[Tips] C# BackgroundWorker Tutorial

1. What's Background Worker?

Background worker same as the Thread, you can see it on Toolbox C# 4.0 (Microsoft studio 2012 above). This control can help you

- Makes threads easy to implement in Windows Forms.
- Intensive tasks need to be done on another thread so the UI does not freeze.
- It is necessary to post messages and update the user interface when the task is done.
 

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2. How to use BackgroundWorker?

Background worker have 2 key properties:
 - WorkerReportsProgress
 - WorkerSupportCancellation

Background worker have 3 key functions:
 - DoWord: working
 - ProgressChanged
 - RunWorkerCompleted:When completed

GUI:

You can download full projects from here

Source code:

/*************************************************
         * Developer: ViLH (Zidane) - huuvi168@gmail.com
         * Lat Modified: 2015-02-25
         * Demo run 100% done and open New form
         * 
         * [Questions]
         * Form doing task and gif image not work. Because Gif image running main Thread 
         * and task form running main Thread too. So the gif image not word.
         * 
         * [Answer]
         * This tutorial will be help you split two Thread: 
         * one is for main form another is for gif image.
         * 
         * ***********************************************/
        using System;
        using System.Collections.Generic;
        using System.ComponentModel;
        using System.Data;
        using System.Text;
        using System.Windows.Forms;
        
        namespace BackGroundWorker
        {
            public partial class Form1 : Form
            {
                private delegate void DelegateProgressbar();
        
                public Form1()
                {
                    InitializeComponent();
                    backgroundWorker1.WorkerReportsProgress = true;
                    backgroundWorker1.WorkerSupportsCancellation = true;
                }
        
                private void backgroundWorker1_RunWorkerCompleted(object sender, 
                                                  RunWorkerCompletedEventArgs e)
                {
                    if (e.Cancelled == true)
                    {
                        resultLabel.Text = "Canceled!";
                    }
                    else if (e.Error != null)
                    {
                        resultLabel.Text = "Error: " + e.Error.Message;
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        resultLabel.Text = "Done!";
        
                        // do something when finished
                        openForm();
                        this.Hide();
                    }
                }
        
                // Progress Changed
                private void backgroundWorker1_ProgressChanged(object sender, 
                                                   ProgressChangedEventArgs e)
                {
                    resultLabel.Text = (e.ProgressPercentage.ToString() + "%");
                }
        
                // Start Thread
                private void startAsyncButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
                {
                    if (backgroundWorker1.IsBusy != true)
                        backgroundWorker1.RunWorkerAsync();
                }
        
                // Cancel Thread
                private void cancelAsyncButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
                {
                    if (backgroundWorker1.WorkerSupportsCancellation == true)
                        backgroundWorker1.CancelAsync();
        
                }
                
                private void backgroundWorker1_DoWork(object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)
                {
                    BackgroundWorker worker = sender as BackgroundWorker;
        
                    for (int i = 1; i <= 10; i++)
                    {
                        if (worker.CancellationPending == true)
                        {
                            e.Cancel = true;
                            break;
                        }
                        else
                        {
                            // Perform a time consuming operation and report progress.
                            System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(500);
                            worker.ReportProgress(i * 10);
                        }
                    }           
                }
        
                // Because of BackgroundWorker is a Thread, so we should use 
                // InvokeRequired for open form
                private void openForm()
                {
                    if (InvokeRequired)
                        this.Invoke(new DelegateProgressbar(openForm), null);
                    else
                    {
                        Form2 frm = new Form2();
                        frm.Show();
                    }
                }
            }
        }
        

You can download full projects from here

You can view MSDN from here

Thank you for reading this post. I hope you found it helpful and easy to follow. If you have any feedback or questions about C# BackgroundWorker Tutorial , please share them in the comments below. I would love to hear from you and discuss this topic further

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