c# - DoWork of BackgroundWorker is called twice when RunWorkerAsync is called once?

Question

I have create a backgroundworker in an class it works, but if i call and wait until the end run, call it for the second time it will do the same process twice

i thinks there is somthing wrong with bw.DoWork +=

private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    nptest.test.start("null", "null");    
}


namespace nptest
{
    class test
    {
        public static void start(string str, string strb)
        {
            if (bw.IsBusy != true)
            {
                bw.WorkerSupportsCancellation = true;
                bw.DoWork += (obj, e) => bw_DoWork(str, strb);
                bw.RunWorkerCompleted += new RunWorkerCompletedEventHandler(bw_RunWorkerCompleted);
                bw.RunWorkerAsync();
            }
        }
        private static BackgroundWorker bw = new BackgroundWorker();
        private static void bw_DoWork(string str, string strb)
        {
            System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show("initializing BackgroundWorker");
        }
        private static void bw_RunWorkerCompleted(object sender, RunWorkerCompletedEventArgs e)
        {
            if ((e.Cancelled == true))
            {
                Console.WriteLine("Canceled");
            }
            else if (!(e.Error == null))
            {
                Console.WriteLine("Error: " + e.Error.Message);
            }
            bw.Dispose();

        }
    }
}

problem solved

  class test
    {
        private static List<object> arguments = new List<object>();

        // initializing with program startup
        public static void bwinitializing()
        {
            bw.WorkerSupportsCancellation = true;
            bw.DoWork += new DoWorkEventHandler(bw_DoWork);
            bw.RunWorkerCompleted += new RunWorkerCompletedEventHandler(bw_RunWorkerCompleted);
        }

        public static void start(string str, string strb)
        {
            if (bw.IsBusy != true)
            {
                arguments.Clear();
                arguments.Add(str);
                arguments.Add(strb);
                bw.RunWorkerAsync(arguments);
            }
        }
        private static BackgroundWorker bw = new BackgroundWorker();
        private static void bw_DoWork(object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)
        {
            List<object> genericlist = e.Argument as List<object>;
            System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show("BackgroundWorker " + genericlist[0]);

        }

Answer 1

I would suspect that multiple DoWork events are being inadvertently added.

That is, every time the start method is called it registers a new DoWork event handler. This adds and does not replace the existing handler DoWork handler. So then there will be multiple DoWork handlers called subsequent times .. 1, 2, 3, etc.

// creates a NEW delegate and adds a NEW handler
bw.DoWork += (obj, e) => bw_DoWork(str, strb);

I would recommend not using a closure here, but rather just use a Method Group (with implicit conversion to a delegate) and then pass the data to the RunWorkerAsync call (there is a form that takes an argument for data).

The RunWorkerCompleted += line doesn't have this issue because it is passed a delegate from a Method Group (which is guaranteed to always evaluate to the same delegate object¹). Thus the repeated += calls for that line will replace the handler.

---

Example:

class MyData {
   public string StrA { get; set; }
}

// These only need to be setup once (and should be for clarity).
// However it will be "ok" now if they are called multiple times
// as, since the delegates are the same, the += will
// act as a replacement (as it replaces the previous delegate with itself).
bw.WorkerSupportsCancellation = true;
bw.DoWork += bw_DoWork;
bw.RunWorkerCompleted += bw_RunWorkerCompleted;

// Pass data via argument
bw.RunWorkerAsync(new MyData {
    StrA = str,
});

void bw_DoWork (object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e) {
    var data = (MyData)e.Argument;
    var str = data.StrA;
    // stuff
}

---

¹ I am not sure if it is guaranteed to be reference-equals equality, but using this approach allows for stable invoking of += and -= from the delegate from the Method Group even if obtained by new DelegateType(MethodGroup).

Wrt. my comment in the main post: if UI elements are accessed from a thread on which they were not created then there will fun "Cross-thread operation exceptions". I believe this usage of a Message Box is "okay" (when not created with an owner from another thread), but the practice of accessing the UI in a BackgroundWorker's DoWork is generally dubious.

---

Also, do not call bw.Dispose() here; dispose it with the owning container or context. It appears to be nice and benign in this case, but only do it when that BGW instance will never be used again. Calling it from an event handler is also dubious as the BGW is still "active".