We Keep Coding

Background Worker access from separate class

I get an object reference is required for non-static field error when attempting to call OnProgressChanged and OnCheckCancel in separate class. It's a simple syntax error, but I can't figure it out.
I used the code from this link: BackgroundWorker cancellation
I can execute the code when the search engine code is included within the form, but I need to make it and many other methods in my class library support backgroundworkers.
//**** Windows Form code (Worker.cs)
public partial class Worker : Form
{
bwSearchEngine bwSE = new bwSearchEngine();
public Worker()
{
InitializeComponent();
bw.WorkerReportsProgress = true;
bw.WorkerSupportsCancellation = true;
}
private void btnSearch_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
// set arguments
bw.RunWorkerAsync(arguments);
}
private void bw_DoWork(object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)
{
BackgroundWorker worker = sender as BackgroundWorker;
bwSE.ProgressChanged += (s, pe) => worker.ReportProgress(pe.ProgressPercentage, pe.UserState);
bwSE.CheckCancel += (sender1, e1) => e1.Cancel = worker.CancellationPending;
e.Result = Search();
}
}
//**** Engine code (bwSearchEngine.cs)
public event ProgressChangedEventHandler ProgressChanged;
public event EventHandler<CancelEventArgs> CheckCancel;
protected virtual void OnProgressChanged(int progress, string message)
{
if (ProgressChanged != null)
{
ProgressChanged(this, new ProgressChangedEventArgs(progress, message));
}
}
protected virtual bool OnCheckCancel()
{
EventHandler<CancelEventArgs> handler = CheckCancel;
if (handler != null)
{
CancelEventArgs e = new CancelEventArgs();
handler(this, e);
return e.Cancel;
}
return false;
}
public class Extensions
{
public static List<HookSet> get_Extensions(string word, SQLiteDataSet hayfield)
{
foreach (DataRow dr ...)
{
// Do processing
if (results.Count > 0 && results.Count % 100 == 0)
{
OnProgressChanged(0, results.Count.ToString()); // ERROR ERROR
if (OnCheckCancel()) // ERROR ERROR
{
break;
}
}
}
}
return (results);
}

I found a (somewhat undesirable solution). The class method get_Extensions is a static method and it's not possible to call a non-static method OnProgressChanged() from that. If I make the latter a static method then I can't add events to it from the BackgroundWorker. So, it seems I have to make everything related non-static, and create an instance of the class before using it, ... until I can find a better solution.

I found a solution. I added the BackgroundWorker as a static method. Instead of adding the BackgroundWorker to the form in design mode, I added it to the constructor, and adjusted the code to accomodate the static bw.
private readonly static BackgroundWorker bw = new BackgroundWorker();
public Worker()
{
InitializeComponent();
bw.DoWork += new System.ComponentModel.DoWorkEventHandler(bw_DoWork);
bw.ProgressChanged += new System.ComponentModel.ProgressChangedEventHandler(bw_ProgressChanged);
bw.RunWorkerCompleted += new System.ComponentModel.RunWorkerCompletedEventHandler(bw_RunWorkerCompleted);
bw.WorkerReportsProgress = true;
bw.WorkerSupportsCancellation = true;

C# List.Add System.InvalidOperationException

I am handling an event from a child form in its parent form, and when I try adding items from the list contained within the event args of the handler (ScraperForm_SiteScraped in the code below), I am receiving the exception System.InvalidOperationException in my console.
Interestingly enough, it seems to succeed on the first add, but no subsequent attempts.
public partial class ProxyTesterView : UserControl
{
private BindingList<Proxy> proxies = new BindingList<Proxy>();
private BindingList<ProxyJudge> pudges = new BindingList<ProxyJudge>();
private BindingList<ProxyTest> tests = new BindingList<ProxyTest>();
private PauseOrCancelTokenSource pcts = new PauseOrCancelTokenSource();
private ProxyScraperForm scraperForm = new ProxyScraperForm();
public ProxyTesterView()
{
InitializeComponent();
proxies.ListChanged += Proxies_ListChanged;
scraperForm.SiteScraped += ScraperForm_SiteScraped;
}
private void Proxies_ListChanged(object sender, ListChangedEventArgs e)
{
ProxiesDataGridView.RowCount = proxies.Count;
}
private void AddFromScraperToolStripMenuItem_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
scraperForm.Show();
}
private void ScraperForm_SiteScraped(object sender, SiteScrapedEventArgs e)
{
foreach (var proxy in e.ScrapedProxies)
{
proxies.Add(proxy);
}
}
}
Child Form
public partial class ProxyScraperForm : Form
{
private BindingList<IProxyScraperSite> sites = new BindingList<IProxyScraperSite>();
public int ScrapeInterval { get; set; } = 60000;
public event EventHandler<SiteScrapedEventArgs> SiteScraped;
public ProxyScraperForm()
{
InitializeComponent();
sites.Add(new ProxyScraperSiteUsProxyOrg());
sites.Add(new ProxyScraperSiteFreeProxyListNet());
sites.Add(new ProxyScraperSiteFreeProxyListsNet());
sites.Add(new ProxyScraperSiteHideMyName());
sites.Add(new ProxyScraperSiteHidester());
ScraperDataGridView.DataSource = sites;
}
private void ScrapeButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
foreach (var site in sites)
{
Task.Run(async () =>
{
while (true)
{
var driver = SeleniumUtility.CreateDefaultFirefoxDriver();
var newProxies = await site.ScrapeAsync(driver);
driver.Quit();
OnSiteScraped(newProxies);
await Task.Delay(5000);
site.Status = $"Waiting {ScrapeInterval / 1000} seconds...";
await Task.Delay(ScrapeInterval);
}
});
}
}
private void OnSiteScraped(List<Proxy> scrapedProxies)
{
if (SiteScraped != null)
{
SiteScraped(this, new SiteScrapedEventArgs(scrapedProxies));
}
}
}

From our comments, turns out that this was a threading issue. As a good practice, always use a try/catch block when there's a chance that an exception can occur in a block of code. :)
Also, if you're using Visual Studio, you can make VS break on more exceptions by pressing CTRL+ALT+E and selecting the checkboxes. You can read more about exception breaking here.

Best practice on using async / await

Say I have the following class definitions:
public class Calculator
{
public CalculatorResult Calculate()
{
return LongRunningCalculation();
}
private CalculatorResult LongRunningCalculation()
{
return new CalculatorResult(0.00);
}
}
public class ClassThatUsesACalculator
{
private readonly Calculator calculator;
public ClassThatUsesACalculator()
{
this.calculator = new Calculator();
}
public void DoWork()
{
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
var result = calculator.Calculate();
DoSomethingWithCalculationResult(result);
DoLightWork();
OnProgressChanged();
}
}
}
public partial class Form : Form
{
public Form()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
private void Method(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
DoWork();
}
private void DoWork()
{
var calculator = new ClassThatUsesACalculator();
calculator.ProgressChanged += (s, e) =>
{
// Update progressbar
};
calculator.DoWork();
}
}
If I would want to do the work done in DoWork(), on the form, asynchronously I could add a method (GetCalculationTask) that returns a task using Task.Run() and add a async eventhandler i.e. For a button (MethodOne).
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to me that this would be the only option when the ClassThatUsesACalculator and Calculator classes reside in a library I don't own.
private Task GetCalculationTask(IProgress<CalculatorProgress> progress)
{
var calculator = new ClassThatUsesACalculator();
calculator.ProgressChanged += (s, e) =>
{
progress.Report(new CalculatorProgress(0));
};
return Task.Run(() =>
{
calculator.DoWork();
});
}
private async void MethodOne(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
IProgress<CalculatorProgress> progress = new Progress<CalculatorProgress> (UpdateProgressBar);
await GetCalculationTask(progress);
}
In the case I do own the library I think there are two more options, one of which very much like the first one. Probably due to the lack of my own understanding.
Create a method on on ClassThatUsesACalculator that encapsulates the DoWork() method and then call that from an asynchronous method on the form.
or,
Encapsulate the LongRunningCalculation() on the Calculator class with a Task.Run().
public Task<CalculatorResult> CalculateAsync()
{
return Task.Run(() =>
{
return LongRunningCalculation();
});
}
Create an async method on ClassThatUsesACalculator the calls that awaits the newly created method.
public async Task DoWorkAsync()
{
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
var result = await calculator.CalculateAsync();
DoSomethingWithCalculationResult(result);
DoLightWork();
OnProgressChanged();
}
}
Create an asynchronous method on the form (MethodThree)
private async void MethodThree(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
IProgress<CalculatorProgress> progress = new Progress<CalculatorProgress>(UpdateProgressBar);
var calculator = new ClassThatUsesACalculator();
calculator.ProgressChanged += (s, args) =>
{
progress.Report(new CalculatorProgress(0));
};
await calculator.DoWorkAsync();
}
Now, in my opinion the last option would be the best as I would remain more control. But maybe I'm way off and would like someone's opinion or pointers on this as I can only find explanations on how to consume async, but never really how to build methods for others to consume.

As a general rule, push any Task.Run usage as far up the call stack as possible.
What you want to avoid is having a method with an asynchronous signature that is implemented using Task.Run in a reusable component. That's a lying API. I have a blog post on the subject that goes into greater detail.
If you control the classes in question, I recommend using IProgress<T> instead of events for progress updates. IProgress<T> works just fine with synchronous code as well as asynchronous:
public void DoWork(IProgress<CalculatorProgress> progress = null)
{
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
var result = calculator.Calculate();
DoSomethingWithCalculationResult(result);
DoLightWork();
if (progress != null)
progress.Report(new CalculatorProgress(...));
}
}
Then using it is quite straightforward:
private async void MethodTwo(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
IProgress<CalculatorProgress> progress = new Progress<CalculatorProgress>(UpdateProgressBar);
var calculator = new ClassThatUsesACalculator();
await Task.Run(() => calculator.DoWork(progress));
}
That keeps the Task.Run usage in the component that needs it - the UI layer - and out of the business logic.

How to call WebBrowser Navigate to go through a number of urls?

To collect information on a webpage, I can use the WebBrowser.Navigated event.
First, navigate to the url:
WebBrowser wbCourseOverview = new WebBrowser();
wbCourseOverview.ScriptErrorsSuppressed = true;
wbCourseOverview.Navigate(url);
wbCourseOverview.Navigated += wbCourseOverview_Navigated;
Then process the webpage when Navigated is called:
void wbCourseOverview_Navigated(object sender, WebBrowserNavigatedEventArgs e)
{
//Find the control and invoke "Click" event...
}
The difficult part comes when I try to go through a string array of urls.
foreach (var u in courseUrls)
{
WebBrowser wbCourseOverview = new WebBrowser();
wbCourseOverview.ScriptErrorsSuppressed = true;
wbCourseOverview.Navigate(u);
wbCourseOverview.Navigated += wbCourseOverview_Navigated;
}
Here, because the page load takes time, wbCourseOverview_Navigated is never reached.
I tried to use the async await in C#5. Tasks and the Event-based Asynchronous Pattern (EAP) is found in here. Another example can be found in The Task-based Asynchronous Pattern.
The problem is WebClient has async method like DownloadDataAsync and DownloadStringAsync. But there is no NavigateAsync in WebBrowser.
Can any expert give me some advice? Thank you.
There is a post in StackOverflow (here). But, does anyone know how to implement that strut in its answer?
Update again.
Suggested in another post here in StackOverflow,
public static Task WhenDocumentCompleted(this WebBrowser browser)
{
var tcs = new TaskCompletionSource<bool>();
browser.DocumentCompleted += (s, args) => tcs.SetResult(true);
return tcs.Task;
}
So I have:
foreach (var c in courseBriefs)
{
wbCourseOverview.Navigate(c.Url);
await wbCourseOverview.WhenDocumentCompleted();
}
It looks good until my web browser visits the second url.
An attempt was made to transition a task to a final state when it had already completed.
I know I must have made a mistake inside the foreach loop. Because the DocumentCompleted event has not been raised when it loops to the second round. What is the correct way to write this await in a foreach loop?

There is a post in StackOverflow (here). But, does anyone know how to implement that strut in its answer?
Ok, so you want some code with awaiter. I've made two pieces of code.
The first one uses TPL's built-in awaiter:
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
ProcessUrlsAsync(new[] { "http://google.com", "http://microsoft.com", "http://yahoo.com" })
.Start();
}
private Task ProcessUrlsAsync(string[] urls)
{
return new Task(() =>
{
foreach (string url in urls)
{
TaskAwaiter<string> awaiter = ProcessUrlAsync(url);
// or the next line, in case we use method *
// TaskAwaiter<string> awaiter = ProcessUrlAsync(url).GetAwaiter();
string result = awaiter.GetResult();
MessageBox.Show(result);
}
});
}
// Awaiter inside
private TaskAwaiter<string> ProcessUrlAsync(string url)
{
TaskCompletionSource<string> taskCompletionSource = new TaskCompletionSource<string>();
var handler = new WebBrowserDocumentCompletedEventHandler((s, e) =>
{
// TODO: put custom processing of document right here
taskCompletionSource.SetResult(e.Url + ": " + webBrowser1.Document.Title);
});
webBrowser1.DocumentCompleted += handler;
taskCompletionSource.Task.ContinueWith(s => { webBrowser1.DocumentCompleted -= handler; });
webBrowser1.Navigate(url);
return taskCompletionSource.Task.GetAwaiter();
}
// (*) Task<string> instead of Awaiter
//private Task<string> ProcessUrlAsync(string url)
//{
// TaskCompletionSource<string> taskCompletionSource = new TaskCompletionSource<string>();
// var handler = new WebBrowserDocumentCompletedEventHandler((s, e) =>
// {
// taskCompletionSource.SetResult(e.Url + ": " + webBrowser1.Document.Title);
// });
// webBrowser1.DocumentCompleted += handler;
// taskCompletionSource.Task.ContinueWith(s => { webBrowser1.DocumentCompleted -= handler; });
// webBrowser1.Navigate(url);
// return taskCompletionSource.Task;
//}
And the next sample contains the sample implementation of awaiter struct Eric Lippert was talking about here.
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
public struct WebBrowserAwaiter
{
private readonly WebBrowser _webBrowser;
private readonly string _url;
private readonly TaskAwaiter<string> _innerAwaiter;
public bool IsCompleted
{
get
{
return _innerAwaiter.IsCompleted;
}
}
public WebBrowserAwaiter(WebBrowser webBrowser, string url)
{
_url = url;
_webBrowser = webBrowser;
_innerAwaiter = ProcessUrlAwaitable(_webBrowser, url);
}
public string GetResult()
{
return _innerAwaiter.GetResult();
}
public void OnCompleted(Action continuation)
{
_innerAwaiter.OnCompleted(continuation);
}
private TaskAwaiter<string> ProcessUrlAwaitable(WebBrowser webBrowser, string url)
{
TaskCompletionSource<string> taskCompletionSource = new TaskCompletionSource<string>();
var handler = new WebBrowserDocumentCompletedEventHandler((s, e) =>
{
// TODO: put custom processing of document here
taskCompletionSource.SetResult(e.Url + ": " + webBrowser.Document.Title);
});
webBrowser.DocumentCompleted += handler;
taskCompletionSource.Task.ContinueWith(s => { webBrowser.DocumentCompleted -= handler; });
webBrowser.Navigate(url);
return taskCompletionSource.Task.GetAwaiter();
}
}
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
ProcessUrlsAsync(new[] { "http://google.com", "http://microsoft.com", "http://yahoo.com" })
.Start();
}
private Task ProcessUrlsAsync(string[] urls)
{
return new Task(() =>
{
foreach (string url in urls)
{
var awaiter = new WebBrowserAwaiter(webBrowser1, url);
string result = awaiter.GetResult();
MessageBox.Show(result);
}
});
}
}
}
Hope this helps.

Instead of using wbCourseOverview_Navigated use webBrowser1_DocumentCompleted when fist URL load completed done your job and go to next url
List<string> urls = new List<string>();
int count = 0;
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
webBrowser1.DocumentCompleted+=new WebBrowserDocumentCompletedEventHandler(webBrowser1_DocumentCompleted);
}
private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
webBrowser1.Navigate(urls[count++]);
}
private void webBrowser1_DocumentCompleted(object sender, WebBrowserDocumentCompletedEventArgs e)
{
//Do something
webBrowser1.Navigate(urls[count++]);
}

How to unit test this library?

I have an external library which has a method which performs a long running task on a background thread. When it's done it fires off a Completed event on the thread that kicked off the method (typically the UI thread). It looks like this:
public class Foo
{
public delegate void CompletedEventHandler(object sender, EventArgs e);
public event CompletedEventHandler Completed;
public void LongRunningTask()
{
BackgroundWorker bw = new BackgroundWorker();
bw.DoWork += new DoWorkEventHandler(bw_DoWork);
bw.RunWorkerCompleted += new RunWorkerCompletedEventHandler(bw_RunWorkerCompleted);
bw.RunWorkerAsync();
}
void bw_DoWork(object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)
{
Thread.Sleep(5000);
}
void bw_RunWorkerCompleted(object sender, RunWorkerCompletedEventArgs e)
{
if (Completed != null)
Completed(this, EventArgs.Empty);
}
}
The code that calls this library looks like this:
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
Foo b = new Foo();
b.Completed += new Foo.CompletedEventHandler(b_Completed);
b.LongRunningTask();
Debug.WriteLine("It's all done");
}
void b_Completed(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
// do stuff
}
How do I unit test the call to .LongRunningTask given that it returns data in an event?

I'm not sure if I got it right. Do you want to check the external library if it fires the event? Or do you want to check that you do something particularly if the event is fired?
If it is the latter, I would use a mock for that. The problem is though, that your code seems to be hard to test, because you're doing logical stuff in the user interface. Try to write a "passive" view, and let a presenter do the magic. For example by using the Model View Presenter pattern http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc188690.aspx
The whole thing would then look like this.
The Model
public class Model : IModel
{
public event EventHandler<SampleEventArgs> Completed;
public void LongRunningTask()
{
BackgroundWorker bw = new BackgroundWorker();
bw.DoWork += this.bw_DoWork;
bw.RunWorkerCompleted += this.bw_RunWorkerCompleted;
bw.RunWorkerAsync();
}
private void bw_RunWorkerCompleted(object sender, RunWorkerCompletedEventArgs e)
{
if (this.Completed != null)
{
this.Completed(this, new SampleEventArgs {Data = "Test"});
}
}
private void bw_DoWork(object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)
{
System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(5000);
}
}
The View
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
public event EventHandler Button1Clicked;
public void Update(string data)
{
this.label1.Text = data;
}
private void Button1Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (this.Button1Clicked != null)
{
this.Button1Clicked(this, EventArgs.Empty);
}
}
The Presenter
public class Presenter
{
private readonly IForm1 form1;
private readonly IModel model;
public Presenter(IForm1 form1, IModel model)
{
this.form1 = form1;
this.model = model;
this.form1.Button1Clicked += this.Form1Button1Clicked;
this.model.Completed += this.ModelCompleted;
}
private void ModelCompleted(object sender, SampleEventArgs e)
{
this.form1.Update(e.Data);
}
private void Form1Button1Clicked(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
this.model.LongRunningTask();
}
}
Somewhere you assemble it (e.g. in the Program class)
var form = new Form1();
var model = new Model();
var presenter = new Presenter(form, model);
Application.Run(form);
And then you can easily just test the presenter in an unit test. The part in the gui is now little enough to not be tested.
The possible test could look like this
[Test]
public void Test()
{
var form1Mock = new Mock<IForm1>();
var modelMock = new Mock<IModel>();
var presenter = new Presenter(form1Mock.Object, modelMock.Object);
modelMock.Setup(m => m.LongRunningTask()).Raises(m => m.Completed += null, new SampleEventArgs() { Data = "Some Data" });
form1Mock.Raise(f => f.Button1Clicked += null, EventArgs.Empty);
form1Mock.Verify(f => f.Update("Some Data"));
}

Well, I believe BackgroundWorker uses the current SynchronizationContext. You could potentially implement your own subclass of SynchronizationContext to allow you more control (possibly even running code on the same thread, although that will break anything which depends on it running in a different thread) and call SetSynchronizationContext before running the test.
You'd need to subscribe to the event in your test, and then check whether or not your handler was called. (Lambda expressions are good for this.)
For example, suppose you have a SynchronizationContext which lets you run all the work only when you want it to, and tell you when it's done, your test might:
Set the synchronization context
Create the component
Subscribe to the handler with a lambda which sets a local variable
Call LongRunningTask()
Verify that the local variable hasn't been set yet
Make the synchronization context do all its work... wait until it's finished (with a timeout)
Verify that the local variable has now been set
It's all a bit nasty, admittedly. If you can just test the work it's doing, synchronously, that would be a lot easier.

You can create an extension method that can help with turning it into a synchronous call. You can make tweaks like making it more generic and passing in the timeout variable but at least it will make the unit test easier to write.
static class FooExtensions
{
public static SomeData WaitOn(this Foo foo, Action<Foo> action)
{
SomeData result = null;
var wait = new AutoResetEvent(false);
foo.Completed += (s, e) =>
{
result = e.Data; // I assume this is how you get the data?
wait.Set();
};
action(foo);
if (!wait.WaitOne(5000)) // or whatever would be a good timeout
{
throw new TimeoutException();
}
return result;
}
}
public void TestMethod()
{
var foo = new Foo();
SomeData data = foo.WaitOn(f => f.LongRunningTask());
}

For testing asynchronous code I use a similar helper:
public class AsyncTestHelper
{
public delegate bool TestDelegate();
public static bool AssertOrTimeout(TestDelegate predicate, TimeSpan timeout)
{
var start = DateTime.Now;
var now = DateTime.Now;
bool result = false;
while (!result && (now - start) <= timeout)
{
Thread.Sleep(50);
now = DateTime.Now;
result = predicate.Invoke();
}
return result;
}
}
In the test method then call something like this:
Assert.IsTrue(AsyncTestHelper.AssertOrTimeout(() => changeThisVarInCodeRegisteredToCompletedEvent, TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(500)));