What is causing my UI Thread to be blocked? - c#

I am completely lost in what is really causing the problem. So rather trying to explain the problem, I might as well as get straight to the code with the problem. Here is the layout of my program:
private void connection_OnMessage(object sender, agsXMPP.protocol.client.Message msg)
{
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(msg.Body) && ((msg.XDelay != null && msg.XDelay.Stamp.Date == DateTime.Today) || msg.XDelay == null))
{
agsXMPP.Jid JID = new Jid(msg.From.Bare);
int rowIndex = chatLog.Rows.Add();
chatLog.Rows[rowIndex].Cells["chatNameColumn"].Value = JID.User;
chatLog.Rows[rowIndex].Cells["chatMessageColumn"].Value = msg.Body;
//Begin line of the problem
if (IncomingMessage != null)
IncomingMessage(this, JID.User, msg.Body);
//End of the problem
}
}
The above code snippet is of class A. After starting up the program, this class makes the connection to the server. Right after being connected, this code snippet is rapidly fired about 20 times, once per line of message. (There are already about 20 lines of message in the chat log.) Since only one message makes it through the if condition, the lines commented with the problem is only run once. Those lines fire the code snippet below of class B.
(Around the time class A is firing, I have another class like A that fires the similar event to be handled by class B the same way, which will be handled by class C.)
private void newSource_IncomingMessage(IChatSource sender, string user, string message)
{
UpdatedMessageEventHandler temp = UpdatedMessage;
if (temp != null)
temp(sender, user, message);
}
The above code snippet of class B fires the code snippet below of class C.
private void chatManager_UpdatedMessage(IChatSource source, string user, string message)
{
if (!source.Muted)
{
updateMessage(source, user, message);
}
}
delegate void UpdateMessageCallback(IChatSource source, string user, string message);
private void updateMessage(IChatSource source, string user, string message)
{
if (allDataGridView.InvokeRequired)
{
UpdateMessageCallback d = new UpdateMessageCallback(updateMessage);
Invoke(d, new object[] { source, user, message });
}
else
{
int row = allDataGridView.Rows.Add();
allDataGridView.Rows[row].DefaultCellStyle.ForeColor = source.TextColor;
allDataGridView.Rows[row].Cells["NameColumn"].Value = user;
allDataGridView.Rows[row].Cells["MessageColumn"].Value = message;
if (!MenuItem.Checked)
{
MenuItem.Checked = true;
Show();
}
}
}
Here is what I tried to do to fix the problem, but the code is removed already:
I tried adding lock to certain codes.
I tried to put the certain codes on a separate thread and have them run.
Here is what happened:
When I run the program, the UI thread seems to be blocked. In other words, class C doesn't get painted. Sometimes, the form doesn't even appear.
A few times, it complaint about a strange error "An error occurred invoking the method. The destination thread no longer exists."
If I commented out the problem lines, everything work fine, but here is the strange part. If I create a timer object in class A and have it fired the event the same way, it works fine.
While line stepping in debug mode, I sometimes got it work fine, but majority of the time, it fails.
For a few times, I run into InvalidOperationException with the message, "Control accessed from a thread other than the thread it was created on." even though I did make it thread safe.
In conclusion, I don't know what is causing the UI thread to be blocked. Any pointer or what I might do wrong?

The problem is that you're calling methods crossthreading. This can lead to deadlocks.
You could solve this, adding the messages on a concurrent queue and on a timer (gui thread) checking the queue and adding the messages to controls.
This is not a complete solution, but a method to prevent crossthread method invoking
Like: (PSEUDO) (wrote online on the site)
// dataholder
public class ChatMsg
{
public string User {get;set;}
public string Message {get;set;}
}
// message store
private List<ChatMsg> _messages = new List<ChatMsg>();
// timer
private Timer _timer;
// callback for you chatapi?? (like you wrote)
private void newSource_IncomingMessage(IChatSource sender, string user, string message)
{
UpdatedMessageEventHandler temp = UpdatedMessage;
// lock the store
lock(_messages)
_messages.Add(new ChatMsg { User = user, Message = message });
}
// constructor
public Form1()
{
// create the check timer.
_timer = new Timer();
_timer.Interval = 100;
_timer.Tick += Timer_Tick;
_timer.Start();
}
// timer method
private void Timer_Tick(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
// copy of the queue
ChatMsg[] msgs;
// lock the store and 'move' the messages
lock(_messages)
{
msgs = _messages.ToArray();
_messages.Clear();
}
if(msgs.Length == 0)
return;
// add them to the controls
foreach(var msg in msgs)
{
// add the message to the gui controls... (copied from your question)
int row = allDataGridView.Rows.Add();
allDataGridView.Rows[row].DefaultCellStyle.ForeColor = source.TextColor;
allDataGridView.Rows[row].Cells["NameColumn"].Value = user;
allDataGridView.Rows[row].Cells["MessageColumn"].Value = message;
}
}
Something like that..

Related

Two Thread tasks in Winforms Continuously Checking Back

I am currently trying to keep a counter on C# on a local file folder for new files that are created.
I have two sub directories to CD and LP that I have to keep checking. With counters that makes sure that the count of folders made have not exceeded the count set by the user.
public static int LPmax { get; set; }
public static int CDmax { get; set; }
public static int LPcounter2 { get; set; }
public static int CDcounter2 { get; set; }
public static int LPCreated;
public static int CDCreated;
public static int oldLPCreated;
public static int oldCDCreated;
FileSystemWatcher CDdirWatcher = new FileSystemWatcher();
FileSystemWatcher LPdirWatcher = new FileSystemWatcher();
//watch method should run in the background as checker
public void watch()
{
CDdirWatcher.Path = #"C:\Data\LotData\CD";
CDdirWatcher.Filter = "EM*";
CDdirWatcher.NotifyFilter = NotifyFilters.DirectoryName | NotifyFilters.LastWrite;
CDdirWatcher.EnableRaisingEvents = true;
CDdirWatcher.Created += CDdirWatcher_Created;
LPdirWatcher.Path = #"C:\Data\LotData\LP";
LPdirWatcher.Filter = "EM*";
LPdirWatcher.NotifyFilter = NotifyFilters.DirectoryName;
LPdirWatcher.EnableRaisingEvents = true;
LPdirWatcher.Created += LPdirWatcher_Created;
Thread.Sleep(10);
}
private static void CDdirWatcher_Created(object sender, FileSystemEventArgs e)
{
CDCreated += 1;
}
private static void LPdirWatcher_Created(object sender, FileSystemEventArgs e)
{
LPCreated += 1;
}
The above method works fine, and the criteria is that it has to be less count then the one set
public void checker()
{
if(CDCreated>CDmax)
{
popupbx();
}
if(LPCreated>LPmax)
{
popupbx();
}
}
The problem is my main method where I have two threads which need to continuously check the two criteria to see if the counter has been exceeded.
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
//Implementing Threads asynchronously
Thread oThreadone = new Thread(() =>
{
//Do what u wanna……
watch();
});
Thread oThreadtwo = new Thread(() =>
{
//Do what u wanna……
checker();
});
//Calling thread workers
oThreadone.Start();
oThreadone.IsBackground = true;
oThreadtwo.Start();
oThreadtwo.IsBackground = true;
}
Mkdir fires the counters in debug mode, but thread two doesn't check for the counters after they fire.
The first major thing wrong with your code is that neither of threads you create are needed, nor do they do what you want. Specifically, the FileSystemWatcher object itself is already asynchronous, so you can create it in the main thread. In fact, you should, because there you could set FileSystemWatcher.SynchronizingObject to the current form instance so that it will raise its events in that object's synchronization context. I.e. your event handlers will be executed in the main thread, which is what you want.
So the first method, watch(), rather than being executed in a thread, just call it directly.
Which brings me to the second method, checker(). Your method for the thread doesn't loop, so it will execute the two tests, and then promptly exit. That's the end of that thread. It won't stay around long enough to monitor the counts as they are updated.
You could fix it by looping in the checker() method, so that it never exits. But then you run into problems of excessive CPU usage. Which you'll fix by adding sleep statements. Which then you're wasting a thread most of the time. Which you could fix by using async/await (e.g. await Task.Delay()). Except that would just unnecessarily complicate the code.
Instead, you should just perform each check after each count is updated. In theory, you could just display the message immediately. But that will block the event handler subscribed to FileSystemWatcher, possibly delaying additional reports. So you may instead prefer to use Control.BeginInvoke() to defer display of the message until after the event handler has returned.
So, taking all that into account, your code might instead look more like this:
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
watch();
}
private void CDdirWatcher_Created(object sender, FileSystemEventArgs e)
{
CDCreated += 1;
if (CDCreated > CDmax)
{
BeginInvoke((MethodInvoker)popupbx);
}
}
private static void LPdirWatcher_Created(object sender, FileSystemEventArgs e)
{
LPCreated += 1;
if (LPCreated > LPmax)
{
BeginInvoke((MethodInvoker)popupbx);
}
}
You can remove the checker() method altogether. The watch() method can remain as it is, though I would change the order of subscribing to the Created event and the assignment of EnableRaisingEvents. I.e. don't enable raising events until you've already subscribed to the event. The FileSystemWatcher is unreliable enough as it is, without you giving it a chance to raise an event before you're ready to observe it. :)
This is based on your current implementation. Note though that if files keep getting created, the message will be displayed over and over. If they are created fast enough, new messages will be displayed before the user can dismiss the previously-displayed one(s). You may prefer to modify your code to prevent this. E.g. unsubscribe from the event after you've already exceeded the max count, or at least temporarily inhibit the display of the message while one such message is already being displayed. Exactly what to do is up to you, and beyond the scope of your question and thus the scope of this answer.

Access object in a different thread

Setup:
Win10 .NET 4.7.1/VS2017 .NET 4.5/ C#
Level:
Beginner/Intermediate/new to threading
Objective:
1: A selenium web automation class that is triggered by a timer class so that the web automation class can exchange data with a javascript site at specific times.
2: Should be possible to migrate solution from WebForms to .NET library (dll).
Problem:
Step 1. Timer class sends time event to method in Web class to login to internet site = working.
Step 2. Web automation class (WinForms/GUI) tries to retrieve data from the method that is triggered by timer class event = Exception: "Calling thread cannot access this object because a different thread owns it." (as translated from swe).
I admit I´m confused by the terminology in the area of threading that is new to me. Also, I understand some multithreading techniques are only valid for WinForms. Since my objective is to migrate the solution to a dll these are not an option for me. I´ve played around with Invoke(), but as I understand it´s limited to use in WinForms. Guidance is highly appreciated!
WEB AUTOMATION CLASS:
private EdgeDriver driver;
private SeleniumHelper helper;
private WebAutomationTimer timer;
private double account;
public double Account { get => this.account; set => this.account = value; }
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
timer = new WebAutomationTimer(02, 36, 00, 02, 38, 00);
timer.OnLoginTime += Timer_OnLoginTime;
timer.OnLogoutTime += Timer_OnLogoutTime;
}
private void Timer_OnLoginTime()
{
Login();
}
private void Timer_OnLogoutTime()
{
Logout();
}
public bool Login()
{
try
{
// working login code
UpdateLabels();
}
catch (Exception e)
{
}
}
private void UpdateLabels()
{
// EXCEPTION !!!
lblAccount.Text = GetAccount();
// EXCEPTION !!!
}
TIMER CLASS:
class WebAutomationTimer
{
public event TimerEvent OnLoginTime;
public event TimerEvent OnLogoutTime;
//public event TimerEvent OnSecond;
private System.Timers.Timer timer;
private DateTime now;
private int loginHour;
private int loginMin;
private int loginSec;
private int logoutHour;
private int logoutMin;
private int logoutSec;
public WebAutomationTimer(int loginHour, int loginMin, int loginSec, int logoutHour, int logoutMin, int logoutSec)
{
timer = new System.Timers.Timer();
timer.Interval = 1000; // 1 sec
timer.Elapsed += Timer_Elapsed;
timer.Start();
this.loginHour = loginHour;
this.loginMin = loginMin;
this.loginSec = loginSec;
this.logoutHour = logoutHour;
this.logoutMin = logoutMin;
this.logoutSec = logoutSec;
}
// Each second event
private void Timer_Elapsed(object sender, System.Timers.ElapsedEventArgs e)
{
now = DateTime.Now;
//OnSecond();
//login
if (now.Hour == loginHour && now.Minute == loginMin && now.Second == loginSec)
OnLoginTime();
//logout
if (now.Hour == logoutHour && now.Minute == logoutMin && now.Second == logoutSec)
OnLogoutTime();
}
}
}
When you want to update View's control from another Thread it must show you error. Because it is using by UI Thread. In this case you have to use SynchronizationContext class or you can send Delegate to the App.Current.Dispatcher.BeginInvoke(delegate must be here);
SynchronizationContext _context = SynchronizationContext.Current;
private void UpdateLabels()
{
_context.Post(x=>
{
lblAccount.Text = AccountBalance.ToString();
},null),
//...
}
Alternative of SynchronizationContext :
private void UpdateLabels()
{
var action = new Action(() =>
{
lblAccount.Text = AccountBalance.ToString();
});
App.Current.Dispatcher.BeginInvoke(action);
//...
}
Both of them are same.
UI thread adapted for keyboard event and mouse event.
When you App.Current.Dispatcher.BeginInvoke(delegate) you say to the UI Thread that
"execute this too".
In addition you can suppose UI Thread like this
while(!thisApplication.Ended)
{
wait for something to appear in message queue
Got something : what kind of this message?
Keyboard/Mouse message --> fire event handler
User BeginInvoke message --> execute delegate
User Invoke message --> execute delegate & post result
}
this error is beacuse of change lable text beacuse lable is in another thread you can use this code
lblAccount.Invoke(new EventHandler((s, ee) => { lblAccount.Text = AccountBalance.ToString(); }));
This solution is probably only valid in my case. OP can delete this question if it´s believed to be a duplicate.
The first objective with was an easy to develop/run/debug situation with a GUI. Setting properties causes no cross thread exception. Showing the properties in a MessageBox.Show() causes no exception either. Hence no cross thread issues to dodge in the development/GUI stage.
The second objective was to migrate to a dll, hence no need to interfere with a GUI thread.
/Thanks anyway

NEW TITLE -- The application called an interface that was marshalled for a different thread

After making the project simpler, I believe I identified the problem is actually a result the async marshalling.
UPDATE: I made the code simpler to try to figure out what was going on. So here is an update... The Observable collection is being populated on a new thread (async method). I tried moving the assigning of the ItemsSource to after the ObservableCollection is loaded as seen below
async void LoadAllData(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (sender != null)
{
App.GeoLocationComplete -= LoadAllData;
}
await ViewModelObjects.NearbyLocations.LoadLocationData();
lvPlaces.ItemsSource = ViewModelObjects.NearbyLocations.GBSLocationDetails;
}
The definition for the data load method is a follows:
public async Task LoadLocationData()
{....}
When I run this code I get the following error:
The application called an interface that was marshalled for a different thread. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x8001010E (RPC_E_WRONG_THREAD))
I know what is causing the error (the data was loaded on a thread other than the UI thread) but I don't know how to fix it. Suggestions?
UPDATE UPDATE: So I believe I have identified the root cause of the problem but have not figured out how to fix it. I started by simplifying my code as follows and it worked.
public nearbyplaces()
{
InitializeComponent();
NavigationPage.SetHasNavigationBar(this, false);
LoadAllData(null, null);
}
void LoadAllData(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
lobj_Places = new ObservableCollection<GBSLocationDetail>()
{
new GBSLocationDetail()
{
Title = "Location 1",
Distance = "20 Miles",
AddInfo = "Something Else",
AttributesTexts="Gay, Bar, Dance"
}
};
lvPlaces.ItemsSource = lobj_Places;
}
HOWEVER, what I need is for the LoadAllData method to be called once I have the GPS location from the device. So in my App.XAML.cs I have the following delegate event declared:
public static Plugin.Geolocator.Abstractions.IGeolocator gobj_RealGeoCoordinator;
public static event GeoLocationCompleteEventHandler GeoLocationComplete;
public static bool gb_WaitingForLocation = true;
Then I have the following code call the event once I get the location back from the device:
private async void ProcessStartupandResume()
{
if (gobj_RealGeoCoordinator == null)
{
gobj_RealGeoCoordinator = CrossGeolocator.Current;
ViewModelObjects.AppSettings.CanAccessLocation = App.gobj_RealGeoCoordinator.IsGeolocationEnabled;
if (!ViewModelObjects.AppSettings.CanAccessLocation)
{
await MainPage.DisplayAlert(ResourceStrings.GetValue("NoLocationServicesTitle"), ResourceStrings.GetValue("NoLocationServicesMessage"), ResourceStrings.GetValue("OKButtonText"));
}
//Only add the events if the object has to be created.
gobj_RealGeoCoordinator.PositionChanged += gobj_RealGeoCoordinator_PositionChanged;
gobj_RealGeoCoordinator.PositionError += (sender, e) =>
{
ProcessException(new Exception(e.Error.ToString()));
};
}
//Set this to null to trigger the first check
ib_GPSReenabled = null;
if (gobj_RealGeoCoordinator.IsListening)
await gobj_RealGeoCoordinator.StopListeningAsync();
gobj_RealGeoCoordinator.DesiredAccuracy = 50;
await gobj_RealGeoCoordinator.StartListeningAsync(10000, 20);
}
private static void gobj_RealGeoCoordinator_PositionChanged(object sender, PositionEventArgs e)
{
var pos = e.Position;
ViewModelObjects.AppSettings.Latitude = pos.Latitude;
ViewModelObjects.AppSettings.Longitude = pos.Longitude;
if (gb_WaitingForLocation)
{
gb_WaitingForLocation = false;
GeoLocationComplete?.Invoke(new object() , null);
}
}
Then in my page I subscribe to the GeoLocationComplete event using the LoadAllData method as seen below. Even when I use a local object and try to set the ItemsSource for the ListView in the code when executed as a result of the event being raised, I receive the error. See code below which subscribed to the event:
public nearbyplaces()
{
InitializeComponent();
NavigationPage.SetHasNavigationBar(this, false);
if (App.gb_WaitingForLocation)
App.GeoLocationComplete += LoadAllData;
else
LoadAllData(null, null);
}
Any suggestions on how to fix this?
OK so I figured it out. I needed to invoke the event on the main thread and I did that with the following code:
Device.BeginInvokeOnMainThread(() =>
{
GeoLocationComplete?.Invoke(new object(), null);
});
After inserting this code, the error was gone. Changing the code back to simply
GeoLocationComplete?.Invoke(new object(), null);
cause the error to occur again. Thus I believe this resolved my problem. Hope this helps someone else. :)

Constant running process on a sperate thread blocking a UI thread

i am trying to use a third party telnet library "active expert" for a basic telnet session.
in my UI code behind i have something like
private async void Button_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
var ts = new TelnetService();
await ts.DoConnect(node);
}
and my TelnetService looks like this
public class TelnetService
{
private Tcp objSocket = new Tcp();
private NwConstants objConstants = new NwConstants();
public string Responses { get; set; }
private Timer timer1 = new Timer();
public TelnetService()
{
timer1.Elapsed += timer1_Elapsed;
timer1.Interval = 100;
timer1.Start();
}
void timer1_Elapsed(object sender, System.Timers.ElapsedEventArgs e)
{
if (objSocket.ConnectionState == objConstants.nwSOCKET_CONNSTATE_CONNECTED)
{
if (objSocket.HasData())
{
Responses += objSocket.ReceiveString() + "\r\n";
}
}
}
public Task DoConnect(Node node)
{
return Task.Factory.StartNew(() =>
{
objSocket.Protocol = objConstants.nwSOCKET_PROTOCOL_TELNET;
objSocket.Connect(node.IP, 23);
while (true)
{
if ((Responses == null) || (!Responses.Contains(node.WaitString))) continue;
//do something
Responses = "";
break;
}
});
}
}
there are two important pieces of functionalities.
First in the timer1_Elapsed function which is process that will keeps on ruining and checks if there is data on socket, and if there is, it will append it to a string "Response". and i am using "timer" for it.
Second in the DoConnect function which will check the"Response" string for a certain input. for this i am using async await and Task.
in a nutshell first one accumulating the Response and Second one checking the Response.
Problem is that it looks like the timer code in general and
objSocket.ReceiveString()
line specifically is causing the UI thread to halt for several seconds. which means after clicking the button i cannot move my main form on the screen however the code is running in a separate thread.
i have tried using pure Thread for this but it didn't helped either.
update
instead of timer i am using a method AccumulateResponse
public static void AccumulateResponse()
{
while (true)
{
if (objSocket.ConnectionState == objConstants.nwSOCKET_CONNSTATE_CONNECTED)
{
if (objSocket.HasData())
{
Responses += objSocket.ReceiveString() + "\r\n";
}
}
}
}
and calling it like
var t = new Task(TelnetService.AccumulateResponse);
t.Start();
await TelnetService.DoConnect(node);
still no luck
The DoConnect isn't your problem. It is your Timer Elapsed Event handler.
The timer elapsed event is NOT asynchronous. Only the DoConnect is.
If there is no asynchronous version of ReceiveString() from your third party lib, then use Task.Run there as well inside of an async timer1_elapsed method.

Updating an ObservableCollection<T> asynchronously results in hangs, and no GUI update

I'm implementing a visual version of Tracert (as a learning exercise) in WPF where results go to a listbox. The issues are (1) the listbox bound to tracertDataView is not updating, but (2) my entire application hangs.
I'm sure #2 is a threading issue but I'm not sure how to correct it (in the right way). In addition I'm not sure my technique of updating / binding the results of "DoTrace" are correct.
Here is my datasource in App.xaml
<Window.Resources>
<CollectionViewSource
Source="{Binding Source={x:Static Application.Current}, Path=TracertResultNodes}"
x:Key="tracertDataView" />
</Window.Resources>
App.xaml.cs
public partial class App : Application
{
private ObservableCollection<TracertNode> tracertResultNodes = new ObservableCollection<TracertNode>();
public void AppStartup(object sender, StartupEventArgs e)
{
// NOTE: Load sample data does work correctly.. and displays on the screen.
// subsequent updates do not display
LoadSampleData();
}
private void LoadSampleData()
{
TracertResultNodes = new ObservableCollection<TracertNode>();
TracertNode t = new TracertNode();
t.Address = new System.Net.IPAddress(0x2414188f);
t.RoundTripTime = 30;
t.Status = System.Net.NetworkInformation.IPStatus.BadRoute;
TracertResultNodes.Add(t);
}
public ObservableCollection<TracertNode> TracertResultNodes
{
get { return this.tracertResultNodes; }
set { this.tracertResultNodes = value; }
}
}
Here is the MainWindow code
public partial class MainWindow : Window
{
CollectionViewSource tracertDataView;
TraceWrapper _tracertWrapper = null;
public MainWindow()
{
InitializeComponent();
_tracertWrapper = new TraceWrapper();
tracertDataView = (CollectionViewSource)(this.Resources["tracertDataView"]);
}
private void DoTrace_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
((App)Application.Current).TracertResultNodes = _tracertWrapper.Results;
_tracertWrapper.DoTrace("8.8.8.8", 30, 50);
}
}
FYI Internal implementation Detail of instance object "traceWrapper.DoTrace"
/// <summary>
/// Trace a host. Note that this object internally calls the Async implementation of .NET's PING.
// It works perfectly fine in a CMD host, but not in WPF
/// </summary>
public ObservableCollection<TracertNode> DoTrace(string HostOrIP, int maxHops, int TimeOut)
{
tracert = new Tracert();
// The following is triggered for every host that is found, or upon timeout
// (up to 30 times by default)
AutoResetEvent wait = new AutoResetEvent(false);
tracert.waiter = wait;
tracert.HostNameOrAddress = HostOrIP;
tracert.Trace();
this.Results = tracert.NodeList;
while (tracert.IsDone == false)
{
wait.WaitOne();
IsDone = tracert.IsDone;
}
return tracert.NodeList;
}
I don't understand how u used AutoResetEvent, i guess it is not supposed to be used in this way :)
But since Trace run already in another thread, are you sure there is not an event "OnTracertComplete" or something like that in your Tracert class?
If there is not, why you just don't put a DispatchTimer into your application?
That timer would periodically poll until tracert.IsDone becomes true.
If you block the execution of the application thread until an operation completes, you block the execution of the window event loop so window will never be updated.
Another important thing: you cannot update ObservableCollections from another thread.
Be careful and be sure that everything that is updated in the WPF window is executed from the same thread of the window. Don't know what your Trace class do exactly, but your problem here seems to be of course the wait loop, that don't makes sense in a GUI application.
Use notification events or a timer to poll the result. A timer with 1 second resolution seems good to me for this particular implementation and the performance inpact is absolutely minimal.
This is a possible implementation if you are able to modify the Tracert class.
public delegate void TracertCallbacHandler(Tracert sender, TracertNode newNode);
public class Tracert
{
public event TracertCallbacHandler NewNodeFound;
public event EventHandler TracertCompleted;
public void Trace()
{
....
}
// This function gets called in tracert thread\async method.
private void FunctionCalledInThreadWhenPingCompletes(TracertNode newNode)
{
var handler = this.NewNodeFound;
if (handler != null)
handler(this, newNode);
}
// This function gets called in tracert thread\async methods when everything ends.
private void FunctionCalledWhenEverythingDone()
{
var handler = this.TracertCompleted;
if (handler != null)
handler(this, EventArgs.Empty);
}
}
And here is the code to run the tracert,
This is TracertWrapper.
// Keep the observable collection as a field.
private ObservableCollection<TracertNode> pTracertNodes;
// Keep the instance of the running tracert as a field, we need it.
private Tracert pTracert;
public bool IsTracertRunning
{
get { return this.pTracert != null; }
}
public ObservableCollection<TracertNode> DoTrace(string hostOrIP, int maxHops, int timeOut)
{
// If we are not already running a tracert...
if (this.pTracert == null)
{
// Clear or creates the list of tracert nodes.
if (this.pTracertNodes == null)
this.pTracertNodes = new ObservableCollection<TracertNode>();
else
this.pTracertNodes.Clear();
var tracert = new Tracert();
tracert.HostNameOrAddress = hostOrIP;
tracert.MaxHops = maxHops;
tracert.TimeOut = timeOut;
tracert.NewNodeFound += delegate(Tracert sender, TracertNode newNode)
{
// This method is called inside Tracert thread.
// We need to use synchronization context to execute this method in our main window thread.
SynchronizationContext.Current.Post(delegate(object state)
{
// This method is called inside window thread.
this.OnTracertNodeFound(this.pTracertNodes, newNode);
}, null);
};
tracert.TracertCompleted += delegate(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
// This method is called inside Tracert thread.
// We need to use synchronization context to execute this method in our main window thread.
SynchronizationContext.Current.Post(delegate(object state)
{
// This method is called inside window thread.
this.OnTracertCompleted();
}, null);
};
tracert.Trace();
this.pTracert = tracert;
}
return this.pTracertNodes;
}
protected virtual void OnTracertCompleted()
{
// Remove tracert object,
// we need this to let the garbage collector being able to release that objects.
// We need also to allow another traceroute since the previous one completed.
this.pTracert = null;
System.Windows.MessageBox.Show("TraceRoute completed!");
}
protected virtual void OnTracertNodeFound(ObservableCollection<TracertNode> collection, TracertNode newNode)
{
// Add our tracert node.
collection.Add(newNode);
}
The issue is that not only is the listbox not updating, but my entire application hangs.
This is probably due to the AutoResetEvent blocking in DoTrace. You explicitly call Wait.WaitOne(); on the event handle, but as far as I can tell, never Set() it. This will cause the application to hang forever as soon as you call Wait.WaitOne().
It sounds like tracert.Trace() is an asynchronous method. Does it include some form of callback/event to notify you upon completion? If so, you should use that, not poll in a loop, to determine when it's complete.
(1) the listbox bound to tracertDataView is not updating
You won't see the updates to your listbox, as you're assigning a new collection to the TracertResultNodes property, the binding in this case simply does not work, because a new collection was assigned.
In addition to ensuring that the collection is updated in the same thread as outlined by Salvatore below, you should only add or remove items from the existing collection, and NOT assign the new one generated by your DoTrace function.
private void DoTrace_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
foreach(var traceNode in _tracertWrapper.Results)
{
((App)Application.Current).TracertResultNodes.Add(traceNode);
}
_tracertWrapper.DoTrace("8.8.8.8", 30, 50);
}
If you do assign a new one, then you'd need to implement INotifyPropertyChanged on your App class, am not sure how (or whether) that would work though (I have not tried this before).

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