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Background Worker for WaitingBar Control in C#.NET

KetticWaitingBar control is a .NET component that shows a running operation. However, when we execute a long running operation on the same thread, the primary UI thread, as the waiting animation, the KetticWaitingBar will freeze and will not move the indicator. As a result, we cannot update the user interface to the form and cannot perform the waiting animation. To solve this issue, we should add a new UI thread to start the time consuming operation. In the C# tutorial below, we will use the Background Worker to achieve this.

BackgroundWorker for Waiting Bar Animation in C#.NET

The following Windows application uses the BackgroundWorker to create waiting bar animation. The C# code sample below provides the detailed description.

First, load the Windows Form and initialize the BackgroundWorker instance, and then subscribe to the events, DoWork() and RunWorkerCompleted(). The C# code snippet below shows how to achieve this.


private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    myBackgroundWorker = new BackgroundWorker();
    myBackgroundWorker.WorkerReportsProgress = true;
    myBackgroundWorker.WorkerSupportsCancellation = true;
    myBackgroundWorker.DoWork += new DoWorkEventHandler(myBackgroundWorker1_DoWork);
    myBackgroundWorker.RunWorkerCompleted += new RunWorkerCompletedEventHandler(myBackgroundWorker1_RunWorkerCompleted);
}

Second, when clicking the Start KetticButton, we should use the RunWorkerAsync() method to run the BackgroundWorker and use the StartWaiting() method to start the KetticWaitingBar waiting animation. The C# code snippet below can achieve this.


private void ketticButton1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    if (!myBackgroundWorker.IsBusy)
    {
        myBackgroundWorker.RunWorkerAsync(ketticSpinEditor1.Value);
        this.ketticButton1.Enabled = false;
        this.ketticButton2.Enabled = true;
        this.ketticWaitingBar1.StartWaiting();
        begin = DateTime.Now;
        this.ketticLabel1.Text = "Calculations in process...";
    }
}

Third, we shall execute the time consuming operation in the DoWork event handler to calculate the number with the C# code below
Forth, after the long running operation has completed, we shall use the StopWaiting() method to terminate the waiting animation of the control and show the result

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