WPF Dispatcher.Invoke 'hanging'

Question

I have a somewhat complex WPF application which seems to be 'hanging' or getting stuck in a Wait call when trying to use the dispatcher to invoke a call on the UI thread.

The general process is:

1. Handle the click event on a button
2. Create a new thread (STA) which: creates a new instance of the presenter and UI, then calls the method Disconnect
3. Disconnect then sets a property on the UI called Name
4. The setter for Name then uses the following code to set the property:

    if(this.Dispatcher.Thread != Thread.CurrentThread)
    {
        this.Dispatcher.Invoke(DispatcherPriority.Normal, (ThreadStart)delegate{
            this.Name = value; // Call same setter, but on the UI thread
        });
        return;
    }

    SetValue(nameProperty, value); // I have also tried a member variable and setting the textbox.text property directly.

My problem is that when the dispatcher invoke method is called it seems to hang every single time, and the callstack indicates that its in a sleep, wait or join within the Invoke implementation.

So, is there something I am doing wrong which I am missing, obvious or not, or is there a better way of calling across to the UI thread to set this property (and others)?

Edit: The solution was to call System.Windows.Threading.Dispatcher.Run() at the end of the thread delegate (e.g. where the work was being performed) - Thanks to all who helped.

Answer 1

Invoke is synchronous - you want Dispatcher.BeginInvoke. Also, I believe your code sample should move the "SetValue" inside an "else" statement.

Answer 2

This sounds like a deadlock; this would typically happen if the thread calling .Invoke already held a lock / mutex / etc which the UI thread needs to complete it's work. The simplest approach would be to use BeginInvoke instead: that way, the current thread can keep running, and will (presumably) release the lock shortly - allowing the UI to aquire it. Alternatively, if you can identify the offending lock, you could deliberately release it for a duration.

Answer 3

You say you are creating a new STA thread, is the dispatcher on this new thread running?

I'm getting from "this.Dispatcher.Thread != Thread.CurrentThread" that you expect it to be a different dispatcher. Make sure that its running otherwise it wont process its queue.