Running a BackgroundWorker continuously

Question

I need to be able to continuously run my BackgroundWorker. The DoWork event contains a pool threaded process and the OnComplete updates my UI.

I have not been able to find a way to infinitely loop the BackgroundWorker.RunWorkerAsync() method without the whole program freezing. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

You have to make a loop in your DoWork-Method. To update your UI you shoud use the ProgressChanged-Method. Here is a small example how this can look like

 public Test()
    {
        this.InitializeComponent();
        BackgroundWorker backgroundWorker = new BackgroundWorker
            {
                 WorkerReportsProgress = true,
                WorkerSupportsCancellation = true
            };
        backgroundWorker.DoWork += BackgroundWorkerOnDoWork;
        backgroundWorker.ProgressChanged += BackgroundWorkerOnProgressChanged;
    }

    private void BackgroundWorkerOnProgressChanged(object sender, ProgressChangedEventArgs e)
    {
        object userObject = e.UserState;
        int percentage = e.ProgressPercentage;
    }

    private void BackgroundWorkerOnDoWork(object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)
    {
        BackgroundWorker worker = (BackgroundWorker) sender;
        while (!worker.CancellationPending)
        {
            //Do your stuff here
            worker.ReportProgress(0, "AN OBJECT TO PASS TO THE UI-THREAD");
        }        
    }

Answer 2

I have done this in the past when needing something to run in the background. If you try to run the backgroundworker while it is running, you will get an excpetion! That is why i make the BackGroundWorker start itself when it is done in the completed event.

And then it will loop forever.

private void Main_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
   // Start Background Worker on load
   bgWorker.RunWorkerAsync();
}

private void bgWorker_DoWork(object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)
{
   Thread.Sleep(1000);   // If you need to make a pause between runs
   // Do work here
}

private void bgCheck_RunWorkerCompleted(object sender, RunWorkerCompletedEventArgs e)
{
// Update UI

// Run again
bgWorker.RunWorkerAsync();   // This will make the BgWorker run again, and never runs before it is completed.
}