vb.net: listbox.items.add() throws exception in same class - vb.net

I'm not even sure I understand this situation enough to come up with a proper title. I come from a modest understanding of VB6 and having to climb a steep learning curve for VB 2010.
I am trying to create a multi-client server program that will communicate with my Enterprise iPhone app. I found a relatively simple example to build upon here: http://www.strokenine.com/blog/?p=218. I have been able to modify the code enough to make it work with my app, but with one glitch: I can't get access to the controls on the form to add items, even though the method is invoked within the form's class. (I tried this on the original code too, and it does the same thing. I don't know how the author managed to get it to work.)
Here's the code segment in question:
Public Class Server 'The form with the controls is on/in this class.
Dim clients As New Hashtable 'new database (hashtable) to hold the clients
Sub recieved(ByVal msg As String, ByVal client As ConnectedClient)
Dim message() As String = msg.Split("|") 'make an array with elements of the message recieved
Select Case message(0) 'process by the first element in the array
Case "CHAT" 'if it's CHAT
TextBox3.Text &= client.name & " says: " & " " & message(1) & vbNewLine 'add the message to the chatbox
sendallbutone(message(1), client.name) 'this will update all clients with the new message
' and it will not send the message to the client it recieved it from :)
Case "LOGIN" 'A client has connected
clients.Add(client, client.name) 'add the client to our database (a hashtable)
ListBox1.Items.Add(client.name) 'add the client to the listbox to display the new user
End Select
End Sub
Under Case "LOGIN" the code tries to add the login ID to the listbox. It throws an exception: "A first chance exception of type 'System.InvalidOperationException' occurred in System.Windows.Forms.dll" The listbox (all controls, for that matter) is in the same class, Server.vb and Server.vb [Design].
The data comes in from another class that is created whenever a client logs on, which raises the event that switches back to the Server class:
Public Class ConnectedClient
Public Event gotmessage(ByVal message As String, ByVal client As ConnectedClient) 'this is raised when we get a message from the client
Public Event disconnected(ByVal client As ConnectedClient) 'this is raised when we get the client disconnects
Sub read(ByVal ar As IAsyncResult) 'this will process all messages being recieved
Try
Dim sr As New StreamReader(cli.GetStream) 'initialize a new streamreader which will read from the client's stream
Dim msg As String = sr.ReadLine() 'create a new variable which will be used to hold the message being read
RaiseEvent gotmessage(msg, Me) 'tell the server a message has been recieved. Me is passed as an argument which represents
' the current client which it has recieved the message from to perform any client specific
' tasks if needed
cli.GetStream.BeginRead(New Byte() {0}, 0, 0, AddressOf read, Nothing) 'continue reading from the stream
Catch ex As Exception
Try 'if an error occurs in the reading purpose, we will try to read again to see if we still can read
Dim sr As New StreamReader(cli.GetStream) 'initialize a new streamreader which will read from the client's stream
Dim msg As String = sr.ReadLine() 'create a new variable which will be used to hold the message being read
RaiseEvent gotmessage(msg, Me) 'tell the server a message has been recieved. Me is passed as an argument which represents
' the current client which it has recieved the message from to perform any client specific
' tasks if needed
cli.GetStream.BeginRead(New Byte() {0}, 0, 0, AddressOf read, Nothing) 'continue reading from the stream
Catch ' IF WE STILL CANNOT READ
RaiseEvent disconnected(Me) 'WE CAN ASSUME THE CLIENT HAS DISCONNECTED
End Try
End Try
End Sub
I hope I am making sense with all this. It all seems to bounce back and forth, it seems so convoluted.
I've tried using Me.listbox1 and Server.listbox1 and several other similar structures, but to no avail.
I'm reading a lot about Invoke and Delegates, but would that be necessary if the method and the control are in the same class? Or do I have a fundamental misperception of what a class is?
Many thanks for any help I can get.

Private Delegate Sub UpdateListDelegate(byval itemName as string)
Private Sub UpdateList(byval itemName as string)
If Me.InvokeRequired Then
Me.Invoke(New UpdateListDelegate(AddressOf UpdateList), itemName)
Else
' UpdateList
' add list add code
ListBox1.Items.Add(itemName)
End If
End Sub
Add above, then replace:
ListBox1.Items.Add(client.name)
to
UpdateList(client.name)
Does it work? check the syntax, may have typo as I type it.

Related

Updating Variable in Multithreading in VB.NET

I've wrote a program which on startup loads the computer list from Active Directory. This takes about 10 seconds. If the user has started the program with a specific host as parameter, it should be usable immediately.
So to don't interrupt the user I want to load the computer list in a different thread. The problem is that it writes to a variable (the computer list) which is also used in the main thread.
You may think, I could simply use a temporary variable and when its done overwrite the main variable. But I have to keep existing data of the main variable.
'hosts list
Private Shared hosts As New SortedDictionary(Of String, HostEntry)
'Get all computers in Active Directory
'Will run in a extra thread
Private Delegate Sub GetADcomputersDelegate()
Private Sub GetADcomputers()
If Me.InvokeRequired Then
Me.Invoke(New GetADcomputersDelegate(AddressOf GetADcomputers), Nothing)
Else
lblStatusAD.Text = "Getting Computers..."
Try
Dim search As New DirectorySearcher(ActiveDirectory.Domain.GetCurrentDomain().GetDirectoryEntry(), "(objectClass=computer)")
For Each host As SearchResult In search.FindAll()
'AddHost creates a new HostEntry object and adds it to my "global" hosts variable
'It also checks if a host is already present in the list and only updates it.
AddHost(host.GetDirectoryEntry().Properties("cn").Value.ToLower(), host.GetDirectoryEntry().Properties("description").Value)
Next
Catch ex As Exception
Debug.WriteLine("GetADcomputers() Exception: " & ex.Message)
End Try
ThreadPool.SetMaxThreads(hosts.Count, hosts.Count)
Dim ah As String = activehost
'Fill my ListBox with the computers
lstHosts.DataSource = New BindingSource(hosts, Nothing)
'Select the computer that was selected before
UseHost(ah)
lblStatusAD.Text = ""
End If
End Sub
So when GetADcomputers() runs in its own thread, the main thread is also blocked. I guess because auf the hosts variable.
So what could I change to make the thread do it's work and after that apply the updated computer list without losing data of entries in old hosts list? And all this in a fast and efficient way.
That code is very wrong. If you call that method on a secondary thread then it immediately marshals a call back to the UI thread and does EVERYTHING on the UI thread. What you should be doing is executing all the background work on the secondary thread and then marshalling to the UI thread ONLY to update the UI.
Get rid of that If...Else block and just make the entire body of the method what's current ly in the Else block. Next, identify all the lines that specifically interact with the UI and remove each of those to their own method. You then add If...Else blocks to each of those methods so that only the code that actually touches the UI is executed on the UI thread.
Here's a start:
Private Sub GetADcomputers()
UpdateStatusADLabel("Getting Computers...")
Try
Dim search As New DirectorySearcher(ActiveDirectory.Domain.GetCurrentDomain().GetDirectoryEntry(), "(objectClass=computer)")
For Each host As SearchResult In search.FindAll()
'AddHost creates a new HostEntry object and adds it to my "global" hosts variable
'It also checks if a host is already present in the list and only updates it.
AddHost(host.GetDirectoryEntry().Properties("cn").Value.ToLower(), host.GetDirectoryEntry().Properties("description").Value)
Next
Catch ex As Exception
Debug.WriteLine("GetADcomputers() Exception: " & ex.Message)
End Try
ThreadPool.SetMaxThreads(hosts.Count, hosts.Count)
Dim ah As String = activehost
'Fill my ListBox with the computers
lstHosts.DataSource = New BindingSource(hosts, Nothing)
'Select the computer that was selected before
UseHost(ah)
lblStatusAD.Text = ""
End Sub
Private Sub UpdateStatusADLabel(text As String)
If lblStatusAD.InvokeRequired Then
lblStatusAD.Invoke(New Action(Of String)(AddressOf UpdateStatusADLabel), text)
Else
lblStatusAD.Text = text
End If
End Sub

Adding nodes to treeview with Begin Invoke / Invoke

I've been working through my first project and have had a great deal a valuable help from the guys on SO but now I'm stuck again.
The below sub is used to add TreeNodes to a TreeView, excluding certain filetypes/names, upon addition of new data:
Sub DirSearch(ByVal strDir As String, ByVal strPattern As String, ByVal tvParent As TreeNodeCollection)
Dim f As String
Dim e As String
Dim tvNode As TreeNode
Dim ext() As String = strPattern.Split("|"c)
Try
For Each d In Directory.GetDirectories(strDir)
If (UCase(IO.Path.GetFileName(d)) <> "BACKUP") And (UCase(IO.Path.GetFileName(d)) <> "BARS") Then
tvNode = tvParent.Add(IO.Path.GetFileName(d))
For Each e In ext
For Each f In Directory.GetFiles(d, e)
If (UCase(IO.Path.GetFileName(f)) <> "DATA.XLS") And (UCase(IO.Path.GetFileName(f)) <> "SPIRIT.XLSX") Then
tvNode.Nodes.Add(IO.Path.GetFileName(f))
End If
Next
Next
DirSearch(d, strPattern, tvNode.Nodes)
End If
Next
Catch ex As Exception
MsgBox(ex.Message)
End Try
End Sub
I'm now getting an error:
Action being performed on this control is being called from the wrong thread. Marshal to the correct thread using Control.Invoke or Control.BeginInvoke to perform this action.
On the following line:
tvNode = tvParent.Add(IO.Path.GetFileName(d))
Obviously, I understand its to do with 'threading' and the use of BeginInvoke / Invoke but even after reading the MSDN documentation on the error, I have no idea where to start.
This error only occurs, if I add a file to the initial directory (which is also the subject of a File System Watcher to monitor new additions).
Would someone be so kind as to give me an explanation in layman's terms so I may be able to understand.
This code is being run on a background thread where it's illegal to modify UI elements. The Invoke / BeginInvoke methods are ways to schedule a piece of code to run on UI thread where elements can be modified. For example you could change your code to the following
Dim action As Action = Sub() tvNode.Nodes.Add(IO.Path.GetFileName(f))
tvNode.TreeView.Invoke(action)
This code will take the delegate instance named action and run it on the UI thread where edits to tvNode are allowed
Fixing the earlier Add call is a bit trickier because there is no Control instance on which we can call BeginInvoke. The signature of the method will need to be updated to take a Dim control as Control as a parameter. You can pass in the TreeView for that parameter if you like. Once that is present the first Add can be changed as such
Dim outerAction As Action = Sub() tvNode = tvParent.Add(IO.Path.GetFileName(d))
control.Invoke(outerAction)

The asynchronous operation has already completed

I have a VB.net app with a DataGridView displaying a list of jobs, retrieved from a SQL query into a DataTable, then a DataView and finally a BindingSource for the DataGridView.DataSource. I have recently added SqlNotificationRequest functionality to the setup so user A is immediately updated when user B performs an action on a job in the list.
I used this MSDN article (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-US/library/3ht3391b(v=vs.80).aspx) as the basis for my development and it works ok. The problem comes when the user wants to change the parameters of the SQL query which displays the jobs, for example the date displayed. Currently I am creating a new SqlCommand with new Notification but after the user has changed the date a few times (say 30), but no data changes, when the notification timeout occurs I receive the above error when the callback handler tried to EndExecuteReader. My callback handler is below:
Private Sub OnSalesReaderComplete(ByVal asynResult As IAsyncResult)
' You may not interact with the form and its contents
' from a different thread, and this callback procedure
' is all but guaranteed to be running from a different thread
' than the form. Therefore you cannot simply call code that
' updates the UI.
' Instead, you must call the procedure from the form's thread.
' This code will use recursion to switch from the thread pool
' to the UI thread.
If Me.InvokeRequired Then
myStatus.addHistory("OnSalesReaderComplete - Background", "Sub")
Dim switchThreads As New AsyncCallback(AddressOf Me.OnSalesReaderComplete)
Dim args() As Object = {asynResult}
Me.BeginInvoke(switchThreads, args)
Exit Sub
End If
' At this point, this code will run on the UI thread.
Try
myStatus.addHistory("OnSalesReaderComplete - UI", "Sub")
Dim sourceText, rSalesId As String
waitInProgressSales = False
Trace.WriteLine(String.Format("Sales:asynResult.IsCompleted1: {0}", asynResult.IsCompleted.ToString), "SqlNotificationRequest")
Trace.WriteLine(String.Format("Sales:asynResult.CompletedSynchronously: {0}", asynResult.CompletedSynchronously.ToString), "SqlNotificationRequest")
Dim reader As SqlDataReader = DirectCast(asynResult.AsyncState, SqlCommand).EndExecuteReader(asynResult)
Trace.WriteLine(String.Format("Sales:asynResult.IsCompleted2: {0}", asynResult.IsCompleted.ToString), "SqlNotificationRequest")
Do While reader.Read
' Empty queue of messages.
' Application logic could parse
' the queue data to determine why things.
'For i As Integer = 0 To reader.FieldCount - 1
' 'Debug.WriteLine(reader(i).ToString())
' Console.WriteLine(reader(i).ToString)
'Next
Dim bytesQN As SqlBytes = reader.GetSqlBytes(reader.GetOrdinal("message_body"))
Dim rdrXml As XmlReader = New XmlTextReader(bytesQN.Stream)
Do While rdrXml.Read
Select Case rdrXml.NodeType
Case XmlNodeType.Element
Select Case rdrXml.LocalName
Case "QueryNotification"
sourceText = rdrXml.GetAttribute("source")
Case "Message"
rSalesId = rdrXml.ReadElementContentAsString
End Select
End Select
Loop
Loop
reader.Close()
' The user can decide to request
' a new notification by
' checking the check box on the form.
' However, if the user has requested to
' exit, we need to do that instead.
If exitRequestedSales Then
'Me.Close()
commandSales.Notification = Nothing
Else
Select Case sourceText.ToLower
Case "data"
Trace.WriteLine(String.Format("SalesId: {0}, data notification", rSalesId), "SqlNotificationRequest")
Call GetSalesData(True, action.REATTACH)
Case "timeout"
'check timeout is for this user and relates to current wait thread
Select Case salesId = rSalesId
Case True
Trace.WriteLine(String.Format("SalesId: {0}, timeout - current", rSalesId), "SqlNotificationRequest")
Call GetSalesData(True, False)
Case False
Trace.WriteLine(String.Format("SalesId: {0}, timeout - old", rSalesId), "SqlNotificationRequest")
Me.ListenSales()
End Select
End Select
End If
Catch ex As Exception
Call errorHandling(ex, "OnSalesReaderComplete", "Sub")
End Try
End Sub
The problem seems to be where I am only refreshing the data and renewing the notification request (using GetSalesData) when either the notification is due to an update ("data") or the timeout is for the current request. On other notifications, the application calls Me.ListenSales which creates a SQL command "WAITFOR (RECEIVE * FROM [QueueMessage])" and starts the callback listener as per the MSDN article. If I remove the Me.ListenSales line, once a notification is received which is not due to data or the timeout of the current query, the application stops listening for notifications.
I have also posted the same question on MSDN forums (http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/adodotnetdataproviders/thread/0f7a636d-0c9b-4b39-b341-6becf13873dc) as I have tried other resolutions without success so require some advice on whether this is possible and if so how.

VB.Net Sockets Invoke

I am using vb.net 2010 and I have created a program that uses sockets to transfer data between our windows server and a unix server. The code was originally from a Microsoft sample project hence my little understanding of it.
Everything was fine until I had the idea of changing the program into a service. The Invoke command is not accessable from a service. I think I understand why but more importantly how do I get around it or fix it?
' need to call Invoke before can update UI elements
Dim args As Object() = {command, data}
Invoke(_processInStream, args)
Someone please help I am desperate to finish this program so I can move on :)
Below is the rest of the class, there is a server socket class too but I didnt want to complicate things?
Public Class srvMain
' start the InStream code to receive data control.Invoke callback, used to process the socket notification event on the GUI's thread
Delegate Sub ProcessSocketCommandHandler(ByVal command As NotifyCommandIn, ByVal data As Object)
Dim _processInStream As ProcessSocketCommandHandler
' network communication
Dim WithEvents _serverPRC As New ServerSocket
Dim _encryptDataIn() As Byte
Dim myConn As SqlConnection
Dim _strsql As String = String.Empty
Protected Overrides Sub OnStart(ByVal args() As String)
' watch for filesystem changes in 'FTP Files' folder
Watch()
' hookup Invoke callback
_processInStream = New ProcessSocketCommandHandler(AddressOf ProcessSocketCommandIn)
' listen for Ultimate sending signatures
_serverPRC.Start(My.Settings.listen_port_prc)
myConn = New SqlConnection(My.Settings.Mill_SQL_Connect)
End Sub
Protected Overrides Sub OnStop()
' Add code here to perform any tear-down necessary to stop your service.
End Sub
' this is where we will break the data down into arrays
Private Sub processDataIn(ByVal data As Object)
Try
If data Is Nothing Then
Throw New Exception("Stream empty!")
End If
Dim encdata As String
' decode to string and perform split(multi chars not supported)
encdata = Encoding.Default.GetString(data)
_strsql = encdata
myConn.Open()
Dim commPrice As New SqlCommand(_strsql, myConn)
Dim resPrice As SqlDataReader = commPrice.ExecuteReader
'********************************THIS MUST BE DYNAMIC FOR MORE THAN ONE NATIONAL
If resPrice.Read = True And resPrice("ats" & "_price") IsNot DBNull.Value Then
'If resPrice("ats" & "_price") Is DBNull.Value Then
' cannot find price so error
'natPrice = ""
'natAllow = 2
'End If
natPrice = resPrice("ats" & "_price")
natAllow = resPrice("ats" & "_allow")
Else
' cannot find price so error
natPrice = ""
natAllow = 2
End If
myConn.Close()
' substring not found therefore must be a pricing query
'MsgBox("string: " & encdata.ToString)
'natPrice = "9.99"
Catch ex As Exception
ErrHandle("4", "Process Error: " + ex.Message + ex.Data.ToString)
Finally
myConn.Close() ' dont forget to close!
End Try
End Sub
'========================
'= ServerSocket methods =
'========================
' received a socket notification for receiving from Ultimate
Private Sub ProcessSocketCommandIn(ByVal command As NotifyCommandIn, ByVal data As Object)
' holds the status message for the command
Dim status As String = ""
Select Case command
Case NotifyCommandIn.Listen
'status = String.Format("Listening for server on {0} ...", CStr(data))
status = "Waiting..."
Case NotifyCommandIn.Connected
'status = "Connected to Ultimate" ' + CStr(data)
status = "Receiving..."
Case NotifyCommandIn.Disconnected
status = "Waiting..." ' disconnected from Ultimate now ready...
Case NotifyCommandIn.ReceivedData
' store the encrypted data then process
processDataIn(data)
End Select
End Sub
' called from socket object when a network event occurs.
Private Sub NotifyCallbackIn(ByVal command As NotifyCommandIn, ByVal data As Object) Handles _serverPRC.Notify
' need to call Invoke before can update UI elements
Dim args As Object() = {command, data}
Invoke(_processInStream, args)
End Sub
End Class
Any help is appreciated
Many thanks
Invoke is a member of System.Windows.Forms.Form, and it is used to make sure that a certain method is invoked on the UI thread. This is a necessity in case the method in question touches UI controls.
In this case it looks like you simply can call the method directly, i.e.
instead of
Dim args As Object() = {command, data}
Invoke(_processInStream, args)
you can simply write
ProcessSocketCommandIn(command, data)
Also, in this case you can get rid of the _processInStream delegate instance.

Accessing Form1 Properties From Thread

I have an exceptionhandler function that basically just writes a line to a textbox on Form1. This works fine when being run normally but the second I use a thread to start a process it cannot access the property. No exception is thrown but no text is written to the textbox:
Public Sub ExceptionHandler(ByVal Description As String, Optional ByVal Message As String = Nothing)
' Add Error To Textbox
If Message = Nothing Then
Form1.txtErrLog.Text += Description & vbCrLf
Log_Error(Description)
Else
Form1.txtErrLog.Text += Description & " - " & Message & vbCrLf
Log_Error(Description, Message)
End If
MessageBox.Show("caught")
End Sub
Is it possible to access a form's properties from a thread this way or would it be easier to write to a text file or similar and refresh the textbox properties every 10 seconds or so (Don't see this as a good option but if it's the only way it will have to do!).
Also, still new to VB so if I have done anything that isn't good practice please let me know!
No, you shouldn't access any GUI component properties from the "wrong" thread (i.e. any thread other than the one running that component's event pump). You can use Control.Invoke/BeginInvoke to execute a delegate on the right thread though.
There are lots of tutorials around this on the web - many will be written with examples in C#, but the underlying information is language-agnostic. See Joe Albahari's threading tutorial for example.
You have to use delegates. Search for delegates in VB.
Here a peace of code that does the job.
Delegate Sub SetTextCallback(ByVal text As String)
Public Sub display_message(ByVal tx As String)
'prüfen ob invoke nötig ist
If Me.RichTextBox1.InvokeRequired Then
Dim d As New SetTextCallback(AddressOf display_message)
Me.Invoke(d, tx)
Else
tx.Trim()
Me.RichTextBox1.Text = tx
End If
End Sub