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Asked: 2026-05-11T11:51:11+00:00

I currently have a thread that listens for data from the network and then

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I currently have a thread that listens for data from the network and then runs rules on it. I then want to pass the data to the GUI. I am worried about having a deadlock in the GUI. I cant figure out were to put the mutexes on the GUI side. I am also using c# and dotnet 3.5.

What I have come up with is 1) Using a timer to create an event and dump the thread. Worried about performance. 2) Use an intermediary event to copy the data to GUI. 3) Dig in and figure out thread safe way of using GUI.

What do you think is best way to proceed?

Edit: Here is the solution I am using. I pass in the changed element and then protect the big object with a mutex. I use helper function to switch threads using InvokeRequired then BeginInvoke with a delegate. Pulled from reading the answers and then following links until reaching Threading in Windows Forms by Jon Skeet. 

  delegate void UInt32ParameterDelegate(UInt32 n);    public void UpdateLocation(UInt32 n)   {      if (InvokeRequired)      {         // We're not in the UI thread, so we need to call BeginInvoke         BeginInvoke(new UInt32ParameterDelegate(UpdateLocation), new object[] { n });         return;      }      // Must be on the UI thread if we've got this far       this.engine.location.UpdateBusy.WaitOne();      // do the work in here       this.engine.location.UpdateBusy.ReleaseMutex();    }
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1 Answer

  1. Synchronization is very easy in Windows Forms. You can call Control.Invoke() in the background thread. The thread will stall until the delegate has finished running on the UI thread. No sync required at all.

    If stalling the thread is a problem, use Control.BeginInvoke(). You’ll have to protect the object(s) you pass to the delegate with a lock if the thread might alter them while it continues running. That’s rarely the case in a producer-consumer scenario, the thread can simply create new objects.

    Do make sure that you don’t Invoke() too often. Do it more frequently than about 1000 times per second and the UI thread will stop pumping Windows messages, being bogged down by handling the invoke requests. Since it is human eyes you’re trying to please, invoking more than about 25 times per second is just wasted effort. Pool intermediate results in a collection object.

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