TwainDotNet Scanning using TWAIN with BackgroundWorker

Question

Has anyone tried TwainDotNet for scanning with TWAIN API calls from .NET? Though it works well usually I've some issues with it when used along with WPF application using MVVM. Basically I'm calling Twain scanning functions from a Service, which in turn uses a BackgroundWorker.

List<BitmapSource> bitmapSources = new List<BitmapSource>();
Twain twain = new Twain(new WpfWindowMessageHook(_window));
ScanSettings settings = new ScanSettings() { ShowTwainUI = false };
using (BackgroundWorker worker = new BackgroundWorker())
{
    worker.DoWork += (sndr, evnt) =>
    {
        AutoResetEvent waitHandle = new AutoResetEvent(false);
        EventHandler scanCompleteHandler = (se, ev) => { waitHandle.Set(); };
        twain.ScanningComplete += scanCompleteHandler;
        twain.StartScanning(settings);
        waitHandle.WaitOne();

        if (twain.Images.Count > 0)
        {
            foreach (var image in twain.Images)
            {
                BitmapSource bitmapSource = Imaging.CreateBitmapSourceFromHBitmap(new Bitmap(image).GetHbitmap(),
                    IntPtr.Zero, Int32Rect.Empty, System.Windows.Media.Imaging.BitmapSizeOptions.FromEmptyOptions());
                bitmapSources.Add(bitmapSource);
            }
        }
    };
    worker.RunWorkerCompleted += (sndr, evnt) => { image1.Source = bitmapSources[0]; };
    worker.RunWorkerAsync();
}

ScanningComplete event handler is never fired when we are working with a BackgroundWorker. Any suggestions to resolve this issue?

Answer 1

Have you tried removing the LINQ'ness from the code and put it into a separate function to actually test this out first, note that I have it wrapped up in a try/catch block to see if there's any error, also notice that I created a simple class WorkerArgs for passing the data around as it is non-LINQ code, it would be interesting to see what results there are (if any):

public class WorkerArgs{
   public List _bitmapSources;
   public Twain _twain;
   public ScanSettings _settings;
}
List bitmapSources = new List();
Twain twain = new Twain(new WpfWindowMessageHook(_window));
ScanSettings settings = new ScanSettings() { ShowTwainUI = false };
WorkerArgs wArgs = new WorkerArgs();
wArgs._bitmapSources = bitmapSources;
wArgs._twain = twain;
wArgs._settings = settings;
using (BackgroundWorker worker = new BackgroundWorker())
{
    worker.DoWork += new DoWorkEventHandler(worker_DoWork);
    worker.RunWorkerCompleted += new RunWorkerCompletedEventHandler(worker_RunWorkerCompleted);
    worker.RunWorkerAsync((WorkerArgs)wArgs);
}

void  worker_RunWorkerCompleted(object sender, RunWorkerCompletedEventArgs e)
{
   try{
    image1.Source = (WorkerArgs(e.Argument))._bitmapSources[0];
   }catch(Exception up){
     throw up; // :P
   }
}

void  worker_DoWork(object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)
{
   try{
     WorkerArgs thisArgs = (WorkerArgs)e.Argument as WorkerArgs;
     if (thisArgs != null){
        AutoResetEvent waitHandle = new AutoResetEvent(false);
        EventHandler scanCompleteHandler = (se, ev) => { waitHandle.Set(); };
        thisArgs._twain.ScanningComplete += scanCompleteHandler;
        thisArgs._twain.StartScanning(settings);
        waitHandle.WaitOne();

        if (thisArgs._twain.Images.Count > 0)
        {
            foreach (var image in twain.Images)
            {
                BitmapSource bitmapSource = Imaging.CreateBitmapSourceFromHBitmap(new Bitmap(image).GetHbitmap(),
                    IntPtr.Zero, Int32Rect.Empty, System.Windows.Media.Imaging.BitmapSizeOptions.FromEmptyOptions());
                thisArgs._bitmapSources.Add(bitmapSource);
            }
        }
    }
   }catch(Exception up){
     throw up; // :P
   }
}

I couldn't help noticing, it's just after entering the code I noticed this: Twain twain = new Twain(new WpfWindowMessageHook(_window))

Are you doing hooking or something like that within the background worker - perhaps there's a cross thread problem hence ScanningComplete is not being fired? Just a thought, Can you clarify anyway?

Hope this helps, Best regards, Tom.