Mobile Development: Easy to use background thread with GUI update

// this variable will hold some text set by the worker thread
public string Message = "";
 
// Create a worker thread and then add items to the ListBox from the
// UI thread
public void DoThreading()
{
    // Create the worker thread and start it
    ThreadStart starter = new ThreadStart(this.UpdateListBox);
    Thread t = new Thread(starter);
    t.Start();
 
    // Loop 4 times, adding a message to the ListBox each time
    for(int i = 0; i < 4; i++);
    {
        this.listBox1.Items.Add("Message from UI thread");
        this.listBox1.Update();
        // Process any queued events on the UI thread
        Application.DoEvents();
        // Suspend processing for 1 second
        Thread.Sleep(1000);
    }
    this.listBox1.Items.Add("Last message from UI thread");
    this.listBox1.Update();
}
 
public void UpdateListBox()
{
    for(int j = 0; j < 5; j++)
    {
        // Set the message to be added to the ListBox from the worker
        // thread
        this.Message = "Worker thread loop count = " + j.ToString();
        // Invoke the WorkerUpdate method in the ListBox’s thread
        // context
        this.listBox1.Invoke(new EventHandler(WorkerUpdate));
        Thread.Sleep(700);
    }
}
// The delegate that’s called from the worker thread
// to update the ListBox
public void WorkerUpdate(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    this.listBox1.Items.Add(this.Message);
    this.listBox1.Update();
}

delegate void setText(string sText);
...
private void ThreadProcSafe()
		{
			this.SetText("This text was set safely.");
		}
...
		private void SetText(string text)
		{
			// InvokeRequired required compares the thread ID of the
			// calling thread to the thread ID of the creating thread.
			// If these threads are different, it returns true.
			if (this.textBox1.InvokeRequired)
			{
				SetTextCallback d = new SetTextCallback(SetText);
				this.Invoke(d, new object[] { text });
			}
			else
			{
				this.textBox1.Text = text;
			}
		}

    public partial class ThreadTest2 : Form
    {
        private bgThread _bgThread;
...
        //start and link the thread
        private void btn_bgThreadTest_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            _bgThread = new bgThread("192.168.128.5");
            _bgThread.bgThreadEvent += new bgThread.bgThreadEventHandler(_bgThread_bgThreadEvent);
        }
 
        void _bgThread_bgThreadEvent(object sender, bgThread.BgThreadEventArgs bte)
        {
            listBox1.Items.Insert(0, "bgThread: " + bte.iStatus.ToString();
        }
...
        //in your exit function you MUST dispose existing threads
            if (_bgThread != null)
                _bgThread.Dispose();
            Application.Exit();
...

    public class bgThread : Component
    {
        public delegate void bgThreadEventHandler(object sender, BgThreadEventArgs bte);
        public event bgThreadEventHandler bgThreadEvent;
...
        internal BgThreadEventArgs _BGeventArgs;
        private Thread myThread;
...
        internal class bgThreadWndProc : MessageWindow
        {
            public bgThreadWndProc(bgThread Parent)
            {
                this._bgThread = Parent;
                hwndControl = Hwnd;
            }
            protected override void WndProc(ref Message m)
            {
                int iMsg = m.Msg;
                System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("WndProc called...");
                switch (iMsg)
                {
                    case msgID:
                        {
                            this._bgThread.NotifyData(m.WParam);
                            break;
                        }
                    default:
                        {
                            base.WndProc(ref m);
                            break;
                        }
                }
            }
        }//MsgWnd

        public bgThread()
        {
            bgWnd = new bgThreadWndProc(this);
            myThread = new Thread(myThreadStart);
            bRunThread = true;
            myThread.Start();
        }

       private void myThreadStart()
        {
            try
            {
                do
                {
                    //The blocking function...
                    //sample: call ping and return number of pings answered
                    int iReply = myPing.Ping(System.Net.IPAddress.Parse(_sIP));
                    //create a msg and send it to the messagewindow, the messagewindow will then inform the event subscribers
                    //we only need the number of ping replies (0 or 1) for the ping
                    Microsoft.WindowsCE.Forms.Message msg = Message.Create(bgWnd.Hwnd, msgID, new IntPtr(iReply), IntPtr.Zero);
                    MessageWindow.SendMessage(ref msg); //async Message send
                    Thread.Sleep(1000); //if you have fast 'blocking' functions you should sleep
                } while (bRunThread);
            }
            catch (ThreadAbortException)
            {
                System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("Thread will abort");
                bRunThread = false;
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("Exception in ThreadStart: " + ex.Message);
            }
            System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("ThreadProc ended");
        }

        private void NotifyData(IntPtr i1)
        {
            BgThreadEventArgs _bgThreadEventArgs;
            //is there any subscriber
            if (this.bgThreadEvent == null)
            {
                return;
            }
            try
            {
                int i = i1.ToInt32();
                _bgThreadEventArgs = new BgThreadEventArgs(i);
                this.bgThreadEvent(this, _bgThreadEventArgs);
            }
            catch (MissingMethodException)
            {
            }
        }