Question

I am relatively new to C#/.Net. I’m developing a desktop application that requires multi threading. I came up with the following pattern below as a base. I was wondering if anyone could point out how to make it better in terms of coding, being thread safe, and being efficient.

Hopefully this makes some sense.

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public abstract class ThreadManagerBase {     // static class variables      private static ThreadManagerBase instance = null;     private static BackgroundWorker thread = null;     private static ProgressBarUIForm progress = null;      /// <summary>     /// Create a new instance of this class. The internals are left to the derived class to figure out.     /// Only one instance of this can run at any time. There should only be the main thread and this thread.     /// </summary>     public abstract static ThreadManagerBase NewInstance();      /// <summary>     /// Clears the instance.     /// </summary>     public static void ClearInstance()     {         instance = null;     }      /// <summary>     /// Initializes the background worker with some presets.     /// Displays progress bar.     /// </summary>     private abstract static void InitializeThread()     {         thread = new BackgroundWorker();          thread.WorkerReportsProgress = true;         thread.WorkerSupportsCancellation = true;          thread.DoWork += new DoWorkEventHandler(thread_DoWork);         thread.RunWorkerCompleted += new RunWorkerCompletedEventHandler(thread_RunWorkerCompleted);         thread.ProgressChanged += new ProgressChangedEventHandler(thread_ProgressChanged);          thread.RunWorkerAsync();          progress = new ProgressBarUIForm();          progress.EnableCancelButton = true;          progress.UserCanceled += new EventHandlerCancelClicked(progress_UserCanceled);          progress.ShowDialog();          thread.Dispose();          thread = null;     }      private static void progress_UserCanceled(bool userCanceled)     {         thread.CancelAsync();     }      private static void thread_ProgressChanged(object sender, ProgressChangedEventArgs e)     {         progress.SetProgressLevel = e.ProgressPercentage;         progress.SetProgressMessage = e.UserState.ToString();     }      private static void thread_RunWorkerCompleted(object sender, RunWorkerCompletedEventArgs e)     {         progress.Close();          progress = null;     }      private static void thread_DoWork(object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)     {         ProcessWork();     }      private abstract static void ProcessWork()     {         // do actuall stuff here.         // the derived classes will take care of the plumbing.     } } 

Answer 1

You don’t need a BackgroundWorker unless you want to be spoonfed, normal threads are perfectly acceptable, as long as you follow the rules.