How can I run a Winform within a console application?

Greetings,

I am writing an application that I want to be able to use through the console as well as through a form. My application is set up to start up a form if there are no arguments on the command line, and to run in a console window if any arguments exist.

My problem is that my form doesn't seem to be updating correctly since the application is set up as a console app. I remember reading about message pumping, but I didn't fully understand it.

Do I have to do manual message pumping to update my main form if the application is a console app If so, what's the recommended way to do this

Thanks!

Maybe I wasn't clear with my question. =)

I'm aware of the need to call Application.Run(myForm). However, when I'm running as a console application, the form does not seem to be updating properly. When I make the app a "Windows Application" (in the project properties) the form runs fine.

I have a feeling that this has to do with the automatic message pumping that takes place when your application is a Windows App, but I'm not 100% sure. I wanted to know if anyone has run into a similar issue, or have other people been able to run a WinForm (with workers in background threads) with no problems through a console app

There's one more form, which is an options form, but I pass it to the main form as an argument. I think I was running into some issues related to something else.

I'm going to fix a couple things in my app and try it in console mode, and I'll re-post if I continue to have issues.

Thanks!

How are you passing the options form to the main form something like this

If so, what are you doing in the MainForm constructor with the optionsForm argument Anything you do in there will be done before the message pump has started up...

Peter Ritchie wrote:

How are you passing the options form to the main form something like this Code Snippet OptionsForm optionsForm = new OptionsForm(); MainForm mainForm = new MainForm(optionsForm); Application.Run(mainForm); If so, what are you doing in the MainForm constructor with the optionsForm argument Anything you do in there will be done before the message pump has started up...

Maybe you can describe the update problems you're encountering.

Well, I was running into an issue where I needed to wait for worker threads in a Deployer class to finish before I exited my program, so I had my main thread sleep and wait for a Thread.Interrupt, but since I was using winforms, the main thread sleeping meant the UI was not updating. I thought this happened when I changed the application to run as a "console application," but I think I was mistaken.

I'll re-post again if I run into any more issues =)

Actually, I'm still running into the problem.

Here's the issue: in my main(), I check to see if there are any arguments. If there are no arguments, I instantiate the form and run it. So far, this is working with no problems.

If there ARE arguments, I instantiate another class to do some work as a console app. The problem is that the work will be done on worker threads which are different from the main application thread, so I need to make the man thread go to sleep while waiting for output from the worker threads. If the main thread does not sleep, it will exit, which will kill the worker threads.

I wanted to know the best way to do this. I had something like this in mind:

Thread mainThread = Thread.CurrentThread;

workerThread.RunWorkerCompleted += WorkDone;

// after worker threads are started

bool areWorkersRunning = true;

while (areWorkersRunning)

{

Try

{

curThread.Sleep(someArbitraryTime);

}

catch (ThreadInterruptedException)

{

areWorkersRunning = false;

// do cleanup and end the main program

}

}

void WorkDone(object sender, RunWorkerCompletedEventArgs e)

{

mainThread.Interrupt();

}

Is there a better way to get this done

Thanks

Adam Volker-Yoblick wrote:

Actually, I'm still running into the problem. Here's the issue: in my main(), I check to see if there are any arguments. If there are no arguments, I instantiate the form and run it. So far, this is working with no problems. If there ARE arguments, I instantiate another class to do some work as a console app. The problem is that the work will be done on worker threads which are different from the main application thread, so I need to make the man thread go to sleep while waiting for output from the worker threads. If the main thread does not sleep, it will exit, which will kill the worker threads. I wanted to know the best way to do this. I had something like this in mind: Thread mainThread = Thread.CurrentThread; workerThread.RunWorkerCompleted += WorkDone; // after worker threads are started bool areWorkersRunning = true; while (areWorkersRunning) { Try { curThread.Sleep(someArbitraryTime); } catch (ThreadInterruptedException) { areWorkersRunning = false; // do cleanup and end the main program } } void WorkDone(object sender, RunWorkerCompletedEventArgs e) { mainThread.Interrupt(); } Is there a better way to get this done

Something like: