Background Information on UI Threading Models
Normally an application has one "main" UI thread...and it may have 0 or more background/worker/non-UI threads where you (or the .NET runtime/framework) does background work.
(...there's a another special thread in WPF called the rendering thread but I will skip that for now...)
For example, a simple WPF Application might have this list of threads:
![enter image description here]()
And a simple WinForms Application might have this list of threads:
![enter image description here]()
When you create an element it is tied (has affinity) to a particular Dispatcher & thread and can only be accessed safely from the thread associated with the Dispatcher.
If you try and access properties or methods of an object from a different thread, you will usually get an exception e.g. in WPF:
![enter image description here]()
In WindowsForms:
![enter image description here]()
Any modifications to the UI need to be performed on the same thread on which a UI element was created...so background threads use Invoke/BeginInvoke to get that work run on the UI thread.
Demo to Demonstrate Issues with Element Creation on non-UI Thread
<Window x:Class="WpfApplication9.MainWindow"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
Title="MainWindow" Height="350" Width="525" Loaded="Window_Loaded">
<StackPanel x:Name="mystackpanel">
</StackPanel>
</Window>
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Controls;
using System.Windows.Data;
using System.Windows.Documents;
using System.Windows.Input;
using System.Windows.Media;
using System.Windows.Media.Imaging;
using System.Windows.Navigation;
using System.Windows.Shapes;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Threading;
using System.Windows.Threading;
namespace WpfApplication9
{
/// <summary>
/// Interaction logic for MainWindow.xaml
/// </summary>
public partial class MainWindow : Window
{
Thread m_thread1;
Thread m_thread2;
Thread m_thread3;
Thread m_thread4;
public MainWindow()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
private void Window_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
CreateAndAddElementInDifferentWays();
}
void CreateAndAddElementInDifferentWays()
{
string text = "created in ui thread, added in ui thread [Main STA]";
System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine(text);
CreateAndAddTextChild(text);
// Do NOT use any Joins with any of these threads, otherwise you will get a
// deadlock on any "Invoke" call you do.
// To better observe and focus on the behaviour when creating and
// adding an element from differently configured threads, I suggest
// you pick "one" of these and do a recompile/run.
ParameterizedThreadStart paramthreadstart1 = new ParameterizedThreadStart(this.WorkCreatedOnThreadAddedOnThread);
m_thread1 = new Thread(paramthreadstart1);
m_thread1.SetApartmentState(ApartmentState.STA);
m_thread1.Start("[STA]");
//ParameterizedThreadStart paramthreadstart2 = new ParameterizedThreadStart(this.WorkCreatedOnThreadAddedOnUIThread);
//m_thread2 = new Thread(paramthreadstart2);
//m_thread2.SetApartmentState(ApartmentState.STA);
//m_thread2.Start("[STA]");
//ParameterizedThreadStart paramthreadstart3 = new ParameterizedThreadStart(this.WorkCreatedOnThreadAddedOnThread);
//m_thread3 = new Thread(paramthreadstart3);
//m_thread3.SetApartmentState(ApartmentState.MTA);
//m_thread3.Start("[MTA]");
//ParameterizedThreadStart paramthreadstart4 = new ParameterizedThreadStart(this.WorkCreatedOnThreadAddedOnUIThread);
//m_thread4 = new Thread(paramthreadstart4);
//m_thread4.SetApartmentState(ApartmentState.MTA);
//m_thread4.Start("[MTA]");
}
//----------------------------------------------------------------------
void WorkCreatedOnThreadAddedOnThread(object parameter)
{
string threadingmodel = parameter as string;
string text = "created in worker thread, added in background thread, " + threadingmodel;
System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine(text);
CreateAndAddTextChild(text);
}
void WorkCreatedOnThreadAddedOnUIThread(object parameter)
{
string threadingmodel = parameter as string;
string text = "created in worker thread, added in ui thread via invoke" + threadingmodel;
System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine(text);
TextBlock tb = CreateTextBlock(text);
if (tb != null)
{
// You can alternatively use .Invoke if you like!
DispatcherOperation dispop = Dispatcher.BeginInvoke(new Action(() =>
{
// Get this work done on the main UI thread.
AddTextBlock(tb);
}));
if (dispop.Status != DispatcherOperationStatus.Completed)
{
dispop.Wait();
}
}
}
//----------------------------------------------------------------------
public TextBlock CreateTextBlock(string text)
{
System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("[CreateTextBlock]");
try
{
TextBlock tb = new TextBlock();
tb.Text = text;
return tb;
}
catch (InvalidOperationException ex)
{
// will always exception, using this to highlight issue.
System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine(ex.Message);
}
return null;
}
public void AddTextBlock(TextBlock tb)
{
System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("[AddTextBlock]");
try
{
mystackpanel.Children.Add(tb);
}
catch (InvalidOperationException ex)
{
System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine(ex.Message);
}
}
public void CreateAndAddTextChild(string text)
{
TextBlock tb = CreateTextBlock(text);
if (tb != null)
AddTextBlock(tb);
}
}
}
Secondary UI thread aka "Creating a top-level Window on another thread"
It's possible to create secondary UI-threads, so long as you mark the thread as using the STA apartment model, and create a Dispatcher (e.g. use Dispatcher.Current) and start a "run" loop (Dispatcher.Run()) so the Dispatcher can service messages for the UI elements created on that thread.
BUT an element created in one UI thread can't be put into the
logical/visual tree of another element which is created on a different
UI thread.
Workaround Technique for mixing elements created on different UI threads
There is a limited workaround technique, which may provide you with some ability to compose the rendering of an element created in one UI thread with the visual tree created in a different thread...by using HostVisual. See this example:
