How to execute task in the wpf background while able to provide report and allow cancellation?

Question

I want to execute a long running task after clicking a wpf button. Here what I did.

private void Start(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
    for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
    {
        Thread.Sleep(2000); // simulate task
    }
}

Problem is, this will make wpf gui unresponsive. I also would like to allow cancellation and report progress every 1 second. I expand the code as below.

    DispatcherTimer dispatcherTimer = new DispatcherTimer(); // get progress every second
    private int progress = 0; // for progress reporting
    private bool isCancelled = false; // cancellation

    private void Start(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
    {
        InitializeTimer(); // initiallize interval timer 
        Start(10); // execute task
    }

    private void InitializeTimer()
    {
        dispatcherTimer.Tick += dispatcherTimer_Tick;
        dispatcherTimer.Interval = new TimeSpan(0,0,1);
        dispatcherTimer.Start();
    }

    private void dispatcherTimer_Tick(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        Logger.Info("Current loop progress " + progress); // report progress
    }

    private void Cancel(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e) // cancel button
    {
        isCancelled = true;
    }

    private int Start(int limit)
    {
        isCancelled = true;
        progress = 0;

        for (int i = 0; i < limit; i++)
        {
            Thread.Sleep(2000); // simulate task
            progress = i; // for progress report
            if (isCancelled) // cancellation
            {
                break;
            }
        }
        return limit;
    }

My target platform is .NET 4.5. What is the recommended way to do this?

Thanks.

Answer 1

I thought I answered your question here. If you need more sample code on how to do this using Task Parallel Library, with CancellationTokenSource and IProgress<T>, here it is:

Action _cancelWork;

private async void StartButton_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
    this.StartButton.IsEnabled = false;
    this.StopButton.IsEnabled = true;
    try
    {
        var cancellationTokenSource = new CancellationTokenSource();

        this._cancelWork = () => 
        {
            this.StopButton.IsEnabled = false;
            cancellationTokenSource.Cancel();
         };

        var limit = 10;

        var progressReport = new Progress<int>((i) => 
            this.TextBox.Text = (100 * i / (limit-1)).ToString() + "%");

        var token = cancellationTokenSource.Token;

        await Task.Run(() =>
            DoWork(limit, token, progressReport), 
            token);
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);
    }
    this.StartButton.IsEnabled = true;
    this.StopButton.IsEnabled = false;
    this._cancelWork = null;
}

private void StopButton_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
    this._cancelWork?.Invoke();
}

private int DoWork(
    int limit, 
    CancellationToken token,
    IProgress<int> progressReport)
{
    var progress = 0;

    for (int i = 0; i < limit; i++)
    {
        progressReport.Report(progress++);
        Thread.Sleep(2000); // simulate a work item
        token.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
    }
    return limit;
}

Answer 2

BackgroundWorker is what you are looking for instead of DispatcherTimer.

It provides support of Cancellation (via WorkerSupportsCancellation) and reporting progress back on UI thread (via WorkerReportsProgress).

Refer to excellent detailed article here - How to Use BackgroundWorker.