ADXOlForm with await/async

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ADXOlForm with await/async
 
nwein




Posts: 577
Joined: 2011-03-28
I've been struggling with this for a while now. I'm trying to run some async operations on my ADXOlForm task pane and change some controls once the the async operation finishes but I keep getting a Cross-thread operation not valid error. Now, usually I know the reason behind it, but in this case it shouldn't happen.
Consider the following code in a task pane with a single button on it:
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
	DoSomething();
}

private async void DoSomething()
{
	bool result = await AnAwaitableMethod();
	button1.Text = DateTime.Now.ToString("T");
}

private async Task<bool> AnAwaitableMethod()
{
	await Task.Run(() =>
	{
		for (int i = 1; i < 5; i++)
		{
			Thread.Sleep(1000);
		}
	});
	return true;
}


In a regular winform this code would work just fine. The thread will switch when doing the awaitableMethod but will get back to the main thread after the
bool result = await AnAwaitableMethod();
line.
In ADXOLForm that's not the case.
I can't even try to switch the thread context manually if I want.
Any help?

ADX 7.74087, Outlook 2010 32-bit, VS 2013 .NET 4.5.2
Posted 24 Aug, 2015 10:22:32 Top
Dmitry Kostochko


Add-in Express team


Posts: 2887
Joined: 2004-04-05
Hello Nir,

I would suggest using the SendMessage/OnSendMessage approach. Please have a look at the following article by Pieter, he used this approach with async methods successfully:
https://www.add-in-express.com/creating-addins-blog/2015/07/13/office-365-api-querying-exchange/#creating-custom-ribbon-tab
Posted 24 Aug, 2015 10:53:29 Top
nwein




Posts: 577
Joined: 2011-03-28
Thanks Dmitry, I'm familiar with the SendMessage approach and would probably use it, but i'm still intrigued as to why would that still be necessary in an ADXOlForm; this is not using the Outlook object module or even anything COM-related. I can see somewhat understand it if I was trying to manipulate my Outlook objects or anything of that sort, but that's not the case here.
Posted 24 Aug, 2015 11:11:35 Top
Dmitry Kostochko


Add-in Express team


Posts: 2887
Joined: 2004-04-05
Hello Nir,

Switching between thread contexts works fine in pure .NET applications. COM add-ins are located in a Win32 application (Outlook, Excel, etc.) and, as you can see, the code cannot get back to the main thread after executing an async method.
Posted 24 Aug, 2015 11:54:53 Top