Cross-thread operation not valid: Control accessed from a thread other than the thread it was created on

user_22858 0
Viewed 471111

I have a scenario. (Windows Forms, C#, .NET)

  1. There is a main form which hosts some user control.
  2. The user control does some heavy data operation, such that if I directly call the UserControl_Load method the UI become nonresponsive for the duration for load method execution.
  3. To overcome this I load data on different thread (trying to change existing code as little as I can)
  4. I used a background worker thread which will be loading the data and when done will notify the application that it has done its work.
  5. Now came a real problem. All the UI (main form and its child usercontrols) was created on the primary main thread. In the LOAD method of the usercontrol I'm fetching data based on the values of some control (like textbox) on userControl.

The pseudocode would look like this:

CODE 1

UserContrl1_LoadDataMethod()
{
    if (textbox1.text == "MyName") // This gives exception
    {
        //Load data corresponding to "MyName".
        //Populate a globale variable List<string> which will be binded to grid at some later stage.
    }
}

The Exception it gave was

Cross-thread operation not valid: Control accessed from a thread other than the thread it was created on.

To know more about this I did some googling and a suggestion came up like using the following code

CODE 2

UserContrl1_LoadDataMethod()
{
    if (InvokeRequired) // Line #1
    {
        this.Invoke(new MethodInvoker(UserContrl1_LoadDataMethod));
        return;
    }

    if (textbox1.text == "MyName") // Now it won't give an exception
    {
    //Load data correspondin to "MyName"
        //Populate a globale variable List<string> which will be binded to grid at some later stage
    }
}

But it still seems that I've come back to square one. The Application again becomes unresponsive. It seems to be due to the execution of line #1 if condition. The loading task is again done by the parent thread and not the third that I spawned.

I don't know whether I perceived this right or wrong. I'm new to threading.

How do I resolve this and also what is the effect of execution of Line#1 if block?

The situation is this: I want to load data into a global variable based on the value of a control. I don't want to change the value of a control from the child thread. I'm not going to do it ever from a child thread.

So only accessing the value so that the corresponding data can be fetched from the database.

invoke multithreading winforms c#
22 Answers

As per Prerak K's update comment (since deleted):

I guess I have not presented the question properly.

Situation is this: I want to load data into a global variable based on the value of a control. I don't want to change the value of a control from the child thread. I'm not going to do it ever from a child thread.

So only accessing the value so that corresponding data can be fetched from the database.

The solution you want then should look like:

UserContrl1_LOadDataMethod()
{
    string name = "";
    if(textbox1.InvokeRequired)
    {
        textbox1.Invoke(new MethodInvoker(delegate { name = textbox1.text; }));
    }
    if(name == "MyName")
    {
        // do whatever
    }
}

Do your serious processing in the separate thread before you attempt to switch back to the control's thread. For example:

UserContrl1_LOadDataMethod()
{
    if(textbox1.text=="MyName") //<<======Now it wont give exception**
    {
        //Load data correspondin to "MyName"
        //Populate a globale variable List<string> which will be
        //bound to grid at some later stage
        if(InvokeRequired)
        {
            // after we've done all the processing, 
            this.Invoke(new MethodInvoker(delegate {
                // load the control with the appropriate data
            }));
            return;
        }
    }
}
Jeff_88440

You only want to use Invoke or BeginInvoke for the bare minimum piece of work required to change the UI. Your "heavy" method should execute on another thread (e.g. via BackgroundWorker) but then using Control.Invoke/Control.BeginInvoke just to update the UI. That way your UI thread will be free to handle UI events etc.

See my threading article for a WinForms example - although the article was written before BackgroundWorker arrived on the scene, and I'm afraid I haven't updated it in that respect. BackgroundWorker merely simplifies the callback a bit.

user_226560

I know its too late now. However even today if you are having trouble accessing cross thread controls? This is the shortest answer till date :P

Invoke(new Action(() =>
                {
                    label1.Text = "WooHoo!!!";
                }));

This is how i access any form control from a thread.

user_8354640

I have had this problem with the FileSystemWatcher and found that the following code solved the problem:

fsw.SynchronizingObject = this

The control then uses the current form object to deal with the events, and will therefore be on the same thread.

user_19520

Controls in .NET are not generally thread safe. That means you shouldn't access a control from a thread other than the one where it lives. To get around this, you need to invoke the control, which is what your 2nd sample is attempting.

However, in your case all you've done is pass the long-running method back to the main thread. Of course, that's not really what you want to do. You need to rethink this a little so that all you're doing on the main thread is setting a quick property here and there.

Joel_Coehoorn_30430
Igor_Brejc_554080
Pat_142060

Simple and re-usable way to work around this problem.

Extension Method

public static class FormExts
{
    public static void LoadOnUI(this Form frm, Action action)
    {
        if (frm.InvokeRequired) frm.Invoke(action);
        else action.Invoke();
    }
}

Sample Usage

private void OnAnyEvent(object sender, EventArgs args)
{
    this.LoadOnUI(() =>
    {
        label1.Text = "";
        button1.Text = "";
    });
}
user_34993610 
this.Invoke(new MethodInvoker(delegate
            {
                //your code here;
            }));
user_5550780

Simply use this:

this.Invoke((MethodInvoker)delegate
            {
                YourControl.Property= value; // runs thread safe
            });
user_32931100
Related