Question

Suppose you have a search textbox and have a search algorithm attached to the TextChanged event, that runs with a BackgroundWorker. If there comes a new character in the textbox, i need to cancel the previous search and run it again.

I tried using events in between the main thread and the bgw, from this previous question, but I still get the error “currently busy and cannot run multiple tasks concurrently”

    BackgroundWorker bgw_Search = new BackgroundWorker();
    bgw_Search.DoWork += new DoWorkEventHandler(bgw_Search_DoWork);

    private AutoResetEvent _resetEvent = new AutoResetEvent(false);

    private void txtSearch_TextChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        SearchWithBgw();
    }

    private void SearchWithBgw()
    {
        // cancel previous search
        if (bgw_Search.IsBusy)
        {
            bgw_Search.CancelAsync();

            // wait for the bgw to finish, so it can be reused.
            _resetEvent.WaitOne(); // will block until _resetEvent.Set() call made
        }

        // start new search
        bgw_Search.RunWorkerAsync();   // error "cannot run multiple tasks concurrently"
    }

    void bgw_Search_DoWork(object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)
    {
        Search(txtSearch.Text, e);
    }

    private void Search(string aQuery, DoWorkEventArgs e)
    {
        int i = 1;            
        while (i < 3)             // simulating search processing...
        {
            Thread.Sleep(1000);                           
            i++;

            if (bgw_Search.CancellationPending)
            {
                _resetEvent.Set(); // signal that worker is done
                e.Cancel = true;
                return;
            }
        }
    }

EDIT To reflect answers. Don´t reuse the BackgroundWorker, create a new one:

    private void SearchWithBgw()
    {   
        if (bgw_Search.IsBusy)
        {
            bgw_Search.CancelAsync();
            _resetEvent.WaitOne(); // will block until _resetEvent.Set() call made

            bgw_Search = new BackgroundWorker();
            bgw_Search.WorkerSupportsCancellation = true;
            bgw_Search.DoWork += new DoWorkEventHandler(bgw_Search_DoWork);
        }

        bgw_Search.RunWorkerAsync();        
    }

Answer 1

When the _resetEvent.WaitOne() call completes, the worker thread isn’t actually done. It is busy returning from DoWork() and waiting for an opportunity to run the RunWorkerCompleted event, if any. That takes time.

There is no reliable way to ensure the BGW is completed in a synchronous way. Blocking on IsBusy or waiting for the RunWorkerCompleted event to run is going to cause deadlock. If you really want to use only one bgw then you’ll have to queue the requests. Or just don’t sweat the small stuff and allocate another bgw. They cost very little.