Can you link to a good example of using BackgroundWorker without placing it on a form as a component?

Question

I can remember that many years ago (in 2005) I was using BackgroundWorker in my code without using a visual component for it, but I can't remember how (unfortunately I am very forgetful and forget everything very soon after I stop using it). Perhaps I was extending BackgroundWorker class. Can you link to a good example of using BackgroundWorker this way?

Solution

This article explains everything you need clearly.

Here are the minimum steps in using BackgroundWorker:

1. Instantiate BackgroundWorker and handle the DoWork event.
2. Call RunWorkerAsync, optionally with an object argument.

This then sets it in motion. Any argument passed to RunWorkerAsync will be forwarded to DoWork’s event handler, via the event argument’s Argument property. Here’s an example:

class Program
{
  static BackgroundWorker _bw = new BackgroundWorker();

  static void Main()
  {
    _bw.DoWork += bw_DoWork;
    _bw.RunWorkerAsync ("Message to worker");
    Console.ReadLine();
  }

  static void bw_DoWork (object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)
  {
    // This is called on the worker thread
    Console.WriteLine (e.Argument);        // writes "Message to worker"
    // Perform time-consuming task...
  }
}

Comments

[JamesUsedHarden]

great link, but the answer is better with appropriate quotes and code.

[Gerhard]

Thanks! Nice and simple explanation. How can I pass two (or more) arguments to the worker?

[CharithJ]

@Gerhard: Wrap whatever properties you need to pass into a single object and pass to RunWorkerAsync