C# – Force GUI update from UI Thread

cmultithreadingwinforms

In WinForms, how do I force an immediate UI update from UI thread?

What I'm doing is roughly:

label.Text = "Please Wait..."
try 
{
    SomewhatLongRunningOperation(); 
}
catch(Exception e)
{
    label.Text = "Error: " + e.Message;
    return;
}
label.Text = "Success!";

Label text does not get set to "Please Wait…" before the operation.

I solved this using another thread for the operation, but it gets hairy and I'd like to simplify the code.

Best Answer

At first I wondered why the OP hadn't already marked one of the responses as the answer, but after trying it myself and still have it not work, I dug a little deeper and found there's much more to this issue then I'd first supposed.

A better understanding can be gained by reading from a similar question: Why won't control update/refresh mid-process

Lastly, for the record, I was able to get my label to update by doing the following:

private void SetStatus(string status) 
{
    lblStatus.Text = status;
    lblStatus.Invalidate();
    lblStatus.Update();
    lblStatus.Refresh();
    Application.DoEvents();
}

Though from what I understand this is far from an elegant and correct approach to doing it. It's a hack that may or may not work depending upon how busy the thread is.

Related Solutions

C# – Cross-thread operation not valid: Control accessed from a thread other than the thread it was created on

As per Prerak K's update comment (since deleted):

I guess I have not presented the question properly.

Situation is this: I want to load data into a global variable based on the value of a control. I don't want to change the value of a control from the child thread. I'm not going to do it ever from a child thread.

So only accessing the value so that corresponding data can be fetched from the database.

The solution you want then should look like:

UserContrl1_LOadDataMethod()
{
    string name = "";
    if(textbox1.InvokeRequired)
    {
        textbox1.Invoke(new MethodInvoker(delegate { name = textbox1.text; }));
    }
    if(name == "MyName")
    {
        // do whatever
    }
}

Do your serious processing in the separate thread before you attempt to switch back to the control's thread. For example:

UserContrl1_LOadDataMethod()
{
    if(textbox1.text=="MyName") //<<======Now it wont give exception**
    {
        //Load data correspondin to "MyName"
        //Populate a globale variable List<string> which will be
        //bound to grid at some later stage
        if(InvokeRequired)
        {
            // after we've done all the processing, 
            this.Invoke(new MethodInvoker(delegate {
                // load the control with the appropriate data
            }));
            return;
        }
    }
}

The difference between a process and a thread

Both processes and threads are independent sequences of execution. The typical difference is that threads (of the same process) run in a shared memory space, while processes run in separate memory spaces.

I'm not sure what "hardware" vs "software" threads you might be referring to. Threads are an operating environment feature, rather than a CPU feature (though the CPU typically has operations that make threads efficient).

Erlang uses the term "process" because it does not expose a shared-memory multiprogramming model. Calling them "threads" would imply that they have shared memory.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

C# – Cross-thread operation not valid: Control accessed from a thread other than the thread it was created on

The difference between a process and a thread

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