How to cancel BackgroundWorker in WPF without DoEvents - wpf

Question

I have a search box that works great in WinForms, but is giving me trouble in WPF.
It works by starting a search each time a letter is pushed, similar to Google.
If (txtQuickSearch.Text.Length >= 3) Or (e.Key = Key.Enter) Then
If SearchWorker.IsBusy Then
SearchWorker.CancelAsync()
Do While SearchWorker.IsBusy
'Application.DoEvents()
'System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(500)
Loop
End If
doSearchText = txtQuickSearch.Text
SearchWorker.RunWorkerAsync()
End If
Every time a key is pushed it cancels the current searchWorker then restarts it. In WinForms the Do while searchworker.isbusy doevents loop worked great, but since I don't have access to that anymore, I need to figure out a better way to do it. Sleep() deadlocks it, and I've tried just doing i+=1 as a way to pass time until it's not busy, but that doesn't work either...
What should I do?
Update: Here's what I changed it to. It works, but the cancel part doesn't seem to ever trigger, this doesn't seem to be running async...
Imports System.ComponentModel
Imports System.Collections.ObjectModel
Imports System.Threading
Imports System.Threading.Tasks
Public Class QuickSearch
Private doSearchText As String
Private canceled As Boolean
Private curSearch As String
Dim searchResults As New ObservableCollection(Of ocSearchResults)
'Task Factory
Private cts As CancellationTokenSource
Private searchtask As Task(Of ObservableCollection(Of ocSearchResults))
Private Sub txtQuickSearch_KeyDown(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Input.KeyEventArgs) Handles txtQuickSearch.KeyDown
If e.Key = Key.Enter Then
curSearch = ""
End If
If ((txtQuickSearch.Text.Length >= 3) Or (e.Key = Key.Enter)) And Not txtQuickSearch.Text = curSearch Then
If Not cts Is Nothing Then
cts.Cancel()
ColorChecker.CancelAsync()
Try
' searchtask.Wait()
Catch ex As AggregateException
MsgBox(ex.InnerException.Message)
End Try
cts = New CancellationTokenSource
Else
cts = New CancellationTokenSource
End If
Dim cToken = cts.Token
Me.Height = 400
doSearchText = txtQuickSearch.Text
'This always completes fully before continuing on to tRunWorkerComplete(searchtask.Result) '
searchtask = Task(Of ObservableCollection(Of ocSearchResults)).Factory.StartNew(Function() tPerformSearch(cToken), cToken)
Try
tRunWorkerCompleted(searchtask.Result)
Catch ex As AggregateException
' MsgBox(ex.InnerException.Message)
End Try
Else
If Not cts Is Nothing Then
cts.Cancel()
End If
searchResults.Clear()
End If
End Sub
Function tPerformSearch(ByVal ct As CancellationToken) As ObservableCollection(Of ocSearchResults)
On Error GoTo sError
canceled = False
If curSearch = doSearchText Then
canceled = True
Return Nothing
End If
curSearch = doSearchText
Dim SR As New ObservableCollection(Of ocSearchResults)
Dim t As ocSearchResults
Dim rSelect As New ADODB.Recordset
Dim sSql As String = "SELECT DISTINCT CustomerID, CustomerName, City, State, Zip FROM qrySearchFieldsQuick WHERE "
Dim sWhere As String = "CustomerName Like '" & doSearchText & "%'"
SR.Clear()
With rSelect
.Open(sSql & sWhere & " ORDER BY CustomerName", MyCn, ADODB.CursorTypeEnum.adOpenStatic, ADODB.LockTypeEnum.adLockReadOnly)
Do While Not .EOF
If ct.IsCancellationRequested Then ' This never shows true, the process always returns a value, as if it wasn't async'
canceled = True
Return Nothing
End If
Do While IsDBNull(.Fields("CustomerID").Value)
.MoveNext()
Loop
t = New ocSearchResults(.Fields!CustomerID.Value, .Fields!CustomerName.Value.ToString.Trim, .Fields!City.Value.ToString.Trim, .Fields!State.Value.ToString.Trim, .Fields!Zip.Value.ToString.Trim)
If Not SR.Contains(t) Then
SR.Add(t)
End If
aMoveNext:
.MoveNext()
Loop
.Close()
End With
Return SR
Exit Function
sError:
MsgBox(ErrorToString, MsgBoxStyle.Exclamation)
End Function
Sub tRunWorkerCompleted(ByVal SR As ObservableCollection(Of ocSearchResults))
If canceled Then
Exit Sub
End If
If cts.IsCancellationRequested Then
Exit Sub
End If
searchResults.Clear()
For Each t As ocSearchResults In SR
searchResults.Add(t)
Next
ColorChecker = New BackgroundWorker
ColorChecker.WorkerReportsProgress = True
ColorChecker.WorkerSupportsCancellation = True
ColorChecker.RunWorkerAsync(searchResults)
lblRecordCount.Text = "(" & searchResults.Count & ") Records"
progBar.Value = 100
Exit Sub
sError:
MsgBox(ErrorToString)
End Sub

Answer 1

I don't know enough VB to give you any well written sample code, but if you're on .Net 4.0 I suggest switching to the System.Threading.Tasks namespace, which has cancellation abilities.
If (txtQuickSearch.Text.Length >= 3) Or (e.Key = Key.Enter) Then
If TokenSource Is Not Nothing Then
TokenSource.Cancel()
TokenSource = New CancellationTokenSource()
End If
Task.Factory.StartNew(SomeSearchMethod, txtQuickSearch.Text, TokenSource.Token)
End If

Answer 2

I am not sure a BackgroundWorker is flexible enough to provide an elegant solution for this type of background processing anyway. I think what I would do is to create a single dedicated thread for doing the searching. This thread would use the producer-consumer pattern for accepting work items and processing them.
The following code is a rough sketch of how I see this strategy working. You would call the SearchAsync method to request a new search. That method accepts a callback that gets invoked when and if the search operation found something. Notice that the consumer code (in the Run method) cancels its current search operation if another search request is queued. The effect is that the consumer only ever processes the latest request.
Public Class Searcher
Private m_Queue As BlockingCollection(Of WorkItem) = New BlockingCollection(Of WorkItem)()
Public Sub New()
Dim t = New Thread(AddressOf Run)
t.IsBackground = True
t.Start()
End Sub
Public Sub SearchAsync(ByVal text As String, ByVal callback As Action)
Dim wi = New WorkItem()
wi.Text = text
wi.Callback = callback
m_Queue.Add(wi)
End Sub
Private Sub Run()
Do While True
Dim wi As WorkItem = m_Queue.Take()
Dim found As Boolean = False
Do While Not found AndAlso m_Queue.Count = 0
' Continue searching using your custom algorithm here.
Loop
If found Then
wi.Callback()
End If
Loop
End Sub
Private Class WorkItem
Public Text As String
Public Callback As Action
End Class
End Class
Here is where the elegance happens. Look at how you can implement the logic from the UI thread now.
If (txtQuickSearch.Text.Length >= 3) Or (e.Key = Key.Enter) Then
searcher.SearchAsync(txtQuickSearch.Text, AddressOf OnSearchComplete)
End If
Note that OnSearchComplete will be executed on the worker thread so you will need to call Dispatcher.Invoke from within the callback if you want to publish the results to a UI control.

Answer 3

You can simulate a DoEvents in WPF by doing (in C#):
Dispatcher.Invoke(DispatcherPriority.Background, new Action(() => {}));