Question

I am sorry if it seems like I am posting the same question. The problem is similar but I find out more and more about the problem each time. So thanks in advance for all the help. Its much appreciated. 😀

I want to show a form/dialog given a certain condition while inside of a loop. My problem is I have created this segment of code in my program and when I meet my condition and Show my form it doesn’t display properly. I have narrowed the problem down to the loop as it works fine else where in the program. But whenever I try to call the .Show method on my form before the loop starts or inside the loop it doesn’t display properly. Specifically my form/dialog only has a single Label on it at the moment. Here is what happens when I call the .Show method on my form/dialog:

• Unable to interact (IE move it around or close it with the ‘X’) with the form/dialog – The mouse icon shows that it is thinking/working if you hover of the form/dialog.
• The background doesn’t load – The border and title bar/header do load for the dialog but the background doesn’t. In fact it isn’t there to start so you can see through the form/dialog. If you click anywhere the background then goes to black.
• The Label doesn’t load – This probably is related to the background but you can’t see the label or an outline/shading of where it ought to be.

Here is my segment of code:

    private void ConnectSequence(object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)
    {
        EstablishingConnection ourECF = new EstablishingConnection();

        // Loop till connected
        while (!this.ourCC.Connected)
        {
            this.ourCC.InitializeConnection();

            // If we didn't connect and ourECF isn't already shown then show it
            if (!this.ourCC.Connected && false == ourECF.Visible)
            {
                ourECF.Show();
            }
        }

        ourECF.Dispose();
    }

Here is what I am trying to do:

• Loop until a connection is made
• If after the first attempt to connect is a failure display a form/dialog that alerts the user that attempts to establish a connection are being made

The code it self works great. If I turn the server off and run the client application it pops up the form/dialog that doesn’t work properly. When I turn the server back on it gets out of the loop and disposes of the form/dialog. Currently I have a BackgroundWorker calling ConnectSequence as I thought this would solve my problem.

What I have tried so far:

• Use of threads (System.Threads & BackgroundWorker)
• Turning its .Visible property to true (.Show does this but gave it a whirl)
• Instantiated ourECF and called it in as many different places as I could find to see if I could find a work around.

But in the end it doesn’t work because of this loop. And I have no idea why. Any help would be much appreciated. I am so grateful for all your help. 😀

Answer 1

If you already used a BackgroundWorker, what didn’t work with it??

        backgroundWorker.WorkerReportsProgress = true;

        backgroundWorker.DoWork += (newSender, newE) =>
        {
            while (!this.ourCC.Connected)
            {
                this.ourCC.InitializeConnection();

                if (!this.ourCC.Connected)
                {
                    backgroundWorker.ReportProgress(0, true);
                }
            }
        };

        backgroundWorker.ProgressChanged += (newSender, newE) =>
        {
            if (!ourECF.Visible)
            {
                ourECF.Show();
            }
        };

        backgroundWorker.RunWorkerCompleted += (newSender, newE) =>
        {
            ourECF.Dispose();
        };

        backgroundWorker.RunWorkerAsync();