How to use WPF Background Worker

You may want to also look into using Task instead of background workers.

The easiest way to do this is in your example is Task.Run(InitializationThread);.

There are several benefits to using tasks instead of background workers. For example, the new async/await features in .net 4.5 use Task for threading. Here is some documentation about Task https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.threading.tasks.task


I found this (WPF Multithreading: Using the BackgroundWorker and Reporting the Progress to the UI. link) to contain the rest of the details which are missing from @Andrew's answer.

The one thing I found very useful was that the worker thread couldn't access the MainWindow's controls (in it's own method), however when using a delegate inside the main windows event handler it was possible.

worker.RunWorkerCompleted += delegate(object s, RunWorkerCompletedEventArgs args)
{
    pd.Close();
    // Get a result from the asynchronous worker
    T t = (t)args.Result
    this.ExampleControl.Text = t.BlaBla;
};

  1. Add using
using System.ComponentModel;
  1. Declare Background Worker:
private readonly BackgroundWorker worker = new BackgroundWorker();
  1. Subscribe to events:
worker.DoWork += worker_DoWork;
worker.RunWorkerCompleted += worker_RunWorkerCompleted;
  1. Implement two methods:
private void worker_DoWork(object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)
{
  // run all background tasks here
}

private void worker_RunWorkerCompleted(object sender, 
                                           RunWorkerCompletedEventArgs e)
{
  //update ui once worker complete his work
}
  1. Run worker async whenever your need.
worker.RunWorkerAsync();
  1. Track progress (optional, but often useful)

    a) subscribe to ProgressChanged event and use ReportProgress(Int32) in DoWork

    b) set worker.WorkerReportsProgress = true; (credits to @zagy)


using System;  
using System.ComponentModel;   
using System.Threading;    
namespace BackGroundWorkerExample  
{   
    class Program  
    {  
        private static BackgroundWorker backgroundWorker;  

        static void Main(string[] args)  
        {  
            backgroundWorker = new BackgroundWorker  
            {  
                WorkerReportsProgress = true,  
                WorkerSupportsCancellation = true  
            };  

            backgroundWorker.DoWork += backgroundWorker_DoWork;  
            //For the display of operation progress to UI.    
            backgroundWorker.ProgressChanged += backgroundWorker_ProgressChanged;  
            //After the completation of operation.    
            backgroundWorker.RunWorkerCompleted += backgroundWorker_RunWorkerCompleted;  
            backgroundWorker.RunWorkerAsync("Press Enter in the next 5 seconds to Cancel operation:");  

            Console.ReadLine();  

            if (backgroundWorker.IsBusy)  
            { 
                backgroundWorker.CancelAsync();  
                Console.ReadLine();  
            }  
        }  

        static void backgroundWorker_DoWork(object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)  
        {  
            for (int i = 0; i < 200; i++)  
            {  
                if (backgroundWorker.CancellationPending)  
                {  
                    e.Cancel = true;  
                    return;  
                }  

                backgroundWorker.ReportProgress(i);  
                Thread.Sleep(1000);  
                e.Result = 1000;  
            }  
        }  

        static void backgroundWorker_ProgressChanged(object sender, ProgressChangedEventArgs e)  
        {  
            Console.WriteLine("Completed" + e.ProgressPercentage + "%");  
        }  

        static void backgroundWorker_RunWorkerCompleted(object sender, RunWorkerCompletedEventArgs e)  
        {  

            if (e.Cancelled)  
            {  
                Console.WriteLine("Operation Cancelled");  
            }  
            else if (e.Error != null)  
            {  
                Console.WriteLine("Error in Process :" + e.Error);  
            }  
            else  
            {  
                Console.WriteLine("Operation Completed :" + e.Result);  
            }  
        }  
    }  
} 

Also, referr the below link you will understand the concepts of Background:

http://www.c-sharpcorner.com/UploadFile/1c8574/threads-in-wpf/