Question

I have code that does a web-service request.
While doing this request I need a progress-bar to be moving independently.

My problem is that I just need to say run a progress update every 1 or 2 seconds and check to see if progress of the request has been completed.

NetBasisServicesSoapClient client = new NetBasisServicesSoapClient();
            TransactionDetails[] transactions = new TransactionDetails[dataGridView1.Rows.Count - 1];
            for (int i = 0; i < dataGridView1.Rows.Count - 1; i++)
            {
                transactions[i] = new TransactionDetails();
                transactions[i].TransactionDate = (string)dataGridView1.Rows[i].Cells[2].Value;
                transactions[i].TransactionType = (string)dataGridView1.Rows[i].Cells[3].Value;
                transactions[i].Shares = (string)dataGridView1.Rows[i].Cells[4].Value;
                transactions[i].Pershare = (string)dataGridView1.Rows[i].Cells[5].Value;
                transactions[i].TotalAmount = (string)dataGridView1.Rows[i].Cells[6].Value;
            }
            CostbasisResult result = client.Costbasis(dataGridView1.Rows[0].Cells[0].Value.ToString(), dataGridView1.Rows[0].Cells[1].Value.ToString(), transactions, false, "", "", "FIFO", true);
            string result1 = ConvertStringArrayToString(result.Details);

Answer 1

I use Background Workers all the time, they are great for processing long time actions.

from your code

#region Background Work of My Request

    private void ProcessMyRequest()
    {            
        if (!bkgWorkerMyRequest.IsBusy)
        {
            lblMessageToUser.Text = "Processing Request...";
            btnProcessRequest.Enabled = false;
            bkgWorkerMyRequest.RunWorkerAsync();
        }
    }
    private void bkgWorkerMyRequest_DoWork(object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)
    {
        // let's process what we need in a diferrent thread than the UI thread
        string r = GetStuffDone();
        e.Result = r;
    }
    private void bkgWorkerMyRequest_RunWorkerCompleted(object sender, RunWorkerCompletedEventArgs e)
    {
        string myResult = (String)e.Result;    

        lblMessageToUser.Text = myResult;
        btnProcessRequest.Enabled = true;
    }

#endregion

    private function string GetStuffDone() 
    {
        NetBasisServicesSoapClient client = new NetBasisServicesSoapClient();
        TransactionDetails[] transactions = new TransactionDetails[dataGridView1.Rows.Count - 1];
        for (int i = 0; i < dataGridView1.Rows.Count - 1; i++)
        {
            transactions[i] = new TransactionDetails();
            transactions[i].TransactionDate = (string)dataGridView1.Rows[i].Cells[2].Value;
            transactions[i].TransactionType = (string)dataGridView1.Rows[i].Cells[3].Value;
            transactions[i].Shares = (string)dataGridView1.Rows[i].Cells[4].Value;
            transactions[i].Pershare = (string)dataGridView1.Rows[i].Cells[5].Value;
            transactions[i].TotalAmount = (string)dataGridView1.Rows[i].Cells[6].Value;
        }
        CostbasisResult result = client.Costbasis(dataGridView1.Rows[0].Cells[0].Value.ToString(), dataGridView1.Rows[0].Cells[1].Value.ToString(), transactions, false, "", "", "FIFO", true);
        return ConvertStringArrayToString(result.Details);
    }

all you need to do is call the method:

ProcessMyRequest();

and it will do the job. If you need to let the main Thread to be aware of progress, you can use the ProgressChanged event

private void bkgWorkerMyRequest_ProgressChanged(
    object sender, ProgressChangedEventArgs e)
{
    progressBar1.Value = e.ProgressPercentage;
}

in the bkgWorkerMyRequest_DoWork method you need to change the code to have

//reports a percentage between 0 and 100
bkgWorkerMyRequest.ReportProgress(i * 10); 

Remember:

alt text http://www.balexandre.com/temp/2010-04-07_1200.png

You will, however get stuck when trying to Debug the method GetStuffDone as it’s that kinda hard debugging multi threaded applications

So, what I do is, debug everything without workers and then apply the workers.

Works fine for me, let me know if you need any more help on this.

---

added

I didn’t aware that you were getting the Grid in the worker, sorry, for this, just send the grid as a argument and use it, please change:

bkgWorkerMyRequest.RunWorkerAsync(dataGridView1);

string r = GetStuffDone((GridView)e.Argument);

private function string GetStuffDone(GridView dataGridView1)