Here's a source code pattern you can use based on some WinForms example code, but you can apply it for WPF as well very easily. In this example, I am redirecting output to a Console which I then use to let the background worker write some messages to a textbox while it is processing.
It consists of:
- A helper class
TextBoxStreamWriter used to redirect console output to a textbox
- A background worker writing to the redirected console
- A progress bar which needs to be reset after completion of background worker
- Some text boxes (txtPath and txtResult), and a "Start" button
In other words, there is some background task which needs to interact with the UI. Now I am going to show how that is done.
From the context of the background task, you need to use Invoke to access any UI element. I believe the simplest way to do that is to use lambda expression syntax, like
progressBar1.Invoke((Action) (() =>
{ // inside this context, you can safely access the control
progressBar1.Style = ProgressBarStyle.Continuous;
}));
To update the ProgressBar, a local method like
private void UpdateProgress(int value)
{
progressBar1.Invoke((Action)(() => { progressBar1.Value = value; }));
}
helps. It is passing the value parameter to the progress bar as a closure.
This is the helper class TextBoxStreamWriter, which is used to redirect console output:
public class TextBoxStreamWriter : TextWriter
{
TextBox _output = null;
public TextBoxStreamWriter(TextBox output)
{
_output = output;
}
public override void WriteLine(string value)
{
// When character data is written, append it to the text box.
// using Invoke so it works in a different thread as well
_output.Invoke((Action)(() => _output.AppendText(value+"\r\n")));
}
}
You need to use it in the form load event as follows (where txtResult is a textbox, to which the output will be redirected):
private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
// Instantiate the writer and redirect the console out
var _writer = new TextBoxStreamWriter(txtResult);
Console.SetOut(_writer);
}
There is also a button on the form which starts the background worker, it passes a path to it:
private void btnStart_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
backgroundWorker1.RunWorkerAsync(txtPath.Text);
}
This is the workload of the background worker, note how it uses the console to output messages to the textbox (because of the redirection that was set up earlier):
private void backgroundWorker1_DoWork(object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)
{
var selectedPath = e.Argument as string;
Console.Out.WriteLine("Processing Path:"+selectedPath);
// ...
}
The variable selectedPath consists of the path that was passed to the backgroundWorker1 earlier via the parameter txtPath.Text, it is being accessed via e.Argument.
If you need to reset some controls afterwards, do it in the following way (as already mentioned above):
private void backgroundWorker1_RunWorkerCompleted(object sender, RunWorkerCompletedEventArgs e)
{
progressBar1.Invoke((Action) (() =>
{
progressBar1.MarqueeAnimationSpeed = 0;
progressBar1.Style = ProgressBarStyle.Continuous;
}));
}
In this example, after completion, a progress bar is being reset.
Important: Whenever you access a GUI control, use Invoke as I did in the examples above.
Using Lambda's makes it easy, as you could see in the code.
And here's the complete example, which runs in LinqPad 6 (just copy and paste it into an empty C# Program query) - I decided to use LinqPad this time so you can learn something new, because you all know how to create a new Windows Forms project in Visual Studio (and if you still want to do so, just copy the events below and drag and drop the controls to the form):
// see: https://stackoverflow.com/a/27566468/1016343
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Windows.Forms;
BackgroundWorker backgroundWorker1 = new System.ComponentModel.BackgroundWorker();
ProgressBar progressBar1 = new ProgressBar() { Text = "Progress", Width = 250, Height=20, Top=10, Left=0 };
TextBox txtPath = new TextBox() { Text =@"C:\temp\", Width = 100, Height=20, Top=30, Left=0 };
TextBox txtResult = new TextBox() { Text = "", Width = 200, Height=250, Top=70, Left=0, Multiline=true, Enabled=false };
Button btnStart = new Button() { Text = "Start", Width = 100, Height=30, Top=320, Left=0 };
void Main()
{
// see: https://www.linqpad.net/CustomVisualizers.aspx
// Instantiate the writer and redirect the console out
var _writer = new TextBoxStreamWriter(txtResult);
Console.SetOut(_writer);
// wire up events
btnStart.Click += (object sender, EventArgs e) => btnStart_Click(sender, e);
backgroundWorker1.DoWork += (object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e) => backgroundWorker1_DoWork(sender, e);
backgroundWorker1.RunWorkerCompleted += (object sender, RunWorkerCompletedEventArgs e)
=> backgroundWorker1_RunWorkerCompleted(sender, e);
using var frm = new Form() {Text="Form", Width = 300, Height=400, Top=0, Left=0};
frm.Controls.Add(progressBar1);
frm.Controls.Add(txtPath);
frm.Controls.Add(txtResult);
frm.Controls.Add(btnStart);
// display controls
frm.ShowDialog();
}
private void btnStart_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
backgroundWorker1.RunWorkerAsync(txtPath.Text);
}
private void backgroundWorker1_DoWork(object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)
{
InitProgress();
var selectedPath = e.Argument as string;
Console.Out.WriteLine("Processing Path: " + selectedPath);
UpdateProgress(0); Thread.Sleep(300); UpdateProgress(30); Thread.Sleep(300);
UpdateProgress(50); Thread.Sleep(300);
Console.Out.WriteLine("Done.");
// ...
}
private void UpdateProgress(int value)
{
progressBar1.Invoke((Action)(() =>
{
progressBar1.Value = value;
}));
}
private void InitProgress()
{
progressBar1.Invoke((Action)(() =>
{
progressBar1.MarqueeAnimationSpeed = 0;
progressBar1.Style = ProgressBarStyle.Continuous;
}));
}
private void backgroundWorker1_RunWorkerCompleted(object sender, RunWorkerCompletedEventArgs e)
{
UpdateProgress(100); // always show 100% when done
}
// You can define other methods, fields, classes and namespaces here
public class TextBoxStreamWriter : TextWriter
{
TextBox _output = null;
public TextBoxStreamWriter(TextBox output)
{
_output = output;
}
public override Encoding Encoding => throw new NotImplementedException();
public override void WriteLine(string value)
{
// When character data is written, append it to the text box.
// using Invoke so it works in a different thread as well
_output.Invoke((Action)(() => _output.AppendText(value + "\r\n")));
}
}
