Marshalling Error by callback - windows-8

When my callback is called I get:
Marshalling Error has occurred.
What is "Marshalling" ?? and why my callback is invalid. please tell me.
here is the codes.
public Page1()//constructor
{
this.InitializeComponent();
NetworkInformation.NetworkStatusChanged += new Windows.Networking.Connectivity.NetworkStatusChangedEventHandler(OnNetworkStatusChanged);//regist callback
}
void OnNetworkStatusChanged(object arg)//callback method
{
App.mainFrame.Navigate(typeof(Page2));
}

The error message is telling you that the 'Navigate' method is being executed on the wrong thread (and needs to be marshalled, so that it is called on the right thread).
In Windows8, code that interacts with the UI should be executed only on the UI thread - and call-back methods (such as your OnNetworkStatusChanged method above) do not necessarily get called on the UI thread. To ensure that code is executed on the UI thread, and not some other thread, use an idiom like:
// somewhere in your code behind, in code that definitely runs on the UI thread
// - e.g. in the OnLoaded method of your main window:
CoreDispatcher Dispatcher = Windows.UI.CoreWindow.GetForCurrentThread().Dispatcher;
// In your call-back method:
if ((Dispatcher != null) && (!Dispatcher.HasThreadAccess))
{
Dispatcher.RunAsync(
Windows.UI.Core.CoreDispatcherPriority.Normal,
(obj, invokedArgs) => { App.mainFrame.Navigate(typeof(Page2));},
this,
null
);
}
else
App.mainFrame.Navigate(typeof(Page2));

Related

Akka.Net switching behavior with Become()

I have built as simple actor which accepts two messages: TicketValidated and BarrierPush but the switching is not happening as intended.
public class TurnstileActor : ReceiveActor
{
public TurnstileActor()
{
Become(Locked);
}
public void Locked()
{
Receive<TicketValidated>(msg => Become(Unlocked));
Receive<BarrierPush>(msg => { Console.WriteLine("Locked");});
}
public void Unlocked()
{
Receive<TicketValidated>(msg =>
Console.WriteLine("Unlocked"));
Receive<BarrierPush>(msg => Become(Locked));
}
}
Main class
var system = ActorSystem.Create("ActorSystem");
var actor = system.ActorOf<TurnstileActor>("actor");
actor.Tell(new TicketValidated());
Actual execution is: the Locked() method is called from the constructor and TicketValidated message is received. Become(Unlocked) is executed correctly and it enters Unlocked() method but then Console.WriteLine("Unlocked") is not called.
Could the Akka.Net library be broken?
To understand this behaviour, consider what happens when Become(Unlocked) is executed, and it enters the Unlocked() method. The Unlocked method in turn invokes the Receive method twice: These 2 calls to Receive register the new behaviour of this actor, affecting subsequent messages sent to this actor instance. The lambdas passed in to the Receive methods are not executed at this time - they represent the new behaviour that is registered, and that will be seen when subsequent messages are received.
That explains why "Unlocked" is not written to the console when "Become(Unlocked)" is executed - It will only be seen if the next message received is another "TicketValidated".

async method does not continue when await statement returns

I'm using MVC 4 and I have the following code :
public void DoWork(string connectionId)
{
connectionId = this.connectionId;
var a = MakeADelayAsync();
}
public async Task MakeADelayAsync()
{
await Task.Delay(5000);
var generalHubContext = GlobalHost.ConnectionManager.GetHubContext<GeneralHub>();
generalHubContext.Clients.Client(connectionId).showNotification("Completed");
}
"DoWork" method is my mvc action. what I intent to do is when the action button is pressed the "DoWork" calls an async method and returns to the client immediately. when the async method has completed his job it will notify client using signalR.
The problem is in the "MakeADelayAsync" method, those two lines after await won't be called ever. It seems that the flow never continues after await.
First question is Where is the problem in "MakeADelayAsync" ?
Second question is why do I have to write a useless code of var a = MakeADelayAsync(); to avoid compiler warning while I'm completely aware of what I am doing? I never use "a" anyway.
"DoWork" method is my mvc action. what I intent to do is when the action button is pressed the "DoWork" calls an async method and returns to the client immediately. when the async method has completed his job it will notify client using signalR.
Doing this is extremely dangerous. I strongly recommend that you use a persistent queue, as I said in my previous answer: Azure queue, MSMQ, WebSphere MQ, etc.
However, if you insist on doing it the dangerous way, then you can use the code that I have on my blog to execute background work on ASP.NET outside of a request context:
public void DoWork(string connectionId)
{
connectionId = this.connectionId;
// This is extremely dangerous code! If ASP.NET unloads
// your app, then MakeADelayAsync may not run to completion.
BackgroundTaskManager.Run(() => MakeADelayAsync());
}
First question is Where is the problem in "MakeADelayAsync" ?
You're executing code that is attempting to resume on the request context after the request is completed and the request context is disposed. It's the same problem you had before.
Second question is why do I have to write a useless code of var a = MakeADelayAsync(); to avoid compiler warning while I'm completely aware of what I am doing?
The compiler warning is telling you that the code is almost certainly a mistake... and the compiler is right.
can you try to mark your DoWork method as async?
public async void DoWork(string connectionId)
{
connectionId = this.connectionId;
var a = MakeADelayAsync();
}

How to dispatch on main queue synchronously without a deadlock?

I need to dispatch a block on the main queue, synchronously. I don’t know if I’m currently running on the main thread or no. The naive solution looks like this:
dispatch_sync(dispatch_get_main_queue(), block);
But if I’m currently inside of a block running on the main queue, this call creates a deadlock. (The synchronous dispatch waits for the block to finish, but the block does not even start running, since we are waiting for the current one to finish.)
The obvious next step is to check for the current queue:
if (dispatch_get_current_queue() == dispatch_get_main_queue()) {
block();
} else {
dispatch_sync(dispatch_get_main_queue(), block);
}
This works, but it’s ugly. Before I at least hide it behind some custom function, isn’t there a better solution for this problem? I stress that I can’t afford to dispatch the block asynchronously – the app is in a situation where the asynchronously dispatched block would get executed “too late”.
I need to use something like this fairly regularly within my Mac and iOS applications, so I use the following helper function (originally described in this answer):
void runOnMainQueueWithoutDeadlocking(void (^block)(void))
{
if ([NSThread isMainThread])
{
block();
}
else
{
dispatch_sync(dispatch_get_main_queue(), block);
}
}
which you call via
runOnMainQueueWithoutDeadlocking(^{
//Do stuff
});
This is pretty much the process you describe above, and I've talked to several other developers who have independently crafted something like this for themselves.
I used [NSThread isMainThread] instead of checking dispatch_get_current_queue(), because the caveats section for that function once warned against using this for identity testing and the call was deprecated in iOS 6.
For syncing on the main queue or on the main thread (that is not the same) I use:
import Foundation
private let mainQueueKey = UnsafeMutablePointer<Void>.alloc(1)
private let mainQueueValue = UnsafeMutablePointer<Void>.alloc(1)
public func dispatch_sync_on_main_queue(block: () -> Void)
{
struct dispatchonce { static var token : dispatch_once_t = 0 }
dispatch_once(&dispatchonce.token,
{
dispatch_queue_set_specific(dispatch_get_main_queue(), mainQueueKey, mainQueueValue, nil)
})
if dispatch_get_specific(mainQueueKey) == mainQueueValue
{
block()
}
else
{
dispatch_sync(dispatch_get_main_queue(),block)
}
}
extension NSThread
{
public class func runBlockOnMainThread(block: () -> Void )
{
if NSThread.isMainThread()
{
block()
}
else
{
dispatch_sync(dispatch_get_main_queue(),block)
}
}
public class func runBlockOnMainQueue(block: () -> Void)
{
dispatch_sync_on_main_queue(block)
}
}
I recently began experiencing a deadlock during UI updates. That lead me this Stack Overflow question, which lead to me implementing a runOnMainQueueWithoutDeadlocking-type helper function based on the accepted answer.
The real issue, though, is that when updating the UI from a block I had mistakenly used dispatch_sync rather than dispatch_async to get the Main queue for UI updates. Easy to do with code completion, and perhaps hard to notice after the fact.
So, for others reading this question: if synchronous execution is not required, simply using dispatch_**a**sync will avoid the deadlock you may be intermittently hitting.

Monotouch: UIAlertView and WCF services, debugger.StackTrace

I'm currently using WCF in monotouch to call an existing service and a custom UIAlertView.
The problem is that if I create an UIAlertView as class instance and the I do the following:
public override void ViewDidAppear()
{
_alertView.Message = "Loading...";
_alertView.Show();
_client.GetDataAsync("test");
_client.GetDataCompleted += GetDataCompletedDelegate;
base.ViewDidAppear();
}
void GetDataCompletedDelegate(object sender, GetDataEventArgs)
{
// do someting with data
_alertView.Hide();
}
it works but this advice is written in console : UIAlertView: wait_fences: failed to receive reply: 10004003
else, if I try to run this code:
public override void ViewDidAppear()
{
using(CustomAV _alertView = new CustomAV())
{
_alertView.Message = "Loading...";
_alertView.Show();
_client.GetDataAsync("test");
_client.GetDataCompleted += delegate{
InvokeOnMainThread(delegate{
// do someting with data
_alertView.Hide();
});
};
}
base.ViewDidAppear();
}
the first time the code run, but now alert is shown. The second time the simulator can't startup. Couldn't register "com.yourcompany.wcftest" with the bootstrap server. Error: unknown error code. This generally means that another instance of this process was already running or is hung in the debugger.StackTrace. In this case I have to reboot the machine.
Thank you in advance.
EDIT:
Thank you Geoff, I've checked my code and into GetDataCompletedDelegate I've inserted a function that runs inside the UI Thread.
InvokeOnMainThread(delegate{
doSomething();
});
private void doSomething()
{
// do stuff here
_alertView.Hide();
}
The fency error continues to appear. If I use your solution inside doSomething() method, it works
_alertView.InvokeOnMainThread(delegate{
_alertView.Hide();
});
Why? Maybe I didn't understand, but in the first snippet of code do something() works in the UI thread!! Isn't true?
You have 2 seperate problems here.
1: _alertView.Hide () is not running on the UI thread (this is what causes the fences error)
2: In your second example you're disposing the UIAlertVeiw immediately after creating it, but you have a instance delegate dangled off it. This crashes the runtime in a hard way, and then when you run it again since the old crashed process is still running the simulator wont let you start a second instance.
Use case #1 but do _alterView.InvokeOnMainThread (delegate { _alertView.Hide (); });

Async Web Service call from Silverlight 3

I have a question regarding the sequencing of events in the scenario where you are calling a wcf service from silverlight 3 and updating the ui on a seperate thread. Basically, I would like to know whether what I am doing is correct... Sample is as follows. This is my first post on here, so bear with me, because i am not sure how to post actual code. Sample is as follows :
//<summary>
public static void Load(string userId)
{
//Build the request.
GetUserNameRequest request =
new GetUserNameRequest { UserId = userId };
//Open the connection.
instance.serviceClient = ServiceController.UserService;
//Make the request.
instance.serviceClient.GetUserNameCompleted
+= UserService_GetUserNameCompleted;
instance.serviceClient.GetGetUserNameAsync(request);
return instance.VM;
}
/// <summary>
private static void UserService_GetUserNameCompleted(object sender, GetUserNameCompletedEventArgs e)
{
try
{
Controller.UIDispatcher.BeginInvoke(() =>
{
//Load the response.
if (e.Result != null && e.Result.Success)
{
LoadResponse(e.Result);
}
//Completed loading data.
});
}
finally
{
instance.serviceClient.GetUserNameCompleted
-= UserService_GetUserNameCompleted;
ServiceHelper.CloseService(instance.serviceClient);
}
}
So my question basically is, inside of my UI thread when I am loading the response if that throws an exception, will the "finally" block catch that ? If not, should i put another try/catch inside of the lambda where I am loading the response ?
Also, since I am executing the load on the ui thread, is it possible that the finally will execute before the UI thread is done updating ? And could as a result call the Servicehelper.CloseService() before the load has been done ?
I ask because I am having intermittent problems using this approach.
The finally block should get executed before the processing of the response inside the BeginInvoke. BeginInvoke means that the code will get executed in the next UI cycle.
Typically the best approach to this type of thing is to pull all the data you need out of the response and store it in a variable and then clean up your service code. Then make a call to BeginInvoke and update the UI using the data in the variable.