I have a windows form application that uses a Shared class to house all of the common objects for the application. The settings class has a collection of objects that do things periodically, and then there's something of interest, they need to alert the main form and have it update.
I'm currently doing this through Events on the objects, and when each object is created, I add an EventHandler to maps the event back to the form. However, I'm running into some trouble that suggests that these requests aren't always ending up on the main copy of my form. For example, my form has a notification tray icon, but when the form captures and event and attempts to display a bubble, no bubble appears. However, if I modify that code to make the icon visible (though it already is), and then display the bubble, a second icon appears and displays the bubble properly.
Has anybody run into this before? Is there a way that I can force all of my events to be captured by the single instance of the form, or is there a completely different way to handle this? I can post code samples if necessary, but I'm thinking it's a common threading problem.
MORE INFORMATION: I'm currently using Me.InvokeRequired in the event handler on my form, and it always returns FALSE in this case. Also, the second tray icon created when I make it visible from this form doesn't have a context menu on it, whereas the "real" icon does - does that clue anybody in?
I'm going to pull my hair out! This can't be that hard!
SOLUTION: Thanks to nobugz for the clue, and it lead me to the code I'm now using (which works beautifully, though I can't help thinking there's a better way to do this). I added a private boolean variable to the form called "IsPrimary", and added the following code to the form constructor:
Public Sub New()
If My.Application.OpenForms(0).Equals(Me) Then
Me.IsFirstForm = True
End If
End Sub
Once this variable is set and the constructor finishes, it heads right to the event handler, and I deal with it this way (CAVEAT: Since the form I'm looking for is the primary form for the application, My.Application.OpenForms(0) gets what I need. If I was looking for the first instance of a non-startup form, I'd have to iterate through until I found it):
Public Sub EventHandler()
If Not IsFirstForm Then
Dim f As Form1 = My.Application.OpenForms(0)
f.EventHandler()
Me.Close()
ElseIf InvokeRequired Then
Me.Invoke(New HandlerDelegate(AddressOf EventHandler))
Else
' Do your event handling code '
End If
End Sub
First, it checks to see if it's running on the correct form - if it's not, then call the right form. Then it checks to see if the thread is correct, and calls the UI thread if it's not. Then it runs the event code. I don't like that it's potentially three calls, but I can't think of another way to do it. It seems to work well, though it's a little cumbersome. If anybody has a better way to do it, I'd love to hear it!
Again, thanks for all the help - this was going to drive me nuts!