Question

So I have a folder with several files. I have a loop that will go through each file and add it to a thread to process in the background so the UI is responsive. The problem is I want to only have one thread running at a given time. So basically I want to “queue” the threads and when one completes fire off the next one. What would be the best way to do this? Here is the code I am using. I am wondering if a timer is the best solution? Thanks everyone.

foreach (CustomerFile f in CF)
{
    btnGo.Enabled = false;
    UpdateProgressDelegate showProgress = new UpdateProgressDelegate(UpdateProgress);
    ProcessFile pf = new ProcessFile(this, showProgress, f._FileName, txtDestFolder.Text);
    Thread t = new Thread(new ThreadStart(pf.DoWork));
    t.IsBackground = true; 
    t.Start();
}

Answer 1

How about add the files to a queue and process the queue on a another thread?

Queue<CustomerFile> files = new Queue<CustomerFile>()
foreach (CustomerFile f in CF)
  files.Enqueue(f);

BackgroundWorker bwk = new BackgroundWorker();
bwk.DoWork+=()=>{
    //Process the queue here
    // if you update the UI don't forget to call that on the UI thread
};

bwk.RunWorkerAsync();