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How can I pop a navigation page when a value changes in a static class?

So I have a bit of a weird problem.
I've implemented a camera preview class (largely following this code here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/samples/xamarin/xamarin-forms-samples/customrenderers-view/) but have added a button at the bottom to take a picture. This involves the use of both some xamarin forms code and some xamarin android code.
However, the CapturePage is only put on the stack when the user announces that they want to take a photo, and after the photo has been taken, I want to pop the Capture page to go back to the main screen. Currently, I have a static boolean value in the overall project that is changed from false to true when a capture has occurred. Is there some way to get my code in Main.xaml.cs to wait on this value changing, then pop whatever is on top of the navigation stack? Is this a use for a property changed? See code below:
The code in Project.Droid that handles the capturing and saving of the image:
void OnCapButtonClicked(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
// capButton.capture is an instance of Android.Hardware.Camera
capButton.capture.TakePicture(null, null, this);
// stop the preview when the capture happens
CameraInfoContainer.isPreviewing = false;
}
public void OnPictureTaken(byte[] data, Camera camera)
{
var filepath = string.Empty;
var clientInstanceId = Guid.NewGuid().ToString();
var saveLoc = Android.OS.Environment.GetExternalStoragePublicDirectory(Android.OS.Environment.DirectoryPictures);
filepath = System.IO.Path.Combine(saveLoc.AbsolutePath, clientInstanceId + ".jpg");
try
{
System.IO.File.WriteAllBytes(filepath, data);
//mediascan adds the saved image into the gallery
var mediaScanIntent = new Intent(Intent.ActionMediaScannerScanFile);
mediaScanIntent.SetData(Android.Net.Uri.FromFile(new File(filepath)));
Forms.Context.SendBroadcast(mediaScanIntent);
}
catch (Exception e)
{
System.Console.WriteLine(e.ToString());
}
// CameraInfoContainer is a static class in Project NOT in Project.Droid
CameraInfoContainer.savedCapture = filepath;
CameraInfoContainer.capType = CaptureType.Photo;
CameraInfoContainer.captureComplete = true; // here is where I set the value (in Project)
}
Now the code in Project that pushes the capture page on the stack and that I want to trigger when the capture has happened:
// this method puts the capture page on the stack and starts the whole process
private async Task ExecuteNewCapture()
{
var cp = new CapturePage();
var np = new NavigationPage(cp);
await Navigation.PushModalAsync(np, true);
}
// this is the method that I want to trigger when a photo is taken (in Project/Main.xaml.cs)
private async Task Complete(string fileLoc)
{
await Navigation.PopModalAsync();
}

Answer is in a comment from Junior Jiang. Ended up using Xamarin.Forms.MessagingCenter to get done what I needed.

Need to implement "Scan" method in dll (non blocking)

Sorry for the title, i didn't find it easy to resume.
My issue is that I need to implement a c# dll that implements a 'scan' method, but this scan, when invoked, must not block the main thread of the application using the dll. Moreover, it is a duty that after the scan resolves it rises an Event.
So my issue (in the deep) is that i'm not so experienced at c#, and after very hard investigation i've come up with some solutions but i'm not very sure if they are the "right" procedures.
In the dll i've come up with:
public class Reader
{
public delegate void ReaderEventHandler(Object sender, AlertEventArgs e);
public void Scan(String ReaderName)
{
AlertEventArgs alertEventArgs = new AlertEventArgs();
alertEventArgs.uuiData = null;
//Code with blocking scan function here
if (ScanFinnished)
{
alertEventArgs.uuiData = "Scan Finnished!";
}
alertEventArgs.cardStateData = readerState[0].eventState;
ReaderEvent(new object(), alertEventArgs);
}
public event ReaderEventHandler ReaderEvent;
}
public class AlertEventArgs : EventArgs
{
#region AlertEventArgs Properties
private string _uui = null;
private uint cardState = 0;
#endregion
#region Get/Set Properties
public string uuiData
{
get { return _uui; }
set { _uui = value; }
}
public uint cardStateData
{
get { return cardState; }
set { cardState = value; }
}
#endregion
}
While in the main app I do:
Reader reader;
Task polling;
String SelectedReader = "Some_Reader";
private void bButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
reader = new Reader();
reader.ReaderEvent += new Reader.ReaderEventHandler(reader_EventChanged);
polling = Task.Factory.StartNew(() => reader.Scan(SelectedReader));
}
void reader_EventChanged(object sender, AlertEventArgs e)
{
MessageBox.Show(e.uuiData + " Estado: " + e.cardStateData.ToString("X"));
reader.Dispose();
}
So here, it works fine but i don't know if it's the proper way, in addition i'm not able to handle possible Exceptions generated in the dll.
Also tried to use async/await but found it difficult and as I understand it's just a simpler workaround Tasks.
What are the inconvinients of this solution? how can i capture Exceptions (are they in other threads and that's why i cant try/catch them)? Possible concept faults?

When your class sends events, the sender usually is that class, this. Having new object() as sender makes absolutely no sense. Even null would be better but... just use this.
You shouldn't directly raise events as it might result in race conditions. Might not happen easily in your case but it's just a good guideline to follow. So instead of calling ReaderEvent(new object(), alertEventArgs); call RaiseReaderEvent(alertEventArgs); and create method for it.
For example:
private void RaiseReaderEvent(AlertEventArgs args)
{
var myEvent = ReaderEvent; // This prevents race conditions
if (myEvent != null) // remember to check that someone actually subscribes your event
myEvent(this, args); // Sender should be *this*, not some "new object()".
}
Though I personally like a bit more generic approach:
private void Raise<T>(EventHandler<T> oEvent, T args) where T : EventArgs
{
var eventInstance = oEvent;
if (eventInstance != null)
eventInstance(this, args);
}
Which can then be used to raise all events in same class like this:
Raise(ReaderEvent, alertEventArgs);
Since your scan should be non-blocking, you could use tasks, async/await or threads for example. You have chosen Tasks which is perfectly fine.
In every case you must understand that when you are not blocking your application, your application's main thread continues going like a train. Once you jump out of that train, you can't return. You probably should declare a new event "ErrorEvent" that is raised if your scan-procedure catches an exception. Your main application can then subscribe to that event as well, but you still must realize that those events are not (necessarily) coming from the main thread. When not, you won't be able to interact with your GUI directly (I'm assuming you have one due to button click handler). If you are using WinForms, you'll have to invoke all GUI changes when required.
So your UI-thread safe event handler should be something like this:
void reader_EventChanged(object sender, AlertEventArgs e)
{
if (InvokeRequired) // This true for others than UI Thread.
{
Invoke((MethodInvoker)delegate
{
Text = "My new title!";
});
}
else
Text = "My new title!";
}
In WPF there's Dispather that handles similar invoking.

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. :)

Frame.Navigate in LoadState

I'm having trouble trying to navigate automatically between pages in my Windows 8.1 app based on a little check. It just doesn't want to navigate to another page when doing this in LoadState, as if something isn't loaded yet, but it doesn't give an error either. When I insert a delay using (for example) await Task.Delay(2000) before doing Frame.Navigate, then my app will redirect without any problem.
protected async override void LoadState(Object navigationParameter, Dictionary<String, Object> pageState)
{
MyData oData = await getData();
if (oData != null)
{
this.Frame.Navigate(typeof(newPage), oData);
}
else
{
// do something else
}
}
Do I have to put this code in another load- or navigated-event? Or how can I make this work?

In LoadState and SaveState you should only save and restore the page state (called when suspending and reactivating the app). Do nothing else (like navigating).
Put your logic into the OnNavigatedTo method instead...

If you want to navigate from method that called when page is loads, you should place your navigation code to OnNavigatedTo(...). But do not forget to wrap your code in Dispatcher.RunAsync(...) - Frame navigation in xaml return false

I tried calling Frame.Navigate(...) from the OnNavigatedTo method but still the navigation didn't occur.
There are other answers which say use Dispatcher.RunAsync, but that feels like it's making assumptions about the threading model of Windows Phone.
Here's what I do: attach a handler to the Loaded event of the page instead, and put my "redirect" logic in there. Loaded fires after OnNavigateTo and after NavigationHelper_LoadState, but before the page has become visible.
public LaunchPadPage() {
this.InitializeComponent();
this.navigationHelper = new NavigationHelper(this);
this.navigationHelper.LoadState += this.NavigationHelper_LoadState;
this.navigationHelper.SaveState += this.NavigationHelper_SaveState;
this.Loaded += LaunchPadPage_Loaded;
this.app = (App)App.Current;
}
private void NavigationHelper_LoadState(object sender, LoadStateEventArgs e) {
// Let's show the root zone items
// NB: In case we don't have this data yet, do nothing
if (app.Hierarchy != null)
{
DefaultViewModel["Items"] = app.Hierarchy.RootItems;
}
}
private void LaunchPadPage_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e) {
// No data? Go to the downloads page instead.
if (app.Hierarchy == null)
{
Frame.Navigate(typeof(DownloadingPage));
}
}

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).