private void SaveItem(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
// Button Save Click ( Save to the database )
Task.Run(() =>
{
var itemsS = Gridview.Items;
Dispatcher.Invoke(() =>
{
foreach (ItemsModel item in itemsS)
{
PleaseWaittxt.Visibility = Visibility.Visible;
bool testAdd = new Controller().AddItem(item);
if (testAdd)
Console.WriteLine("Add true to Items ");
else
{
MessageBox.Show("Add failed");
return;
}
}
PleaseWaittxt.Visibility = Visibility.Hidden;
});
});
MessageBox.Show("Save Done");
// update the gridView
var results = new Controller().GetAllItems();
Gridview.ItemsSource = null;
Gridview.ItemsSource = results;
Gridview.Items.Refresh();
}
The problem is that when I save all items, I got duplicate data in the database. Otherwise, the count of ItemsS is fixed to 300, but after the saving, I got 600,
Did Task.Run() repeat the save task to the database ?
NB: I'm working on UI project ( WPF Desktop app )
I'm thinking you'd need something along the lines of this.
I quickly whipped it up but i hope its enough to attempt a fix yourself.
private async void SaveItem(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
try {
var itemsS = GridviewServices.Items.ToList(); // to list makes shallow copy
await Task.Run(() => {
foreach (ItemsModel item in itemsS)
{
bool testAdd = new Controller().AddItem(item);
}
});
// Dont update ui in task.run, because only the ui thread may access UI items
// Do so here - after the await. (or use dispatcher.invoke).
GridviewServices.Items.Clear();
GridviewServices.Items = itemsS;
} catch { ... } // Handle exceptions, log them or something. Dont throw in async void!
}
I'm also thinking this would work:
private async void SaveItem(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
// Button Save Click ( Save to the database )
var itemsS = GridviewServices.Items;
await Task.Run(() =>
{
foreach (ItemsModel item in itemsS)
{
Dispatcher.Invoke(() => {PleaseWaittxt.Visibility = Visibility.Visible;})
bool testAdd = new Controller().AddItem(item);
if (testAdd)
Console.WriteLine("Add true to Items ");
else
{
MessageBox.Show("Add failed");
return;
}
}
Dispatcher.Invoke(() => {PleaseWaittxt.Visibility = Visibility.Hidden;})
});
MessageBox.Show("Save Done");
// update the gridView
var results = new Controller().GetAllItems();
Gridview.ItemsSource = null;
Gridview.ItemsSource = results;
Gridview.Items.Refresh();
}
The problem you're running in to, is because the Task you're executing isn't running in parallel, but synchronously to the rest of your application.
When you're running CPU-intensive tasks in the background of your UI-application, you'll want to either work with actual threads or async/await - which is what you attempted with your code.
What you'll want to do is something similar to this:
private async void SaveItem(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e) => await Task.Run(
/*optionally make this async too*/() => {
// Execute your CPU-intensive task here
Dispatcher.Invoke(() => {
// Handle your UI updates here
});
});
This is just a general overview, I don't know your exact use-case, but this should get you started in the right direction.
One thing to be weary of when using Lambdas and such, is closures.
If your application tends to use a lot of memory, you might want to re-think the structure of your calltree and minimize closures in your running application.
I new to WPF, and have to put a basic application together
It consists of one main window with a frame, and one page
the page has a basic status text -
the requirement is that when the page loads up, the application has to do a bunch of REST call to fetch some data from remote source, and update the status text as it fetches
problem is, as I update the text, it doesn't seem to be reflected on the page, or maybe it's being blocked - even though I've used Task
so far, I have the following code for testing:
private void Page_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e) {
var wnd = Window.GetWindow(this);
wnd.ContentRendered += Wnd_ContentRendered;
}
private void Wnd_ContentRendered(object sender, EventArgs e) {
DisplayMessages();
}
private void DisplayMessages() {
authenticationText.Text = "text one";
var t = Task.Delay(5000);
t.Wait();
authenticationText.Text = "text two";
t = Task.Delay(5000);
t.Wait();
authenticationText.Text = "text three";
t = Task.Delay(5000);
t.Wait();
}
even though I'm waiting after each task, the UI doesn't get updated - rather it just displays text three directly after method is finished - suggestions ?
P.S: there's also a WPF loader on that page, I've noticed that it doesn't get animated as well - it seems the delay is working but everything on the UI isn't updated
I would suggest for getting the data from REST implementation , you should use the background worker and on the basis of completion of thread or progress changed you need to update the UI thread accordingly.
for getting the better insights on background worker.. kindly use this link
How to use WPF Background Worker
In your case you can use progresschanged event of the backgroundworker..
Please Create some property lets say StatusText with InotifyPropertyChanged Interface implemented and bind (use TwoWay Binding) it with the Text property of the authenticationText control .... and in the progress changed event of the backgroundworker set the value of the StatusText property,., which will automatically updates the UI.
You could try to invoke these results on the UI Thread...
Run your task normally with Task.Run or whatever. Each time you are ready to set some property on UI Thread you should invoke it through the dispatcher..
Task.Run(() =>
{
var _Temp = getSomePropTask();
Thread.Sleep(1000);
App.Current.Dispatcher.Invoke(()=>{
authenticationText.Text = _Temp;
});
});
Thanks to suggestion by Ashok, I did some background reading and have come up with the following solution using Task, async and await - which is simpler to manage than background worker threads:
private void Page_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e) {
var wnd = Window.GetWindow(this);
wnd.ContentRendered += Wnd_ContentRendered;
}
private void Wnd_ContentRendered(object sender, EventArgs e) {
GetDataAsync();
}
private async void GetDataAsync() {
authenticationText.Text = "Connecting...";
await Task.Delay(5000);
authenticationText.Text = "Getting Member Details...";
List<MemberServiceModel> memberList = await GetMembersAsync();
// more code for handling response
}
private List<MemberServiceModel> GetMembers() {
//get all members synchronous
var request = new RestRequest("Members/Admin", Method.GET);
var response = _client.Execute<List<MemberServiceModel>>(request);
if (response.ResponseStatus != ResponseStatus.Completed) {
//TODO
_restErrorStatus = response.ResponseStatus.ToString();
_restErrorMessage = response.StatusDescription;
_logger.Error("Error in GetMembers");
_logger.Error("Status:" + _restErrorStatus);
_logger.Error("Description:" + _restErrorMessage);
}
return response.Data; ;
}
private Task<List<MemberServiceModel>> GetMembersAsync() {
//get all members asynchronous
return Task.Run(new Func<List<MemberServiceModel>>(GetMembers));
}
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().
I am developing a Windows Forms application that access a WCF service. I ran into a great problem that I can't predict the reason of it. Even the Visual Studio debugger not showing any exception in the Output view. The scenario is like this, I have a custom user control that has a linkLabel on it. Whenever the link label is clicked, a form is opened and a class object is passed to it. The class definition of this object resides on WCF service on a remote server. Now the problem is that when I click the linkLabel, the form opens perfectly loading each of its component according to the class object passed to it. But when I close this form and click that linkLabel again, the form opens but immediately freezes after loading some elements. I tried many code variations. Edited many part of code that I think can affect. But none of them showed the difference. Since, I don't know where actually is the code has error, I am posting the linkLabel click code and functions that are called after it is clicked.
private void linkLabel1_LinkClicked(object sender, LinkLabelLinkClickedEventArgs e)
{
Enabled = false;
string temp = Title.Text;
Title.Text = "Opening...";
System.Threading.Thread t = new System.Threading.Thread(new System.Threading.ThreadStart(openTopic));
t.Start();
Title.Text = temp;
Enabled = true;
}
void createTopicWindow()
{
TopicViewer t = new TopicViewer(t);
Invoke(new Action(() => t.Show()));
}
private void openTopic()
{
Invoke(new Action(() => createTopicWindow()));
}
The above is the edited code, since I was getting Cross thread exception before.
Following is the code of constructor of the form that is called when clicked the linkLabel:
try
{
InitializeComponent();
this.t = topic;
if (IsHandleCreated == false)
CreateHandle();
System.Threading.Thread th = new System.Threading.Thread(new System.Threading.ThreadStart(loadTopic));
th.Start();
Common.openedTopics.Add(this);
AddComment addComment1 = new AddComment();
addComment1.Topic = t;
addComment1.Dock = DockStyle.Fill;
panel5.Controls.Add(addComment1);
backgroundWorker1.RunWorkerAsync();
}
catch (Exception)
{ }
void loadTopic()
{
Invoke(new Action(()=>tHead = new TopicHeader()));
Global.SetControlPropertyThreadSafe(tHead,"Topic", t);
Global.SetControlPropertyThreadSafe(tHead,"Dock", DockStyle.Fill);
Invoke(new Action(()=>panel1.Controls.Add(tHead)));
Global.SetControlPropertyThreadSafe(this,"Text", t.Title + " - Topic Viewer");
if (t.Description.Trim().Length > 0)
{
Global.SetControlPropertyThreadSafe(webBrowser1, "DocumentText", t.Description);
}
else
{
Invoke(new Action(() => tabControl1.TabPages[0].Dispose()));
}
Global.SetControlPropertyThreadSafe(tabPage2, "Text", "Comments (" + client.getComCount(t.TopicID) + ") ");
}
TopicHeader is another small user control.
Please anyone tell me the solution to this?
If you are using .Net 4.5, then using async/await would be easiest solution. That way, you don't need any Invokes
async private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
string s = await Task<string>.Factory.StartNew(LongRunningTask,
TaskCreationOptions.LongRunning);
this.Text = s;
}
string LongRunningTask()
{
Thread.Sleep(10000);
return "------";
}
I can't give a direct answer to you question, but this may give a hold on.
public void Form_Load()
{
// do some stuff on the gui-thread
// i need to do something that takes a long time:
ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem((state) =>
{
// i'll execute it on the ThreadPool
// Long running code....
// update results in mainform on gui thread.
Invoke(new Action( delegate
{
// because the invoke will execute this on the gui-thread, you'll able to update controls.
// update my gui controls.
DataGrid.Source = myReceiveDataThing;
}));
}
}
You might expand the code, to check if the form is still valid.
I am having fun with WPF and got a problem. I have googled and found this website that has the same problem of me but without any working solution.
The problem is that I have a button that do some processing of data (around 30 sec). I want to have the button to disable and to have log writing in a text box... the problem is that it doesn't disable and it doesn't wrote any thing on the textbox until the processing is completely done.
Any idea?
private void button1_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
this.button1.IsEnabled = false;
//Long stuff here
txtLog.AppendText(Environment.NewLine + "Blabla");
//End long stuff here
this.button1.IsEnabled = true;
}
As others have said, use the BackgroundWorker or some other method of doing work asychronously.
You can declare it under your Window, initialize it somewhere like the Loaded event, and use it in the Click event. Here's your method, modified to use BackgroundWorker, assuming you've declared it under the Window as _bw:
private void Window_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
_bw = new BackgroundWorker();
_bw.DoWork += new DoWorkEventHandler((o, args) =>
{
//Long stuff here
this.Dispatcher.Invoke((Action)(() => txtLog.AppendText(Environment.NewLine + "Blabla")));
});
_bw.RunWorkerCompleted += new RunWorkerCompletedEventHandler((o, args) =>
{
//End long stuff here
this.Dispatcher.Invoke((Action)(() => this.button1.IsEnabled = true));
});
}
private void button1_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
this.button1.IsEnabled = false;
_bw.RunWorkerAsync();
}
Note that anything that modifies your UI from another thread must be done within a Dispatcher.Invoke or Dispatcher.BeginInvoke call, WPF does not allow you to get or set DependencyProperty values from any thread but the one where the object was created (more about this here).
If you wanted to read from txtLog instead of modifying it, the code would be the same:
//Long stuff here
this.Dispatcher.Invoke((Action)(() =>
{
string myLogText = txtLog.Text;
myLogText = myLogText + Environment.NewLine + "Blabla";
txtLog.Text = myLogText;
}));
That operation is being performed on the UI thread. This means that it will block the Windows message pump from processing until it has completed. no pump = no UI updates. You should launch the job on another thread. I don't know WPF, but in C# I would use either the Thread or BackgroundWorker classes.
do it async. create a backgroundworker process to handle the data and the application will continue to respond. MSDN Resources on the Class. Since WPF is using C# (or VB.net) you can still use the same types of threading objects. I've used the background worker successfully in a WPF app myself.