Loading data from DB asynchronously in win forms

Question

many time we populate UI with data from DB in the form load and that is why form gets freeze for few second. so i just want to know how can i load data asynchronously and populate UI in form load as a result my form will not freeze and also will be responsive but i don't want to use background worker class. please help me with sample code which can solve my problem.

thanks

Answer 1

Here is a well commented example code:

Example:

// This method can be called on Form_Load, Button_Click, etc.
private void LoadData()
{
    // Start a thread to load data asynchronously.
    Thread loadDataThread = new Thread(LoadDataAsync);
    loadDataThread.Start();
}

// This method is called asynchronously
private void LoadDataAsync()
{
    DataSet ds = new DataSet();

    // ... get data from connection

    // Since this method is executed from another thread than the main thread (AKA UI thread),
    // Any logic that tried to manipulate UI from this thread, must go into BeginInvoke() call.
    // By using BeginInvoke() we state that this code needs to be executed on UI thread.

    // Check if this code is executed on some other thread than UI thread
    if (InvokeRequired) // In this example, this will return `true`.
    {
        BeginInvoke(new Action(() =>
        {
            PopulateUI(ds);
        }));
    }
}

private void PopulateUI(DataSet ds)
{
    // Populate UI Controls with data from DataSet ds.
}

Answer 2

Command.BeginExecuteReader()

may serves your need for reading purposes.

Here is Sample Code for this method.

You can call Application.DoEvents() while waiting for response to keep your window responsive.

Answer 3

Have a look at this article. http://aspadvice.com/blogs/azamsharp/archive/2007/04/05/Executing-a-Query-Asynchronously-in-.NET-2.0.aspx

It still uses Background worker. Honestly, I can't think of an alternative solution to this this other than threading your application to execute queries and bind returned results. If you do decide to use threads, than i suggest you take a look at this article about thread-pooling for asynchronous execution: http://www.yoda.arachsys.com/csharp/threads/threadpool.shtml