Change WPF controls from a non-main thread using Dispatcher.Invoke

user_196504 0
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I have recently started programming in WPF and bumped into the following problem. I don't understand how to use the Dispatcher.Invoke() method. I have experience in threading and I have made a few simple Windows Forms programs where I just used the

Control.CheckForIllegalCrossThreadCalls = false;

Yes I know that is pretty lame but these were simple monitoring applications.

The fact is now I am making a WPF application which retrieves data in the background, I start off a new thread to make the call to retrieve the data (from a webserver), now I want to display it on my WPF form. The thing is, I cannot set any control from this thread. Not even a label or anything. How can this be resolved?

Answer comments:
@Jalfp:
So I use this Dispatcher method in the 'new tread' when I get the data? Or should I make a background worker retrieve the data, put it into a field and start a new thread that waits till this field is filled and call the dispatcher to show the retrieved data into the controls?

dispatcher multithreading wpf c#
4 Answers

When a thread is executing and you want to execute the main UI thread which is blocked by current thread, then use the below:

current thread:

Dispatcher.CurrentDispatcher.Invoke(MethodName,
    new object[] { parameter1, parameter2 }); // if passing 2 parameters to method.

Main UI thread:

Application.Current.Dispatcher.BeginInvoke(
    DispatcherPriority.Background, new Action(() => MethodName(parameter)));
user_106550130

The @japf answer above is working fine and in my case I wanted to change the mouse cursor from a Spinning Wheel back to the normal Arrow once the CEF Browser finished loading the page. In case it can help someone, here is the code:

private void Browser_LoadingStateChanged(object sender, CefSharp.LoadingStateChangedEventArgs e) {
   if (!e.IsLoading) {
      // set the cursor back to arrow
      Application.Current.Dispatcher.BeginInvoke(DispatcherPriority.Background,
         new Action(() => Mouse.OverrideCursor = Cursors.Arrow));
   }
}
user_18912730
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