Multithreading in Windows Forms Controls

In many applications, you can make your user interface (UI) more responsive by performing time-consuming operations on another thread. A number of tools are available for multithreading your Windows Forms controls, including the System.Threading namespace, the System.Windows.Forms.Control.BeginInvoke(System.Delegate) method, and the BackgroundWorker component.

Note
The BackgroundWorker component replaces and adds functionality to the System.Threading namespace and the System.Windows.Forms.Control.BeginInvoke(System.Delegate) method; however, these are retained for both backward compatibility and future use, if you choose. For more information, see BackgroundWorker Component Overview.

In This Section

• How to: Make Thread-Safe Calls to Windows Forms Controls
  Shows how to make thread-safe calls to Windows Forms controls.

• How to: Use a Background Thread to Search for Files
  Shows how to use the System.Threading namespace and the BeginInvoke method to search for files asynchronously.

Reference

• BackgroundWorker
  Documents a component that encapsulates a worker thread for asynchronous operations.

• LoadAsync
  Documents how to load a sound asynchronously.

• LoadAsync
  Documents how to load an image asynchronously.

Related Sections

• How to: Run an Operation in the Background
  Shows how to perform a time-consuming operation with the BackgroundWorker component.

• BackgroundWorker Component Overview
  Provides topics that describe how to use the BackgroundWorker component for asynchronous operations.