How to update a collection that is bounded to the UI? - wpf

I have followed this blog by Stephen Cleary and I was wondering what would be the best approach for update the existing collection that is bounded to the UI which updates every 15 seconds?
For e.g. do I Clear the list then add a new collection to create a new object?
I am asking this question because when I added this Task taskA = Task.Run(() => UpdateManifest(_ManifestToken.Token)); line of code my CPU increase rapidly.
C#:
// Ctor.
public ManifestViewModel()
{
_ManifestItems = new NotifyTaskCompletion<ObservableCollection<ManifestItem>>(FetchData());
Task taskA = Task.Run(() => UpdateManifest(_ManifestToken.Token));
}
private NotifyTaskCompletion<ObservableCollection<ManifestItem>> _ManifestItems;
public NotifyTaskCompletion<ObservableCollection<ManifestItem>> ManifestItems
{
get => _ManifestItems;
set
{
if (_ManifestItems != value)
{
_ManifestItems = value;
OnPropertyChanged();
}
}
}
public static Task UpdateManifest(CancellationToken token)
{
while (true)
{
_ManifestItems = new NotifyTaskCompletion<ObservableCollection<ManifestItem>>(FetchData());
Task.Delay(15000);
}
}

You should fetch the data on a background thread and update the source collection on the UI thread. You could also use the BindingOperations.EnableCollectionSynchronization method enable the data-bound collection to be updated from a background thread.
A better way than calling Updatemanifest from your constructor and use a while (true) loop would be to use a Timer that fetches the data at given intervals, e.g.:
private void _timer_Elapsed(object sender, System.Timers.ElapsedEventArgs e)
{
var data = FetchData();
//either just set a source property to the fetched data collection
SourceCollectionProperty = data;
//...or update the collection
}

Related

BindableCollection changes when other ObservableCollection changes

Is there a way to update an ObservableCollection with the items which are added/deleted in other ObservableCollection?
How can I update my ViewModel's BindableCollection when items are added, removed in FullyObservableCollection?
It is important to note I am trying to use MVVM pattern with Caliburn.Micro.
VieModel
private BindableCollection<Employees> _employees = new BindableCollection(OracleConnector.GetEmployeeRepositorys());
public BindableCollection<Employees> Employees
{
get
{
return _employees;
}
set
{
OracleConnector.List.CollectionChanged += (sender, args) =>
{
_employees = OracleConnector.List;
};
NotifyOfPropertyChange(() => Employees);
}
}
OracleConnector
public class OracleConnector
{
public static FullyObservableCollection<Employees> List = new FullyObservableCollection<Employees>();
public static FullyObservableCollection<Employees> GetEmployeeRepositorys()
{
using (IDbConnection cnn = GetDBConnection("localhost", 1521, "ORCL", "hr", "hr"))
{
var dyParam = new OracleDynamicParameters();
try
{
var output = cnn.Query<Employees>(OracleDynamicParameters.sqlSelect, param: dyParam).AsList();
foreach (Employees employees in output)
{
List.Add(employees);
}
}
catch (OracleException ex)
{
MessageBox.Show("Connection to database is not available.\n" + ex.Message, "Database not available", MessageBoxButton.OK, MessageBoxImage.Error);
}
return List;
}
}
}
I am able to detect if changes are made in the FullyObservableCollection but I don't know how to pass them to the ViewModel.
Use the IEventAggregator in the OracleConnector class when you add a new employee. Publish a EmployeeAddedMessage which contains the new employee. Make sure you publish on the correct thread too. You are likely to need to use PublishOnUiThread method. The ShellViewModel is then able to implement the IHandle<EmployeeAddedMessage> as a method probably called Handle(EmployeeAddedMessage msg). Inside the Handle method you can then add the Employee to the appropriate Employee collection.
You may need to add the OracleConnector to your application bootstrapper as well as the EventAggregator class that Caliburn Micro provide. Your ShellViewModel will also need to call the Subscribe(this) method on the event aggregator. Both the OracleConnector and ShellViewModel need to be using the same instance of the event notifier. So make sure you register the event aggregator as a singleton.
See here for more details about using the event notification. Also, my application here uses event notification for application events.

Winforms recursive file scan blocks UI

I have a program that searches the given directory and adds all the files to a list view. My problem is that the ui thread gets stuck while the search is busy. I have tried using tasks but can’t get it to work in async. The list view must be updated after each file has been found.
I have done a lot of reading about the TPL and how to use it but can’t get it to work in this case. I got it to work where the processing of data is in one method that create a task to process it. Can any one tel me what is wrong in the code below and how to fix it?
Here is my code:
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
Task.Run(() =>
{
WalkDirectory(new DirectoryInfo(drive));
});
}
public void testTaskUpdateLabel(string labelTeks)
{
Task taskUpdateLabel = new Task(() =>
{
label4.Text = labelTeks;
});
taskUpdateLabel.Start(uiScheduler);
}
public void testTaskUpdateLabel(string labelTeks)
{
Task taskUpdateLabel = new Task(() =>
{
label4.Text = labelTeks;
});
taskUpdateLabel.Start(uiScheduler);
}
public bool WalkDirectory(DirectoryInfo directory)
{
if (directory == null)
{
throw new ArgumentNullException("directory");
}
return this.WalkDirectories(directory);
}
private bool WalkDirectories(DirectoryInfo directory)
{
bool continueScan = true;
continueScan = WalkFilesInDirectory(directory);
if (continueScan)
{
DirectoryInfo[] subDirectories = directory.GetDirectories();
foreach (DirectoryInfo subDirectory in subDirectories)
{
try
{
if ((subDirectory.Attributes & FileAttributes.ReparsePoint) != 0)
{
continue;
}
if (!(continueScan = WalkDirectory(subDirectory)))
{
break;
}
}
catch (UnauthorizedAccessException)
{
continue;
}
}
}
if (continueScan)
{
testTaskUpdateLabel(directory.FullName);
}
return continueScan;
}
private bool WalkFilesInDirectory(DirectoryInfo directory)
{
bool continueScan = true;
// Break up the search pattern in separate patterns
string[] searchPatterns = _searchPattern.Split(';');
// Try to find files for each search pattern
foreach (string searchPattern in searchPatterns)
{
if (!continueScan)
{
break;
}
// Scan all files in the current path
foreach (FileInfo file in directory.GetFiles(searchPattern))
{
try
{
testTaskUpdate(file.FullName);
}
catch (UnauthorizedAccessException)
{
continue;
}
}
}
return continueScan;
}
If you use a BackgroundWorker class, the UI will work and progress can be updated in the ProgressChanged event handler.
MSDN Reference
Can any one tel me what is wrong in the code below and how to fix it?
The problem is here
public void testTaskUpdateLabel(string labelTeks)
{
Task taskUpdateLabel = new Task(() =>
{
label4.Text = labelTeks;
});
taskUpdateLabel.Start(uiScheduler);
}
You should not use TPL to update the UI. TPL tasks are for doing non UI work and UI should only be updated on the UI thread. You already moved the work on a thread pool thread (via Task.Run), so the only problem you need to solve is how to update the UI from inside the worker. There are many ways to do that - using Control.Invoke/BeginInvoke, SynchronizationContext etc, but the preferred approach for TPL is to pass and use IProgress<T> interface. Don't be fooled by the name - the interface is an abstraction of a callback with some data. There is a standard BCL provided implementation - Progress<T> class with the following behavior, according to the documentation
Any handler provided to the constructor or event handlers registered with the ProgressChanged event are invoked through a SynchronizationContext instance captured when the instance is constructed.
i.e. perfectly fits in UI update scenarios.
With all that being said, here is how you can apply that to your code. We'll use IProgress<string> and will call Report method and pass the full name for each file/directory we find - a direct replacement of your testTaskUpdateLabel calls.
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
var progress = new Progress<string>(text => label4.Text = text);
Task.Run(() =>
{
WalkDirectory(new DirectoryInfo(drive), progress);
});
}
public bool WalkDirectory(DirectoryInfo directory, IProgress<string> progress)
{
if (directory == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("directory");
if (progress == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("progress");
return WalkDirectories(directory, progress);
}
bool WalkDirectories(DirectoryInfo directory, IProgress<string> progress)
{
// ...
if (!(continueScan = WalkDirectories(subDirectory, progress)))
// ...
if (continueScan)
progress.Report(directory.FullName);
// ...
}
bool WalkFilesInDirectory(DirectoryInfo directory, IProgress<string> progress)
{
// ...
try
{
progress.Report(file.FullName);
}
// ...
}
I got it to work by making the walkDirectory, walkDirectories and WalkFiles methods async. Thus using the await keyword before I call the testUpdate and testUpdateLabel methods. This way the listview is updated with the search results while the search is running without blocking the UI thread. I.E. the user can cancel the search when the file he was searching for has been found.

How to search in a lazy-loading WPF MVVM TreeView?

I need a TreeView to represent some hierarchical data from multiple tables stored in a SQL Server CE database. Before, the data was stored in xml and was simple deserialized on startup and everything was good. Now I was asked to move data to a database and I've faced a several problems.
My first problem was that it takes quite a long time to retrieve many items from DB and build a TreeView ViewModel from this items (still not sure what is longer - to get items or to construct this tree). So I implemented lazy loading and now I'm getting items only when a TreeViewItem is expanding.
Now, I need to perform a text search over all the nodes, but to make it work, all nodes must be loaded.
I tried to load all of them but the UI freezes while the tree is loading. Doing this inside a BackgroundWorker is also impossible for me because the items are stored in an ObservableCollection and I'm getting "InvalidOperationException". Using Dispatcher helps with this but it is also freezes UI...
The excerpt from my TreeViewItem VM is below, if more code is needed please let me know. Maybe I am totally wrong with my design, so any comments are very appreciated!
public class TreeViewItemViewModel: DisplayableItem, IItemsHost
{
internal static DummyTreeViewItemViewModel _dummy = new DummyTreeViewItemViewModel();
public TreeViewItemViewModel(){}
public TreeViewItemViewModel(IDisplayableItem displayableItem)
{
Data = displayableItem;
}
public TreeViewItemViewModel(IDisplayableItem displayableItem, IDisplayableItem parent)
:this(displayableItem)
{
Parent = parent as TreeViewItemViewModel;
}
private TreeViewItemViewModel _parent;
public TreeViewItemViewModel Parent
{
get { return _parent; }
set { _parent = value; InvokePropertyChanged(new PropertyChangedEventArgs("Parent")); }
}
private IDisplayableItem _data;
public new IDisplayableItem Data
{
get { return _data; }
set { _data = value; InvokePropertyChanged(new PropertyChangedEventArgs("Data")); }
}
private bool _isSelected;
public new bool IsSelected
{
get { return _isSelected; }
set { _isSelected = value; InvokePropertyChanged(new PropertyChangedEventArgs("IsSelected")); }
}
private bool _isEnabled=true;
public new bool IsEnabled
{
get { return _isEnabled; }
set { _isEnabled = value; InvokePropertyChanged(new PropertyChangedEventArgs("IsEnabled")); }
}
private bool _isVisible = true;
public new bool IsVisible
{
get { return _isVisible; }
set { _isVisible = value; InvokePropertyChanged(new PropertyChangedEventArgs("IsVisible")); }
}
private void FillItems()
{
if (Items.Contains(_dummy))
{
Items.Remove(_dummy);
var itemshost = Data as IItemsHost;
if (itemshost != null)
{
_items = new ObservableCollection<IDisplayableItem>();
foreach (var item in itemshost.Items)//getting 'Items' actually requesting them from a database
{
var treeItem = new TreeViewItemViewModel(item, this);
_items.Add(treeItem);
}
InvokePropertyChanged(new PropertyChangedEventArgs("Items"));
}
}
}
protected bool _isExpanded;
public bool IsExpanded
{
get { return _isExpanded; }
set
{
if(value)
{
FillItems();
}
_isExpanded = value;
InvokePropertyChanged(new PropertyChangedEventArgs("IsExpanded"));
}
}
protected SObservableCollection<IDisplayableItem> _items = new SObservableCollection<IDisplayableItem>();
public SObservableCollection<IDisplayableItem> Items
{
get
{
var itemshost = Data as IItemsHost;
if (itemshost != null)
{
if (_items.Count == 0 && itemshost.Items.Count > 0)
_items.Add(_dummy);
}
return _items;
}
set { _items = value; InvokePropertyChanged(new PropertyChangedEventArgs("Items")); }
}
UPDATE: for those who would search for a similar solution - my problem was in my query method. I shouldn't open a new SQL Server CE connection each time I need to perform a query...
What about a new DB table that holds a flattened representation of the entire hierarchy, and have your search logic query this table? You'll obviously need to keep this table updated as you insert/update/delete records in the other tables.
Each record in the new table would need to include some information about where the item sits in the hierarchy, so that when you get the search results back you can load and populate just those tree nodes containing the "hits".
Since reading from database is being done asynchronously so the performance bottle-neck should be constructing View from ViewModel. I suggest the following method:
Read all essential Model data from database in one async call and store them in an object called SearchHelper.
Add a a simple property (Model.Id or Model's hash code) to every ViewModel that you create in order to find the equivalent view model of an specific model.
Create only visible ViewModels. (lazy loading for ViewModel only)
Use the SearchHelper to find matches for the search query, then using the Id or hash code of the results, you can easily locate their equivalent view models.
Please Consider:
Once loaded, SearchHelper does not update itself, so you might want to manually update it.
For this method to have optimal performance, try avoiding iteration of all nodes. instead, store the sequence of traced items (their index or Id) in order to find them in view model. if each Model item knows its parent, then the back-tracking should be easy.

asynchronous UI update from ViewModel in WPF

I am having a problem with getting data from db and showing in UI asynchronously.
I am using MVVM light, when I click the button, action is triggered in ViewModel:
private void SearchQuery(string query)
{
_redisModel.GetFriendsListAsync(query);
}
At some point GetFriendsListCompleted is called by background thread notifing viewmodel that job is done.
At this point I need to update ListBox ItemSource. But when I try to update is I get
“The calling thread cannot access this object because a different thread owns it”
I have tried Dispatcher.CurrentDispatcher.Invoke(),App.Current.Dispatcher.Invoke() and different magic, but it still doesn’t work.
I tried to give UI dispatcher to ViewModel and then call it from there - didn't work.
private string filterText = string.Empty;
public string FilterText
{
get { return filterText; }
set
{
filterText = value;
this.RaisePropertyChanged(() => this.FilterText);
this.FriendsList.View.Refresh(); // Here where exception is happening.
}
}
I tried to change this line to
Dispatcher.Invoke(DispatcherPriority.Normal, new Action(
() =>this.FriendsList.View.Refresh())); - still the same.
I am using Telerik ListBox to display items. FriendList is CollectionViewSource(http://www.telerik.com/help/wpf/radlistbox-overview.html). It works when I use Telerik example from WPF Control Examples. Problems start to occur when I use my async methods.
Type of view is System.ComponentModel.ICollectionView it is used for Filtering and Grouping.
I have also tried to just assign ObservableCollection to Items property of the ListBox and it doesn't work either.
A bit more details on how _redisModel.GetFriendsListAsync works:
In the end(after all chain of calls) it ends up here:
public GetAsyncResult(Func<T> workToBeDone, Action<IAsyncResult> cbMethod, Object state)
{
_cbMethod = cbMethod;
_state = state;
QueueWorkOnThreadPool(workToBeDone);
}
ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem(state =>
{
try
{
_result = workToBeDone();
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
_exception = ex;
}
finally
{
UpdateStatusToComplete(); //1 and 2
NotifyCallbackWhenAvailable(); //3 callback invocation
}
});
In viewmodel I have method:
private void GetFriendsListCompleted(object sender, ResultsArgs<Friend> e)
{
if (!e.HasError)
{
var curr = e.Results;
if (curr != null)
{
this.FriendsList= new CollectionViewSource();
this.FriendsList.Source = list;
this.FriendsList.Filter += this.FriendFilter;
FilterText = "";
Dispatcher.Invoke(DispatcherPriority.Normal, new Action(
() => this.FriendsList.View.Refresh()));
}
}
Can anybody please help me with this ?
Thank you
You are creating CollectionViewSource in one thread and refreshing that in another thread (dispatcher thread). Update your GetFriendsListCompleted to
private void GetFriendsListCompleted(object sender, ResultsArgs<Friend> e)
{
if (!e.HasError)
{
var curr = e.Results;
if (curr != null)
{
Dispatcher.Invoke(DispatcherPriority.Normal, new Action(
() => {
this.FriendsList= new CollectionViewSource();
this.FriendsList.Source = list;
this.FriendsList.Filter += this.FriendFilter;
FilterText = "";
this.FriendsList.View.Refresh();
}));
}
}
}
You haven't shown any of the code that's actually running on the background thread on completion but I'm guessing that in it you're creating a collection object that you're then trying to assign to your CollectionView. When the CV tries to update (on the UI thread) from your Refresh call it would then try to use the collection that's owned by the other thread.
If you include the relevant code it would be easier to say for sure.

How to keep UI running while Observable collection is loading?

I have the synfusion tile view as below.
Maximized Item template for these Items is TreeView. the treeview items Source is bind to the Observable Collection. When I Maximize one of these Items, it will load the data from ViewModel as below. It's in the MaximizedItemChanged Event.
private void tileViewControl_Exchanges_MaximizedItemChanged(object sender, TileViewEventArgs args)
{
if (args.Source != null)
{
TileViewControl tileViewControl = (TileViewControl)sender;
TileViewItem tvi = (TileViewItem)args.Source;
PanelViewModel panelViewModel = (PanelViewModel)tileViewControl.ItemContainerGenerator.ItemFromContainer(tvi);
String currentSelectedPanelID = GetSelectedPanelID(tileViewControl);
// below function will load all the treeview items.
SetSelectedExchangeID(tileViewControl, exchangePanelViewModel.ExchangeID);
}
}
But treeview has over thousands of items. So after clicking on Maximize, It will take a while and the program hang. Is there a way to maximize the Item smoothly first and load the Treeview Item at the background? What I'd like to do is I will show the loading animation while the treeview is loading but now, when it maximized (after hanging for 8 or 9 secs) , the treeview is already loaded.
Edit: I added the code fore SetSelectedExchangeID.
public static readonly DependencyProperty SelectedExchangeIDProperty =
DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached("SelectedExchangeID",
typeof(String),
typeof(UC_Contract_List),
new UIPropertyMetadata(new PropertyChangedCallback(SelectedExchangeIDPropertyChanged)));
static void SelectedExchangeIDPropertyChanged(
DependencyObject depObj,
DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs eventArgs)
{
TileViewControl tileViewControl = (TileViewControl)depObj;
ItemContainerGenerator itemContainerGenerator = tileViewControl.ItemContainerGenerator;
String newPanelID = (String)eventArgs.NewValue;
if (newPanelID != null)
{
if (tileViewControl.Visibility == Visibility.Visible)
{
foreach (PanelViewModel exchangePanel in tileViewControl.Items)
{
if (exchangePanel.ExchangeID.Equals(newExchangeID))
{
TileViewItem tvi = (TileViewItem)itemContainerGenerator.ContainerFromItem(exchangePanel);
try
{
if (tileViewControl.tileViewItems != null)
{
if (tvi.TileViewItemState != TileViewItemState.Maximized)
{
tvi.TileViewItemState = TileViewItemState.Maximized;
}
}
}
catch (Exception e) { }
break;
}
}
}
}
else
{
foreach (PanelViewModel exchangePanel in tileViewControl.Items)
{
TileViewItem tvi = (TileViewItem)itemContainerGenerator.ContainerFromItem(exchangePanel);
tvi.TileViewItemState = TileViewItemState.Normal;
}
}
}
public static void SetSelectedExchangeID(DependencyObject depObj, String exchangeID)
{
depObj.SetValue(SelectedExchangeIDProperty, exchangeID);
}
public static String GetSelectedExchangeID(DependencyObject depObj)
{
return (String)depObj.GetValue(SelectedExchangeIDProperty);
}
And in ViewModel:
String _selectedExchangeID;
public String SelectedExchangeID
{
get { return this._selectedExchangeID; }
set
{
if (value == null)
{
this.ClearPanels();
this._selectedExchangeID = value;
}
else
{
this._selectedExchangeID = value;
PanelViewModel curPanelViewModel = this.GetPanelViewModel(this._selectedExchangeID);
if (curPanelViewModel != null)
{
curPanelViewModel.Activate(); // this will add to the observable collection for Treeview ItemsSource
}
}
this.OnPropertyChanged("SelectedExchangeID");
}
}
You can do that by doing the processing/heavy loading task asynchronously on a background thread and syncing with foreground thread using UI Dispatcher object only when everything is available and processed.
For details on BackgroundWorker refer to MSDN.
Please note BackgroundWorker is not the only way to do async task. you may opt for Tasks (introduced in .net 4.0) or BeginInvoke/EndInvoke.
And When you are done with Heavy task you may sync with foreground thread in the following way.
First initialize dispatcher on UI thread (lets say Views Constructor):
Dispatcher _UIDispatcher;
public MyView
{
...
_UIDispatcher = Dispatcher.CurrentDispatcher;
}
Then sync in after loading is complete:
public void SyncPostLoading(IEnumerable<Something> myData)
{
_UIDispatcher.BeginInvoke(DispatcherPriority.ContextIdle, System.Threading.ThreadStart)delegate()
{
foreach(Something something in myData)
myObervableCollection.Add(something);
});
}
You have a couple of different options for how to do you work on a background thread. You can use the backgroundworker (slightly outdated) or the .NET 4.0 Tasks (part of the Task Parallel Library). You need to decide if you want to load all of the data into a new collection and invoke an update onto the GUI thread all at once or if you want to load the items in batches and invoke those batches onto the GUI in several rounds

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