Say I've got the following sub that simply adds passed items to a ListView control:
Private Sub AddListItem(ByVal item As ListViewItem)
UIList.Items.Add(item)
End Sub
And I use that from a BackgroundWorker thread, like so:
UIList.BeginInvoke(Sub() AddListItem(lvItem))
Well quite by accident I've just discovered that it doesn't seem to matter which control is used to call the Invoke\BeginInvoke method, or even if I omit a control altogether and just call the method directly – which I assume just uses Me.<Method> behind the scenes – it doesn't seem to matter. The code still works.
So, is using the affected control to call the method just a way to make following the code easier? What, if any, are the other advantages? And are there certain pitfalls one needs to be aware of when using a different control?
Using ILSpy and digging down the Control.Invoke method, an excerpt is
...
UnsafeNativeMethods.PostMessage(
new HandleRef(this, this.Handle),
Control.threadCallbackMessage,
IntPtr.Zero,
IntPtr.Zero);
...
In addition, MSDN states:
The Invoke method searches up the control's parent chain until it
finds a control or form that has a window handle if the current
control's underlying window handle does not exist yet. If no
appropriate handle can be found, the Invoke method will throw an
exception. Exceptions that are raised during the call will be
propagated back to the caller.
So usually it shouldn't matter which control you post to.
Personally, I use the "nearest" control I can get to call the Invoke method.
Related
I have a system where a Class of "Automation Providers" is working with some Control objects to provide some advanced monitoring functionality to them (by dynamically monitoring events).
A part of my code; A class called Automation_Provider contains a function called Browser_Navigate that takes in a reference to a System.Windows.Forms.WebBrowser instance and performs a .Navigate operation with a URL.
The special functionality it provides is that it sets an Event Handler to the Browser.DocumentCompleted to perform some actions when the event is raised.
This part actually works. What doesn't work, is I'm trying to dynamically remove the handler that causes the Subroutine to be called in the first place, but it doesn't seem to remove the Handler and if I try to call the function again, it fires twice.
The code looks like this:
Public Class Automation_Functions
Public Function Browser_Navigate(ByRef Browser As WebBrowser, ByVal Address As String) As Function_Status
'-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
' A bunch of URL checks are performed here to make sure the "Address" is a valid URL
'-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AddHandler Browser.DocumentCompleted, AddressOf Browser_Navigation_Callback
Browser.Navigate(Address)
End Function
Private Sub Browser_Navigation_Callback(sender As Object, e As System.Windows.Forms.WebBrowserDocumentCompletedEventArgs)
'Get the browser object from the sender and remove the handler that initially called this function
Dim Browser As WebBrowser = CType(sender, WebBrowser)
RemoveHandler Browser.DocumentCompleted, AddressOf Browser_Navigation_Callback
'------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
' A bunch of operations are performed here related to telling the caller of the original
' function about the performance of the web page - stuff like load time, etc.
'------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
End Sub
End Class
However the Past Handlers are never actually removed from the Browser_Navigation_Callback function - I know this because calling the Browser_Navigate function a second time results in Browser_Navigation_Callback function being called twice, then if you call it a third time, it gets called Three times! - The Handlers just compound on top of each other since they never actually get removed.
I've been unable to find any reason as to why this is happening - I'm assuming it might have something to do with the fact that the WebBrowser object is actually inside of another class and casting the sender as a WebBrowser object doesn't refer it back to the original WebBrowser instance, but creates a new instance. However I have no idea on how to confirm that this is actually what is happening since I can't really see the attached event handlers in debug mode.
Other than that - this code should be working. Any help would be appreciated!
One of the features of VB when Option Strict is not set is that it will use "relaxed delegate conversion". This means that when a delegate argument does not exactly match the required signature but is compatible with it, VB will automagically insert an anonymous wrapper that converts from the provided delegate to the required signature.
This has a negative interaction with AddHandler and RemoveHandler. VB creates a new anonymous wrapper on each call, and each instance is distinct. As a practical matter, that means that it is impossible to remove a handler that has been added when relaxed delegate conversion is used.
With Option Strict on, relaxed delegate conversion is disabled, so it turns into a compiler error when the delegate argument does not exactly match the required signature. I have not found an individual compiler switch that will turn off relaxed delegate conversion, so the only way to deal with this is to turn on Option Strict for the file.
I went through events in Vb.net and i found they are really an amazing feature..but still confused about how to use them effectively.
The real doubt is that the functions and sub could be effective alternative for events. Whatever i do with events i can manage to do it via functions and methods. Wherever there is Raisevent, i can substitute it with a function or procesure. so then, what is the real benefit of events and in which cases i can use them instead of functions and procedures?
Let's see if you understand it with an example. You have the Button control. It defines a lot of events (Click,MouseDown,Keypress...). When you put a button in a Form, you decide there what are the events you want to manage. So in the form you can do something when a button is clicked, or not doing anything.
Imagine if this was done with regular methods. In that case, the button should have a reference to the form where the button is, and the form should have a Click method, is it using it or not.
The event driven programing makes very easy to define some Events to signal when something happens in a class, and is the class that creates the instance the one that decides if that event is relevant or not.
thank you for clarification, I got the point. The point I Missed was that : event is fired in the same class, but execution is done in a different class.
I mean, when I define a class, I can put RaiseEvent somewhere to recognize something, but I correlate the event with a sub in a different class.
so, in such a class called Wallet I can put a statement like :
If Dollars > 5 Then
RaiseEvent Above5()
End If
and in such different class called AllWallet :
Dim WithEvents myWallet as new Wallet
Sub myWallet_Above5() Handles myWallet.Above5
MsgBox("Dollars are more than 5")
End Sub
otherwise, I mean if events are fired in the same class they are defined in , the sub and functions can substitute events.
thanks to all
Here's the problem:
I have a CollectionChanged Handler Method:
Private Sub LayersChanged(sender As Object, e As Collections.Specialized.NotifyCollectionChangedEventArgs)
If e.ItemCollectionHasNewItems IsNot Nothing Then
SomethingRelatedToE.execute
End If
End Sub
I cant call SomethingRelatedToE.excecute because it effects e's collection which causes a runtime error.
However if the LayersChanged method has completed I can then call SomethingRelatedToE.execute from another method without effecting it.
Is there a way for me to directly move to another method after the LayersChanged method has finished, like a Goto function or another solution to this?
The reason this type of action isn't allowed is because it will usually result in a circular reference. When the collection is modified in the CollectionChanged event, the event will once again be raised, which will again modify the collection.
I would not recommend trying to work around this because it's unusual to have a collection modify itself. Try thinking of a way to do it another way.
If you need to, though, you can try using ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem to do your task in another thread. You'll still want to check for possible circular references and watch for race conditions.
Suppose that for every Form in a WinForms application, you want to change the cursor to the WaitCursor. The obvious way to do this would be to add the code to every place where a form is instantiated/shown:
Try
Me.Cursor = Cursors.WaitCursor
Dim f As New frmMyForm
f.Show()
Catch ex As Exception
Throw
Finally
Me.Cursor = Cursors.Default
End Try
However, I was wondering if there is a way to tell your application, "Whenever any form Load event fires, show a WaitCursor. When the form event Shown is complete, set the cursor back to Default." This way, the Me.Cursor code could be only in one place and not scattered throughout the application - and not forgotten to put it in to each form instantiation.
I suppose you could subclass the regular Form class and add the cursor settings in an overridden event, but I believe you lose the visual designer capability when you subclass the Form object.
Subclassing is an option, you don't loose the designer as long as you don't set the superclass as mustinherit, it doesn't really like that.
To answer your question - there are no global .Net events to achieve what you want. There isn'y any pure .net solution to this. You could take a look at Aspect Orientated Programming and Cross Cutting Concerns - there may be an AOP solution to this (some googling will get you started then post back here for details).
However, what follows is more of an idea rather than a complete solution as to how you might achieve this using win32 messaging.
You need to work out which win32 messages correspond to the Load event and if there is a win32 message that always happens after the load event. One candidate for the load event might be WM_SHOWWINDOW but I'm not sure.
Write a message filter class (i.e. implement IMessageFilter).
In the message filter class's PreMessageFilter method check the message type and if it is a WM_SHOWWINDOW (or whatever) message with the correct paramters then you can set/reset the cursor (using Cursor.Current = Cursors.WaitCursor - again you need to test this)
Another option that wouldn't involve subclassing is to add an extension method to the Form type. Then you could just call your extension method (something like ShowAndWait()) instead of show. You might even be about to call is Show if you overload it with a different signature.
I have a windows form application that uses a Shared class to house all of the common objects for the application. The settings class has a collection of objects that do things periodically, and then there's something of interest, they need to alert the main form and have it update.
I'm currently doing this through Events on the objects, and when each object is created, I add an EventHandler to maps the event back to the form. However, I'm running into some trouble that suggests that these requests aren't always ending up on the main copy of my form. For example, my form has a notification tray icon, but when the form captures and event and attempts to display a bubble, no bubble appears. However, if I modify that code to make the icon visible (though it already is), and then display the bubble, a second icon appears and displays the bubble properly.
Has anybody run into this before? Is there a way that I can force all of my events to be captured by the single instance of the form, or is there a completely different way to handle this? I can post code samples if necessary, but I'm thinking it's a common threading problem.
MORE INFORMATION: I'm currently using Me.InvokeRequired in the event handler on my form, and it always returns FALSE in this case. Also, the second tray icon created when I make it visible from this form doesn't have a context menu on it, whereas the "real" icon does - does that clue anybody in?
I'm going to pull my hair out! This can't be that hard!
SOLUTION: Thanks to nobugz for the clue, and it lead me to the code I'm now using (which works beautifully, though I can't help thinking there's a better way to do this). I added a private boolean variable to the form called "IsPrimary", and added the following code to the form constructor:
Public Sub New()
If My.Application.OpenForms(0).Equals(Me) Then
Me.IsFirstForm = True
End If
End Sub
Once this variable is set and the constructor finishes, it heads right to the event handler, and I deal with it this way (CAVEAT: Since the form I'm looking for is the primary form for the application, My.Application.OpenForms(0) gets what I need. If I was looking for the first instance of a non-startup form, I'd have to iterate through until I found it):
Public Sub EventHandler()
If Not IsFirstForm Then
Dim f As Form1 = My.Application.OpenForms(0)
f.EventHandler()
Me.Close()
ElseIf InvokeRequired Then
Me.Invoke(New HandlerDelegate(AddressOf EventHandler))
Else
' Do your event handling code '
End If
End Sub
First, it checks to see if it's running on the correct form - if it's not, then call the right form. Then it checks to see if the thread is correct, and calls the UI thread if it's not. Then it runs the event code. I don't like that it's potentially three calls, but I can't think of another way to do it. It seems to work well, though it's a little cumbersome. If anybody has a better way to do it, I'd love to hear it!
Again, thanks for all the help - this was going to drive me nuts!
I think it is a threading problem too. Are you using Control.Invoke() in your event handler? .NET usually catches violations when you debug the app but there are cases it can't. NotifyIcon is one of them, there is no window handle to check thread affinity.
Edit after OP changed question:
A classic VB.NET trap is to reference a Form instance by its type name. Like Form1.NotifyIcon1.Something. That doesn't work as expected when you use threading. It will create a new instance of the Form1 class, not use the existing instance. That instance isn't visible (Show() was never called) and is otherwise dead as a doornail since it is running on thread that doesn't pump a message loop. Seeing a second icon appear is a dead give-away. So is getting InvokeRequired = False when you know you are using it from a thread.
You must use a reference to the existing form instance. If that is hard to come by (you usually pass "Me" as an argument to the class constructor), you can use Application.OpenForms:
Dim main As Form1 = CType(Application.OpenForms(0), Form1)
if (main.InvokeRequired)
' etc...
Use Control.InvokeRequired to determine if you're on the proper thread, then use Control.Invoke if you're not.
You should look at the documentation for the Invoke method on the Form. It will allow you to make the code that updates the form run on the thread that owns the form, (which it must do, Windows forms are not thread safe).
Something like
Private Delegate Sub UpdateStatusDelegate(ByVal newStatus as String)
Public sub UpdateStatus(ByVal newStatus as String)
If Me.InvokeRequired Then
Dim d As New UpdateStatusDelegate(AddressOf UpdateStatus)
Me.Invoke(d,new Object() {newStatus})
Else
'Update the form status
End If
If you provide some sample code I would be happy to provide a more tailored example.
Edit after OP said they are using InvokeRequired.
Before calling InvokeRequired, check that the form handle has been created, there is a HandleCreated property I belive. InvokeRequired always returns false if the control doesn't currently have a handle, this would then mean the code is not thread safe even though you have done the right thing to make it so. Update your question when you find out. Some sample code would be helpful too.
in c# it looks like this:
private EventHandler StatusHandler = new EventHandler(eventHandlerCode)
void eventHandlerCode(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (this.InvokeRequired)
{
this.Invoke(StatusHandler, sender, e);
}
else
{
//do work
}
}