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C# MessageBox in a loop [duplicate]

I have been attempting to have a re-usable modal progress window (I.e. progressForm.ShowDialog()) to show progress from a running async task, including enabling cancellation.
I have seen some implementations that launch start the async task by hooking the Activated event handler on the form, but I need to start the task first, then show the modal dialog that will show it's progress, and then have the modal dialog close when completed or cancellation is completed (note - I want the form closed when cancellation is completed - signalled to close from the task continuation).
I currently have the following - and although this working - are there issues with this - or could this be done in a better way?
I did read that I need to run this CTRL-F5, without debugging (to avoid the AggregateException stopping the debugger in the continuation - and let it be caught in the try catch as in production code)
ProgressForm.cs
- Form with ProgressBar (progressBar1) and Button (btnCancel)
public partial class ProgressForm : Form
{
public ProgressForm()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
public event Action Cancelled;
private void btnCancel_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (Cancelled != null) Cancelled();
}
public void UpdateProgress(int progressInfo)
{
this.progressBar1.Value = progressInfo;
}
}
Services.cs
- Class file containing logic consumed by WinForms app (as well as console app)
public class MyService
{
public async Task<bool> DoSomethingWithResult(
int arg, CancellationToken token, IProgress<int> progress)
{
// Note: arg value would normally be an
// object with meaningful input args (Request)
// un-quote this to test exception occuring.
//throw new Exception("Something bad happened.");
// Procressing would normally be several Async calls, such as ...
// reading a file (e.g. await ReadAsync)
// Then processing it (CPU instensive, await Task.Run),
// and then updating a database (await UpdateAsync)
// Just using Delay here to provide sample,
// using arg as delay, doing that 100 times.
for (int i = 0; i < 100; i++)
{
token.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
await Task.Delay(arg);
progress.Report(i + 1);
}
// return value would be an object with meaningful results (Response)
return true;
}
}
MainForm.cs
- Form with Button (btnDo).
public partial class MainForm : Form
{
public MainForm()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
private async void btnDo_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
CancellationTokenSource cts = new CancellationTokenSource();
CancellationToken token = cts.Token;
// Create the ProgressForm, and hook up the cancellation to it.
ProgressForm progressForm = new ProgressForm();
progressForm.Cancelled += () => cts.Cancel();
// Create the progress reporter - and have it update
// the form directly (if form is valid (not disposed))
Action<int> progressHandlerAction = (progressInfo) =>
{
if (!progressForm.IsDisposed) // don't attempt to use disposed form
progressForm.UpdateProgress(progressInfo);
};
Progress<int> progress = new Progress<int>(progressHandlerAction);
// start the task, and continue back on UI thread to close ProgressForm
Task<bool> responseTask
= MyService.DoSomethingWithResultAsync(100, token, progress)
.ContinueWith(p =>
{
if (!progressForm.IsDisposed) // don't attempt to close disposed form
progressForm.Close();
return p.Result;
}, TaskScheduler.FromCurrentSynchronizationContext());
Debug.WriteLine("Before ShowDialog");
// only show progressForm if
if (!progressForm.IsDisposed) // don't attempt to use disposed form
progressForm.ShowDialog();
Debug.WriteLine("After ShowDialog");
bool response = false;
// await for the task to complete, get the response,
// and check for cancellation and exceptions
try
{
response = await responseTask;
MessageBox.Show("Result = " + response.ToString());
}
catch (AggregateException ae)
{
if (ae.InnerException is OperationCanceledException)
Debug.WriteLine("Cancelled");
else
{
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
foreach (var ie in ae.InnerExceptions)
{
sb.AppendLine(ie.Message);
}
MessageBox.Show(sb.ToString());
}
}
finally
{
// Do I need to double check the form is closed?
if (!progressForm.IsDisposed)
progressForm.Close();
}
}
}
Modified code - using TaskCompletionSource as recommended...
private async void btnDo_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
bool? response = null;
string errorMessage = null;
using (CancellationTokenSource cts = new CancellationTokenSource())
{
using (ProgressForm2 progressForm = new ProgressForm2())
{
progressForm.Cancelled +=
() => cts.Cancel();
var dialogReadyTcs = new TaskCompletionSource<object>();
progressForm.Shown +=
(sX, eX) => dialogReadyTcs.TrySetResult(null);
var dialogTask = Task.Factory.StartNew(
() =>progressForm.ShowDialog(this),
cts.Token,
TaskCreationOptions.None,
TaskScheduler.FromCurrentSynchronizationContext());
await dialogReadyTcs.Task;
Progress<int> progress = new Progress<int>(
(progressInfo) => progressForm.UpdateProgress(progressInfo));
try
{
response = await MyService.DoSomethingWithResultAsync(50, cts.Token, progress);
}
catch (OperationCanceledException) { } // Cancelled
catch (Exception ex)
{
errorMessage = ex.Message;
}
finally
{
progressForm.Close();
}
await dialogTask;
}
}
if (response != null) // Success - have valid response
MessageBox.Show("MainForm: Result = " + response.ToString());
else // Faulted
if (errorMessage != null) MessageBox.Show(errorMessage);
}

I think the biggest issue I have, is that using await (instead of
ContinueWith) means I can't use ShowDialog because both are blocking
calls. If I call ShowDialog first the code is blocked at that point,
and the progress form needs to actually start the async method (which
is what I want to avoid). If I call await
MyService.DoSomethingWithResultAsync first, then this blocks and I
can't then show my progress form.
The ShowDialog is indeed a blocking API in the sense it doesn't return until the dialog has been closed. But it is non-blocking in the sense it continues to pump messages, albeit on a new nested message loop. We can utilize this behavior with async/await and TaskCompletionSource:
private async void btnDo_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
CancellationTokenSource cts = new CancellationTokenSource();
CancellationToken token = cts.Token;
// Create the ProgressForm, and hook up the cancellation to it.
ProgressForm progressForm = new ProgressForm();
progressForm.Cancelled += () => cts.Cancel();
var dialogReadyTcs = new TaskCompletionSource<object>();
progressForm.Load += (sX, eX) => dialogReadyTcs.TrySetResult(true);
// show the dialog asynchronousy
var dialogTask = Task.Factory.StartNew(
() => progressForm.ShowDialog(),
token,
TaskCreationOptions.None,
TaskScheduler.FromCurrentSynchronizationContext());
// await to make sure the dialog is ready
await dialogReadyTcs.Task;
// continue on a new nested message loop,
// which has been started by progressForm.ShowDialog()
// Create the progress reporter - and have it update
// the form directly (if form is valid (not disposed))
Action<int> progressHandlerAction = (progressInfo) =>
{
if (!progressForm.IsDisposed) // don't attempt to use disposed form
progressForm.UpdateProgress(progressInfo);
};
Progress<int> progress = new Progress<int>(progressHandlerAction);
try
{
// await the worker task
var taskResult = await MyService.DoSomethingWithResultAsync(100, token, progress);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
while (ex is AggregateException)
ex = ex.InnerException;
if (!(ex is OperationCanceledException))
MessageBox.Show(ex.Message); // report the error
}
if (!progressForm.IsDisposed && progressForm.Visible)
progressForm.Close();
// this make sure showDialog returns and the nested message loop is over
await dialogTask;
}

How to cancel Task await after a timeout period

I am using this method to instantiate a web browser programmatically, navigate to a url and return a result when the document has completed.
How would I be able to stop the Task and have GetFinalUrl() return null if the document takes more than 5 seconds to load?
I have seen many examples using a TaskFactory but I haven't been able to apply it to this code.
private Uri GetFinalUrl(PortalMerchant portalMerchant)
{
SetBrowserFeatureControl();
Uri finalUri = null;
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(portalMerchant.Url))
{
return null;
}
Uri trackingUrl = new Uri(portalMerchant.Url);
var task = MessageLoopWorker.Run(DoWorkAsync, trackingUrl);
task.Wait();
if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(task.Result.ToString()))
{
return new Uri(task.Result.ToString());
}
else
{
throw new Exception("Parsing Failed");
}
}
// by Noseratio - http://stackoverflow.com/users/1768303/noseratio
static async Task<object> DoWorkAsync(object[] args)
{
_threadCount++;
Console.WriteLine("Thread count:" + _threadCount);
Uri retVal = null;
var wb = new WebBrowser();
wb.ScriptErrorsSuppressed = true;
TaskCompletionSource<bool> tcs = null;
WebBrowserDocumentCompletedEventHandler documentCompletedHandler = (s, e) => tcs.TrySetResult(true);
foreach (var url in args)
{
tcs = new TaskCompletionSource<bool>();
wb.DocumentCompleted += documentCompletedHandler;
try
{
wb.Navigate(url.ToString());
await tcs.Task;
}
finally
{
wb.DocumentCompleted -= documentCompletedHandler;
}
retVal = wb.Url;
wb.Dispose();
return retVal;
}
return null;
}
public static class MessageLoopWorker
{
#region Public static methods
public static async Task<object> Run(Func<object[], Task<object>> worker, params object[] args)
{
var tcs = new TaskCompletionSource<object>();
var thread = new Thread(() =>
{
EventHandler idleHandler = null;
idleHandler = async (s, e) =>
{
// handle Application.Idle just once
Application.Idle -= idleHandler;
// return to the message loop
await Task.Yield();
// and continue asynchronously
// propogate the result or exception
try
{
var result = await worker(args);
tcs.SetResult(result);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
tcs.SetException(ex);
}
// signal to exit the message loop
// Application.Run will exit at this point
Application.ExitThread();
};
// handle Application.Idle just once
// to make sure we're inside the message loop
// and SynchronizationContext has been correctly installed
Application.Idle += idleHandler;
Application.Run();
});
// set STA model for the new thread
thread.SetApartmentState(ApartmentState.STA);
// start the thread and await for the task
thread.Start();
try
{
return await tcs.Task;
}
finally
{
thread.Join();
}
}
#endregion
}

Updated: the latest version of the WebBrowser-based console web scraper can be found on Github.
Updated: Adding a pool of WebBrowser objects for multiple parallel downloads.
Do you have an example of how to do this in a console app by any
chance? Also I don't think webBrowser can be a class variable because
I am running the whole thing in a parallell for each, iterating
thousands of URLs
Below is an implementation of more or less generic **WebBrowser-based web scraper **, which works as console application. It's a consolidation of some of my previous WebBrowser-related efforts, including the code referenced in the question:
Capturing an image of the web page with opacity
Loading a page with dynamic AJAX content
Creating an STA message loop thread for WebBrowser
Loading a set of URLs, one after another
Printing a set of URLs with WebBrowser
Web page UI automation
A few points:
Reusable MessageLoopApartment class is used to start and run a WinForms STA thread with its own message pump. It can be used from a console application, as below. This class exposes a TPL Task Scheduler (FromCurrentSynchronizationContext) and a set of Task.Factory.StartNew wrappers to use this task scheduler.
This makes async/await a great tool for running WebBrowser navigation tasks on that separate STA thread. This way, a WebBrowser object gets created, navigated and destroyed on that thread. Although, MessageLoopApartment is not tied up to WebBrowser specifically.
It's important to enable HTML5 rendering using Browser Feature
Control, as otherwise the WebBrowser obejcts runs in IE7 emulation mode by default.
That's what SetFeatureBrowserEmulation does below.
It may not always be possible to determine when a web page has finished rendering with 100% probability. Some pages are quite complex and use continuous AJAX updates. Yet we
can get quite close, by handling DocumentCompleted event first, then polling the page's current HTML snapshot for changes and checking the WebBrowser.IsBusy property. That's what NavigateAsync does below.
A time-out logic is present on top of the above, in case the page rendering is never-ending (note CancellationTokenSource and CreateLinkedTokenSource).
using Microsoft.Win32;
using System;
using System.Threading;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Windows.Forms;
namespace Console_22239357
{
class Program
{
// by Noseratio - https://stackoverflow.com/a/22262976/1768303
// main logic
static async Task ScrapeSitesAsync(string[] urls, CancellationToken token)
{
using (var apartment = new MessageLoopApartment())
{
// create WebBrowser inside MessageLoopApartment
var webBrowser = apartment.Invoke(() => new WebBrowser());
try
{
foreach (var url in urls)
{
Console.WriteLine("URL:\n" + url);
// cancel in 30s or when the main token is signalled
var navigationCts = CancellationTokenSource.CreateLinkedTokenSource(token);
navigationCts.CancelAfter((int)TimeSpan.FromSeconds(30).TotalMilliseconds);
var navigationToken = navigationCts.Token;
// run the navigation task inside MessageLoopApartment
string html = await apartment.Run(() =>
webBrowser.NavigateAsync(url, navigationToken), navigationToken);
Console.WriteLine("HTML:\n" + html);
}
}
finally
{
// dispose of WebBrowser inside MessageLoopApartment
apartment.Invoke(() => webBrowser.Dispose());
}
}
}
// entry point
static void Main(string[] args)
{
try
{
WebBrowserExt.SetFeatureBrowserEmulation(); // enable HTML5
var cts = new CancellationTokenSource((int)TimeSpan.FromMinutes(3).TotalMilliseconds);
var task = ScrapeSitesAsync(
new[] { "http://example.com", "http://example.org", "http://example.net" },
cts.Token);
task.Wait();
Console.WriteLine("Press Enter to exit...");
Console.ReadLine();
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
while (ex is AggregateException && ex.InnerException != null)
ex = ex.InnerException;
Console.WriteLine(ex.Message);
Environment.Exit(-1);
}
}
}
/// <summary>
/// WebBrowserExt - WebBrowser extensions
/// by Noseratio - https://stackoverflow.com/a/22262976/1768303
/// </summary>
public static class WebBrowserExt
{
const int POLL_DELAY = 500;
// navigate and download
public static async Task<string> NavigateAsync(this WebBrowser webBrowser, string url, CancellationToken token)
{
// navigate and await DocumentCompleted
var tcs = new TaskCompletionSource<bool>();
WebBrowserDocumentCompletedEventHandler handler = (s, arg) =>
tcs.TrySetResult(true);
using (token.Register(() => tcs.TrySetCanceled(), useSynchronizationContext: true))
{
webBrowser.DocumentCompleted += handler;
try
{
webBrowser.Navigate(url);
await tcs.Task; // wait for DocumentCompleted
}
finally
{
webBrowser.DocumentCompleted -= handler;
}
}
// get the root element
var documentElement = webBrowser.Document.GetElementsByTagName("html")[0];
// poll the current HTML for changes asynchronosly
var html = documentElement.OuterHtml;
while (true)
{
// wait asynchronously, this will throw if cancellation requested
await Task.Delay(POLL_DELAY, token);
// continue polling if the WebBrowser is still busy
if (webBrowser.IsBusy)
continue;
var htmlNow = documentElement.OuterHtml;
if (html == htmlNow)
break; // no changes detected, end the poll loop
html = htmlNow;
}
// consider the page fully rendered
token.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
return html;
}
// enable HTML5 (assuming we're running IE10+)
// more info: https://stackoverflow.com/a/18333982/1768303
public static void SetFeatureBrowserEmulation()
{
if (System.ComponentModel.LicenseManager.UsageMode != System.ComponentModel.LicenseUsageMode.Runtime)
return;
var appName = System.IO.Path.GetFileName(System.Diagnostics.Process.GetCurrentProcess().MainModule.FileName);
Registry.SetValue(#"HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\FeatureControl\FEATURE_BROWSER_EMULATION",
appName, 10000, RegistryValueKind.DWord);
}
}
/// <summary>
/// MessageLoopApartment
/// STA thread with message pump for serial execution of tasks
/// by Noseratio - https://stackoverflow.com/a/22262976/1768303
/// </summary>
public class MessageLoopApartment : IDisposable
{
Thread _thread; // the STA thread
TaskScheduler _taskScheduler; // the STA thread's task scheduler
public TaskScheduler TaskScheduler { get { return _taskScheduler; } }
/// <summary>MessageLoopApartment constructor</summary>
public MessageLoopApartment()
{
var tcs = new TaskCompletionSource<TaskScheduler>();
// start an STA thread and gets a task scheduler
_thread = new Thread(startArg =>
{
EventHandler idleHandler = null;
idleHandler = (s, e) =>
{
// handle Application.Idle just once
Application.Idle -= idleHandler;
// return the task scheduler
tcs.SetResult(TaskScheduler.FromCurrentSynchronizationContext());
};
// handle Application.Idle just once
// to make sure we're inside the message loop
// and SynchronizationContext has been correctly installed
Application.Idle += idleHandler;
Application.Run();
});
_thread.SetApartmentState(ApartmentState.STA);
_thread.IsBackground = true;
_thread.Start();
_taskScheduler = tcs.Task.Result;
}
/// <summary>shutdown the STA thread</summary>
public void Dispose()
{
if (_taskScheduler != null)
{
var taskScheduler = _taskScheduler;
_taskScheduler = null;
// execute Application.ExitThread() on the STA thread
Task.Factory.StartNew(
() => Application.ExitThread(),
CancellationToken.None,
TaskCreationOptions.None,
taskScheduler).Wait();
_thread.Join();
_thread = null;
}
}
/// <summary>Task.Factory.StartNew wrappers</summary>
public void Invoke(Action action)
{
Task.Factory.StartNew(action,
CancellationToken.None, TaskCreationOptions.None, _taskScheduler).Wait();
}
public TResult Invoke<TResult>(Func<TResult> action)
{
return Task.Factory.StartNew(action,
CancellationToken.None, TaskCreationOptions.None, _taskScheduler).Result;
}
public Task Run(Action action, CancellationToken token)
{
return Task.Factory.StartNew(action, token, TaskCreationOptions.None, _taskScheduler);
}
public Task<TResult> Run<TResult>(Func<TResult> action, CancellationToken token)
{
return Task.Factory.StartNew(action, token, TaskCreationOptions.None, _taskScheduler);
}
public Task Run(Func<Task> action, CancellationToken token)
{
return Task.Factory.StartNew(action, token, TaskCreationOptions.None, _taskScheduler).Unwrap();
}
public Task<TResult> Run<TResult>(Func<Task<TResult>> action, CancellationToken token)
{
return Task.Factory.StartNew(action, token, TaskCreationOptions.None, _taskScheduler).Unwrap();
}
}
}

I suspect running a processing loop on another thread will not work out well, since WebBrowser is a UI component that hosts an ActiveX control.
When you're writing TAP over EAP wrappers, I recommend using extension methods to keep the code clean:
public static Task<string> NavigateAsync(this WebBrowser #this, string url)
{
var tcs = new TaskCompletionSource<string>();
WebBrowserDocumentCompletedEventHandler subscription = null;
subscription = (_, args) =>
{
#this.DocumentCompleted -= subscription;
tcs.TrySetResult(args.Url.ToString());
};
#this.DocumentCompleted += subscription;
#this.Navigate(url);
return tcs.Task;
}
Now your code can easily apply a timeout:
async Task<string> GetUrlAsync(string url)
{
using (var wb = new WebBrowser())
{
var navigate = wb.NavigateAsync(url);
var timeout = Task.Delay(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(5));
var completed = await Task.WhenAny(navigate, timeout);
if (completed == navigate)
return await navigate;
return null;
}
}
which can be consumed as such:
private async Task<Uri> GetFinalUrlAsync(PortalMerchant portalMerchant)
{
SetBrowserFeatureControl();
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(portalMerchant.Url))
return null;
var result = await GetUrlAsync(portalMerchant.Url);
if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(result))
return new Uri(result);
throw new Exception("Parsing Failed");
}

I'm trying to take benefit from Noseratio's solution as well as following advices from Stephen Cleary.
Here is the code I updated to include in the code from Stephen the code from Noseratio regarding the AJAX tip.
First part: the Task NavigateAsync advised by Stephen
public static Task<string> NavigateAsync(this WebBrowser #this, string url)
{
var tcs = new TaskCompletionSource<string>();
WebBrowserDocumentCompletedEventHandler subscription = null;
subscription = (_, args) =>
{
#this.DocumentCompleted -= subscription;
tcs.TrySetResult(args.Url.ToString());
};
#this.DocumentCompleted += subscription;
#this.Navigate(url);
return tcs.Task;
}
Second part: a new Task NavAjaxAsync to run the tip for AJAX (based on Noseratio's code)
public static async Task<string> NavAjaxAsync(this WebBrowser #this)
{
// get the root element
var documentElement = #this.Document.GetElementsByTagName("html")[0];
// poll the current HTML for changes asynchronosly
var html = documentElement.OuterHtml;
while (true)
{
// wait asynchronously
await Task.Delay(POLL_DELAY);
// continue polling if the WebBrowser is still busy
if (webBrowser.IsBusy)
continue;
var htmlNow = documentElement.OuterHtml;
if (html == htmlNow)
break; // no changes detected, end the poll loop
html = htmlNow;
}
return #this.Document.Url.ToString();
}
Third part: a new Task NavAndAjaxAsync to get the navigation and the AJAX
public static async Task NavAndAjaxAsync(this WebBrowser #this, string url)
{
await #this.NavigateAsync(url);
await #this.NavAjaxAsync();
}
Fourth and last part: the updated Task GetUrlAsync from Stephen with Noseratio's code for AJAX
async Task<string> GetUrlAsync(string url)
{
using (var wb = new WebBrowser())
{
var navigate = wb.NavAndAjaxAsync(url);
var timeout = Task.Delay(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(5));
var completed = await Task.WhenAny(navigate, timeout);
if (completed == navigate)
return await navigate;
return null;
}
}
I'd like to know if this is the right approach.

Get ReadyState from WebBrowser control without DoEvents

This has been awnsered many times here and at other sites and its working, but I would like ideas to other ways to:
get the ReadyState = Complete after using a navigate or post, without using DoEvents because of all of its cons.
I would also note that using the DocumentComplete event woud not help here as I wont be navigating on only one page, but one after another like this.
wb.navigate("www.microsoft.com")
//dont use DoEvents loop here
wb.Document.Body.SetAttribute(textbox1, "login")
//dont use DoEvents loop here
if (wb.documenttext.contais("text"))
//do something
The way it is today its working by using DoEvents. I would like to know if anyone have a proper way to wait the async call of the browser methods to only then proceed with the rest of the logic. Just for the sake of it.
Thanks in advance.

Below is a basic WinForms app code, illustrating how to wait for the DocumentCompleted event asynchronously, using async/await. It navigates to multiple pages, one after another. Everything is taking place on the main UI thread.
Instead of calling this.webBrowser.Navigate(url), it might be simulating a form button click, to trigger a POST-style navigation.
The webBrowser.IsBusy async loop logic is optional, its purpose is to account (non-deterministically) for the page's dynamic AJAX code which may take place after window.onload event.
using System;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Threading;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Windows.Forms;
namespace WebBrowserApp
{
public partial class MainForm : Form
{
WebBrowser webBrowser;
public MainForm()
{
InitializeComponent();
// create a WebBrowser
this.webBrowser = new WebBrowser();
this.webBrowser.Dock = DockStyle.Fill;
this.Controls.Add(this.webBrowser);
this.Load += MainForm_Load;
}
// Form Load event handler
async void MainForm_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
// cancel the whole operation in 30 sec
var cts = new CancellationTokenSource(30000);
var urls = new String[] {
"http://www.example.com",
"http://www.gnu.org",
"http://www.debian.org" };
await NavigateInLoopAsync(urls, cts.Token);
}
// navigate to each URL in a loop
async Task NavigateInLoopAsync(string[] urls, CancellationToken ct)
{
foreach (var url in urls)
{
ct.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
var html = await NavigateAsync(ct, () =>
this.webBrowser.Navigate(url));
Debug.Print("url: {0}, html: \n{1}", url, html);
}
}
// asynchronous navigation
async Task<string> NavigateAsync(CancellationToken ct, Action startNavigation)
{
var onloadTcs = new TaskCompletionSource<bool>();
EventHandler onloadEventHandler = null;
WebBrowserDocumentCompletedEventHandler documentCompletedHandler = delegate
{
// DocumentCompleted may be called several time for the same page,
// if the page has frames
if (onloadEventHandler != null)
return;
// so, observe DOM onload event to make sure the document is fully loaded
onloadEventHandler = (s, e) =>
onloadTcs.TrySetResult(true);
this.webBrowser.Document.Window.AttachEventHandler("onload", onloadEventHandler);
};
this.webBrowser.DocumentCompleted += documentCompletedHandler;
try
{
using (ct.Register(() => onloadTcs.TrySetCanceled(), useSynchronizationContext: true))
{
startNavigation();
// wait for DOM onload event, throw if cancelled
await onloadTcs.Task;
}
}
finally
{
this.webBrowser.DocumentCompleted -= documentCompletedHandler;
if (onloadEventHandler != null)
this.webBrowser.Document.Window.DetachEventHandler("onload", onloadEventHandler);
}
// the page has fully loaded by now
// optional: let the page run its dynamic AJAX code,
// we might add another timeout for this loop
do { await Task.Delay(500, ct); }
while (this.webBrowser.IsBusy);
// return the page's HTML content
return this.webBrowser.Document.GetElementsByTagName("html")[0].OuterHtml;
}
}
}
If you're looking to do something similar from a console app, here is an example of that.

The solution is simple:
// MAKE SURE ReadyState = Complete
while (WebBrowser1.ReadyState.ToString() != "Complete") {
Application.DoEvents();
}
// Move on to your sub-sequence code...
Dirty and quick.. I am a VBA guys, this logic has been working forever, just took me days and found none for C# but I just figured this out myself.
Following is my complete function, the objective is to obtain a segment of info from a webpage:
private int maxReloadAttempt = 3;
private int currentAttempt = 1;
private string GetCarrier(string webAddress)
{
WebBrowser WebBrowser_4MobileCarrier = new WebBrowser();
string innerHtml;
string strStartSearchFor = "subtitle block pull-left\">";
string strEndSearchFor = "<";
try
{
WebBrowser_4MobileCarrier.ScriptErrorsSuppressed = true;
WebBrowser_4MobileCarrier.Navigate(webAddress);
// MAKE SURE ReadyState = Complete
while (WebBrowser_4MobileCarrier.ReadyState.ToString() != "Complete") {
Application.DoEvents();
}
// LOAD HTML
innerHtml = WebBrowser_4MobileCarrier.Document.Body.InnerHtml;
// ATTEMPT (x3) TO EXTRACT CARRIER STRING
while (currentAttempt <= maxReloadAttempt) {
if (innerHtml.IndexOf(strStartSearchFor) >= 0)
{
currentAttempt = 1; // Reset attempt counter
return Sub_String(innerHtml, strStartSearchFor, strEndSearchFor, "0"); // Method: "Sub_String" is my custom function
}
else
{
currentAttempt += 1; // Increment attempt counter
GetCarrier(webAddress); // Recursive method call
} // End if
} // End while
} // End Try
catch //(Exception ex)
{
}
return "Unavailable";
}

Here is a "quick & dirty" solution. It's not 100% foolproof but it doesn't block UI thread and it should be satisfactory to prototype WebBrowser control Automation procedures:
private async void testButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
await Task.Factory.StartNew(
() =>
{
stepTheWeb(() => wb.Navigate("www.yahoo.com"));
stepTheWeb(() => wb.Navigate("www.microsoft.com"));
stepTheWeb(() => wb.Navigate("asp.net"));
stepTheWeb(() => wb.Document.InvokeScript("eval", new[] { "$('p').css('background-color','yellow')" }));
bool testFlag = false;
stepTheWeb(() => testFlag = wb.DocumentText.Contains("Get Started"));
if (testFlag) { /* TODO */ }
// ...
}
);
}
private void stepTheWeb(Action task)
{
this.Invoke(new Action(task));
WebBrowserReadyState rs = WebBrowserReadyState.Interactive;
while (rs != WebBrowserReadyState.Complete)
{
this.Invoke(new Action(() => rs = wb.ReadyState));
System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(300);
}
}
Here is a bit more generic version of testButton_Click method:
private async void testButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
var actions = new List<Action>()
{
() => wb.Navigate("www.yahoo.com"),
() => wb.Navigate("www.microsoft.com"),
() => wb.Navigate("asp.net"),
() => wb.Document.InvokeScript("eval", new[] { "$('p').css('background-color','yellow')" }),
() => {
bool testFlag = false;
testFlag = wb.DocumentText.Contains("Get Started");
if (testFlag) { /* TODO */ }
}
//...
};
await Task.Factory.StartNew(() => actions.ForEach((x)=> stepTheWeb (x)));
}
[Update]
I have adapted my "quick & dirty" sample by borrowing and sligthly refactoring #Noseratio's NavigateAsync method from this topic.
New code version would automate/execute asynchronously in UI thread context not only navigation operations but also Javascript/AJAX calls - any "lamdas"/one automation step task implementation methods.
All and every code reviews/comments are very welcome. Especially, from #Noseratio. Together, we will make this world better ;)
public enum ActionTypeEnumeration
{
Navigation = 1,
Javascript = 2,
UIThreadDependent = 3,
UNDEFINED = 99
}
public class ActionDescriptor
{
public Action Action { get; set; }
public ActionTypeEnumeration ActionType { get; set; }
}
/// <summary>
/// Executes a set of WebBrowser control's Automation actions
/// </summary>
/// <remarks>
/// Test form shoudl ahve the following controls:
/// webBrowser1 - WebBrowser,
/// testbutton - Button,
/// testCheckBox - CheckBox,
/// totalHtmlLengthTextBox - TextBox
/// </remarks>
private async void testButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
try
{
var cts = new CancellationTokenSource(60000);
var actions = new List<ActionDescriptor>()
{
new ActionDescriptor() { Action = ()=> wb.Navigate("www.yahoo.com"), ActionType = ActionTypeEnumeration.Navigation} ,
new ActionDescriptor() { Action = () => wb.Navigate("www.microsoft.com"), ActionType = ActionTypeEnumeration.Navigation} ,
new ActionDescriptor() { Action = () => wb.Navigate("asp.net"), ActionType = ActionTypeEnumeration.Navigation} ,
new ActionDescriptor() { Action = () => wb.Document.InvokeScript("eval", new[] { "$('p').css('background-color','yellow')" }), ActionType = ActionTypeEnumeration.Javascript},
new ActionDescriptor() { Action =
() => {
testCheckBox.Checked = wb.DocumentText.Contains("Get Started");
},
ActionType = ActionTypeEnumeration.UIThreadDependent}
//...
};
foreach (var action in actions)
{
string html = await ExecuteWebBrowserAutomationAction(cts.Token, action.Action, action.ActionType);
// count HTML web page stats - just for fun
int totalLength = 0;
Int32.TryParse(totalHtmlLengthTextBox.Text, out totalLength);
totalLength += !string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(html) ? html.Length : 0;
totalHtmlLengthTextBox.Text = totalLength.ToString();
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
MessageBox.Show(ex.Message, "Error");
}
}
// asynchronous WebBroswer control Automation
async Task<string> ExecuteWebBrowserAutomationAction(
CancellationToken ct,
Action runWebBrowserAutomationAction,
ActionTypeEnumeration actionType = ActionTypeEnumeration.UNDEFINED)
{
var onloadTcs = new TaskCompletionSource<bool>();
EventHandler onloadEventHandler = null;
WebBrowserDocumentCompletedEventHandler documentCompletedHandler = delegate
{
// DocumentCompleted may be called several times for the same page,
// if the page has frames
if (onloadEventHandler != null)
return;
// so, observe DOM onload event to make sure the document is fully loaded
onloadEventHandler = (s, e) =>
onloadTcs.TrySetResult(true);
this.wb.Document.Window.AttachEventHandler("onload", onloadEventHandler);
};
this.wb.DocumentCompleted += documentCompletedHandler;
try
{
using (ct.Register(() => onloadTcs.TrySetCanceled(), useSynchronizationContext: true))
{
runWebBrowserAutomationAction();
if (actionType == ActionTypeEnumeration.Navigation)
{
// wait for DOM onload event, throw if cancelled
await onloadTcs.Task;
}
}
}
finally
{
this.wb.DocumentCompleted -= documentCompletedHandler;
if (onloadEventHandler != null)
this.wb.Document.Window.DetachEventHandler("onload", onloadEventHandler);
}
// the page has fully loaded by now
// optional: let the page run its dynamic AJAX code,
// we might add another timeout for this loop
do { await Task.Delay(500, ct); }
while (this.wb.IsBusy);
// return the page's HTML content
return this.wb.Document.GetElementsByTagName("html")[0].OuterHtml;
}

UI becomes unresponsive while using Web browser control even though it is been used and invoked from a separate thread [duplicate]

I have a list Uri's that I want "clicked" To achieve this I"m trying to create a new web-browser control per Uri. I create a new thread per Uri. The problem I'm having is the thread end before the document is fully loaded, so I never get to make use of the DocumentComplete event. How can I overcome this?
var item = new ParameterizedThreadStart(ClicIt.Click);
var thread = new Thread(item) {Name = "ClickThread"};
thread.Start(uriItem);
public static void Click(object o)
{
var url = ((UriItem)o);
Console.WriteLine(#"Clicking: " + url.Link);
var clicker = new WebBrowser { ScriptErrorsSuppressed = true };
clicker.DocumentCompleted += BrowseComplete;
if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(url.Link)) return;
if (url.Link.Equals("about:blank")) return;
if (!url.Link.StartsWith("http://") && !url.Link.StartsWith("https://"))
url.Link = "http://" + url.Link;
clicker.Navigate(url.Link);
}

You have to create an STA thread that pumps a message loop. That's the only hospitable environment for an ActiveX component like WebBrowser. You won't get the DocumentCompleted event otherwise. Some sample code:
private void runBrowserThread(Uri url) {
var th = new Thread(() => {
var br = new WebBrowser();
br.DocumentCompleted += browser_DocumentCompleted;
br.Navigate(url);
Application.Run();
});
th.SetApartmentState(ApartmentState.STA);
th.Start();
}
void browser_DocumentCompleted(object sender, WebBrowserDocumentCompletedEventArgs e) {
var br = sender as WebBrowser;
if (br.Url == e.Url) {
Console.WriteLine("Natigated to {0}", e.Url);
Application.ExitThread(); // Stops the thread
}
}

Here is how to organize a message loop on a non-UI thread, to run asynchronous tasks like WebBrowser automation. It uses async/await to provide the convenient linear code flow and loads a set of web pages in a loop. The code is a ready-to-run console app which is partially based on this excellent post.
Related answers:
https://stackoverflow.com/a/22262976/1768303
https://stackoverflow.com/a/21775343/1768303
using System;
using System.Threading;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Windows.Forms;
namespace ConsoleApplicationWebBrowser
{
// by Noseratio - https://stackoverflow.com/users/1768303/noseratio
class Program
{
// Entry Point of the console app
static void Main(string[] args)
{
try
{
// download each page and dump the content
var task = MessageLoopWorker.Run(DoWorkAsync,
"http://www.example.com", "http://www.example.net", "http://www.example.org");
task.Wait();
Console.WriteLine("DoWorkAsync completed.");
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
Console.WriteLine("DoWorkAsync failed: " + ex.Message);
}
Console.WriteLine("Press Enter to exit.");
Console.ReadLine();
}
// navigate WebBrowser to the list of urls in a loop
static async Task<object> DoWorkAsync(object[] args)
{
Console.WriteLine("Start working.");
using (var wb = new WebBrowser())
{
wb.ScriptErrorsSuppressed = true;
TaskCompletionSource<bool> tcs = null;
WebBrowserDocumentCompletedEventHandler documentCompletedHandler = (s, e) =>
tcs.TrySetResult(true);
// navigate to each URL in the list
foreach (var url in args)
{
tcs = new TaskCompletionSource<bool>();
wb.DocumentCompleted += documentCompletedHandler;
try
{
wb.Navigate(url.ToString());
// await for DocumentCompleted
await tcs.Task;
}
finally
{
wb.DocumentCompleted -= documentCompletedHandler;
}
// the DOM is ready
Console.WriteLine(url.ToString());
Console.WriteLine(wb.Document.Body.OuterHtml);
}
}
Console.WriteLine("End working.");
return null;
}
}
// a helper class to start the message loop and execute an asynchronous task
public static class MessageLoopWorker
{
public static async Task<object> Run(Func<object[], Task<object>> worker, params object[] args)
{
var tcs = new TaskCompletionSource<object>();
var thread = new Thread(() =>
{
EventHandler idleHandler = null;
idleHandler = async (s, e) =>
{
// handle Application.Idle just once
Application.Idle -= idleHandler;
// return to the message loop
await Task.Yield();
// and continue asynchronously
// propogate the result or exception
try
{
var result = await worker(args);
tcs.SetResult(result);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
tcs.SetException(ex);
}
// signal to exit the message loop
// Application.Run will exit at this point
Application.ExitThread();
};
// handle Application.Idle just once
// to make sure we're inside the message loop
// and SynchronizationContext has been correctly installed
Application.Idle += idleHandler;
Application.Run();
});
// set STA model for the new thread
thread.SetApartmentState(ApartmentState.STA);
// start the thread and await for the task
thread.Start();
try
{
return await tcs.Task;
}
finally
{
thread.Join();
}
}
}
}

From my experience in the past the webbrowser does not like operating outside of the main application thread.
Try using httpwebrequests instead, you can set them as asynchronous and create a handler for the response to know when it is succesfull:
how-to-use-httpwebrequest-net-asynchronously

A simple solution at which the simultaneous operation of several WebBrowsers occurs
Create a new Windows Forms application
Place the button named
button1
Place the text box named textBox1
Set properties of text
field: Multiline true and ScrollBars Both
Write the following
button1 click handler:
textBox1.Clear();
textBox1.AppendText(DateTime.Now.ToString() + Environment.NewLine);
int completed_count = 0;
int count = 10;
for (int i = 0; i < count; i++)
{
int tmp = i;
this.BeginInvoke(new Action(() =>
{
var wb = new WebBrowser();
wb.ScriptErrorsSuppressed = true;
wb.DocumentCompleted += (cur_sender, cur_e) =>
{
var cur_wb = cur_sender as WebBrowser;
if (cur_wb.Url == cur_e.Url)
{
textBox1.AppendText("Task " + tmp + ", navigated to " + cur_e.Url + Environment.NewLine);
completed_count++;
}
};
wb.Navigate("https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4269800/webbrowser-control-in-a-new-thread");
}
));
}
while (completed_count != count)
{
Application.DoEvents();
Thread.Sleep(10);
}
textBox1.AppendText("All completed" + Environment.NewLine);

WebBrowser Control in a new thread

I have a list Uri's that I want "clicked" To achieve this I"m trying to create a new web-browser control per Uri. I create a new thread per Uri. The problem I'm having is the thread end before the document is fully loaded, so I never get to make use of the DocumentComplete event. How can I overcome this?
var item = new ParameterizedThreadStart(ClicIt.Click);
var thread = new Thread(item) {Name = "ClickThread"};
thread.Start(uriItem);
public static void Click(object o)
{
var url = ((UriItem)o);
Console.WriteLine(#"Clicking: " + url.Link);
var clicker = new WebBrowser { ScriptErrorsSuppressed = true };
clicker.DocumentCompleted += BrowseComplete;
if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(url.Link)) return;
if (url.Link.Equals("about:blank")) return;
if (!url.Link.StartsWith("http://") && !url.Link.StartsWith("https://"))
url.Link = "http://" + url.Link;
clicker.Navigate(url.Link);
}

You have to create an STA thread that pumps a message loop. That's the only hospitable environment for an ActiveX component like WebBrowser. You won't get the DocumentCompleted event otherwise. Some sample code:
private void runBrowserThread(Uri url) {
var th = new Thread(() => {
var br = new WebBrowser();
br.DocumentCompleted += browser_DocumentCompleted;
br.Navigate(url);
Application.Run();
});
th.SetApartmentState(ApartmentState.STA);
th.Start();
}
void browser_DocumentCompleted(object sender, WebBrowserDocumentCompletedEventArgs e) {
var br = sender as WebBrowser;
if (br.Url == e.Url) {
Console.WriteLine("Natigated to {0}", e.Url);
Application.ExitThread(); // Stops the thread
}
}

Here is how to organize a message loop on a non-UI thread, to run asynchronous tasks like WebBrowser automation. It uses async/await to provide the convenient linear code flow and loads a set of web pages in a loop. The code is a ready-to-run console app which is partially based on this excellent post.
Related answers:
https://stackoverflow.com/a/22262976/1768303
https://stackoverflow.com/a/21775343/1768303
using System;
using System.Threading;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Windows.Forms;
namespace ConsoleApplicationWebBrowser
{
// by Noseratio - https://stackoverflow.com/users/1768303/noseratio
class Program
{
// Entry Point of the console app
static void Main(string[] args)
{
try
{
// download each page and dump the content
var task = MessageLoopWorker.Run(DoWorkAsync,
"http://www.example.com", "http://www.example.net", "http://www.example.org");
task.Wait();
Console.WriteLine("DoWorkAsync completed.");
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
Console.WriteLine("DoWorkAsync failed: " + ex.Message);
}
Console.WriteLine("Press Enter to exit.");
Console.ReadLine();
}
// navigate WebBrowser to the list of urls in a loop
static async Task<object> DoWorkAsync(object[] args)
{
Console.WriteLine("Start working.");
using (var wb = new WebBrowser())
{
wb.ScriptErrorsSuppressed = true;
TaskCompletionSource<bool> tcs = null;
WebBrowserDocumentCompletedEventHandler documentCompletedHandler = (s, e) =>
tcs.TrySetResult(true);
// navigate to each URL in the list
foreach (var url in args)
{
tcs = new TaskCompletionSource<bool>();
wb.DocumentCompleted += documentCompletedHandler;
try
{
wb.Navigate(url.ToString());
// await for DocumentCompleted
await tcs.Task;
}
finally
{
wb.DocumentCompleted -= documentCompletedHandler;
}
// the DOM is ready
Console.WriteLine(url.ToString());
Console.WriteLine(wb.Document.Body.OuterHtml);
}
}
Console.WriteLine("End working.");
return null;
}
}
// a helper class to start the message loop and execute an asynchronous task
public static class MessageLoopWorker
{
public static async Task<object> Run(Func<object[], Task<object>> worker, params object[] args)
{
var tcs = new TaskCompletionSource<object>();
var thread = new Thread(() =>
{
EventHandler idleHandler = null;
idleHandler = async (s, e) =>
{
// handle Application.Idle just once
Application.Idle -= idleHandler;
// return to the message loop
await Task.Yield();
// and continue asynchronously
// propogate the result or exception
try
{
var result = await worker(args);
tcs.SetResult(result);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
tcs.SetException(ex);
}
// signal to exit the message loop
// Application.Run will exit at this point
Application.ExitThread();
};
// handle Application.Idle just once
// to make sure we're inside the message loop
// and SynchronizationContext has been correctly installed
Application.Idle += idleHandler;
Application.Run();
});
// set STA model for the new thread
thread.SetApartmentState(ApartmentState.STA);
// start the thread and await for the task
thread.Start();
try
{
return await tcs.Task;
}
finally
{
thread.Join();
}
}
}
}

From my experience in the past the webbrowser does not like operating outside of the main application thread.
Try using httpwebrequests instead, you can set them as asynchronous and create a handler for the response to know when it is succesfull:
how-to-use-httpwebrequest-net-asynchronously

A simple solution at which the simultaneous operation of several WebBrowsers occurs
Create a new Windows Forms application
Place the button named
button1
Place the text box named textBox1
Set properties of text
field: Multiline true and ScrollBars Both
Write the following
button1 click handler:
textBox1.Clear();
textBox1.AppendText(DateTime.Now.ToString() + Environment.NewLine);
int completed_count = 0;
int count = 10;
for (int i = 0; i < count; i++)
{
int tmp = i;
this.BeginInvoke(new Action(() =>
{
var wb = new WebBrowser();
wb.ScriptErrorsSuppressed = true;
wb.DocumentCompleted += (cur_sender, cur_e) =>
{
var cur_wb = cur_sender as WebBrowser;
if (cur_wb.Url == cur_e.Url)
{
textBox1.AppendText("Task " + tmp + ", navigated to " + cur_e.Url + Environment.NewLine);
completed_count++;
}
};
wb.Navigate("https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4269800/webbrowser-control-in-a-new-thread");
}
));
}
while (completed_count != count)
{
Application.DoEvents();
Thread.Sleep(10);
}
textBox1.AppendText("All completed" + Environment.NewLine);