System.Windows.Threading.Dispatcher and WinForms?

Question

Does a System.Windows.Threading.Dispatcher work on the UI-thread of a WinForms application?

If yes, why? It is coming from WindowsBase.dll which seems to be a WPF component.

If not, how can I invoke work units back onto the UI-thread? I've found Control.BeginInvoke(), but it seems clumsy to create a control only to reference the originating thread.

Answer 1

Dispatcher is a WPF component, not a WinForms component.

If you want to dispatch work items on the UI thread, then you would have to either use Control.BeginInvoke as you've already found, or react to ResetEvents/WaitObjects across threads.

Usually invoking work items on the UI thread is a bad thing unless it's a UI piece of work (ie. updating a control's content or something) in which case the Control.BeginInvoke() would be sufficient.

Answer 2

Use background worker thread as it's UI message pump aware, This MSDN Article though mostly about WPF does state that the BWT is UI aware even for windows forms.

Answer 3

However, you can use Dispatcher even in WinForms App:

If you are sure to be in UI thread (eg. in an button.Click handler), Dispatcher.CurrentDispatcher gives you the UI thread dispatcher that you can use to dispatch from background thread to UI thread as usual.

Answer 4

Take a look at backgrounder and see if it fits your needs.