Why isn't it possible to update an ObservableCollection from a different thread?

Posted by MainMa on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by MainMa
Published on 2010-06-05T14:04:09Z Indexed on 2010/06/05 14:12 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 192

Filed under:

c#

|

wpf

|

multithreading

|

observablecollection

In a multi-threaded WPF application, it is not possible to update an ObservableCollection from a thread other than WPF window thread.

I know there are workarounds, so my question is not how to avoid the "This type of CollectionView does not support changes to its SourceCollection from a thread different from the Dispatcher thread" exception.

My question is, why there is such an exception? Why wasn't it possible to allow collection updates from any thread?

Personally, I don't see any reason to block UI update when ObservableCollection is changed from other threads. If two threads (including parallel ones) are accessing the same object, one listening for changes of object properties through events, the other one doing changes, it will always work, at least if locks are used properly. So, what are the reasons?

© Stack Overflow or respective owner

Related posts about c#

.NET WebRequest.PreAuthenticate not quite what it sounds like

as seen on West-Wind - Search for 'West-Wind'
I’ve run into the problem a few times now: How to pre-authenticate .NET WebRequest calls doing an HTTP call to the server – essentially send authentication credentials on the very first request instead of waiting for a server challenge first? At first glance this sound like it should be easy:… >>> More
HttpWebRequest and Ignoring SSL Certificate Errors

as seen on West-Wind - Search for 'West-Wind'
Man I can't believe this. I'm still mucking around with OFX servers and it drives me absolutely crazy how some these servers are just so unbelievably misconfigured. I've recently hit three different 3 major brokerages which fail HTTP validation with bad or corrupt certificates at least according to… >>> More
The dynamic Type in C# Simplifies COM Member Access from Visual FoxPro

as seen on West-Wind - Search for 'West-Wind'
I’ve written quite a bit about Visual FoxPro interoperating with .NET in the past both for ASP.NET interacting with Visual FoxPro COM objects as well as Visual FoxPro calling into .NET code via COM Interop. COM Interop with Visual FoxPro has a number of problems but one of them at least got a lot… >>> More
Dynamic Type to do away with Reflection

as seen on West-Wind - Search for 'West-Wind'
The dynamic type in C# 4.0 is a welcome addition to the language. One thing I’ve been doing a lot with it is to remove explicit Reflection code that’s often necessary when you ‘dynamically’ need to walk and object hierarchy. In the past I’ve had a number of ReflectionUtils that used string based expressions… >>> More
Finding a Relative Path in .NET

as seen on West-Wind - Search for 'West-Wind'
Here’s a nice and simple path utility that I’ve needed in a number of applications: I need to find a relative path based on a base path. So if I’m working in a folder called c:\temp\templates\ and I want to find a relative path for c:\temp\templates\subdir\test.txt I want to receive back subdir\test… >>> More

Related posts about wpf

C#/WPF - RoutedEvent in WPF class that isn't a UIElement

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I have a class that needs to notify that something significant has occured. The class is in a WPF-project, even though this specific class, is lookless (and doesn't inherit from UIElement, neither directly or indirectly). Normally, I just register a RoutedEvent to get this functionality but as this… >>> More
How to pass value from wpf form to wpf user control

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Hai am having a WPF user control in my WPF Form, when i click my button in my form , i just want to pass some value to the textbox which is in the usercontrol, tell me how to do this. >>> More
WPF opening up exe program within WPF window

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Not sure if this is possible but is there a way to open up another program like notepad within the container of a WPF window? similiar to that of being able to open a web page using the webbrowser control? Basically I would like to open notepad or other exe but keep it constrained within the WPF… >>> More
Silverlight Commands Hacks: Passing EventArgs as CommandParameter to DelegateCommand triggered by Ev

as seen on ASP.net Weblogs - Search for 'ASP.net Weblogs'
Today I've tried to find a way how to pass EventArgs as CommandParameter to DelegateCommand triggered by EventTrigger. By reverse engineering of default InvokeCommandAction I find that blend team just ignores event args.To resolve this issue I have created my own action for triggering delegate commands… >>> More
Building applications with WPF, MVVM and Prism(aka CAG)

as seen on ASP.net Weblogs - Search for 'ASP.net Weblogs'
In this article I am going to walk through an application using WPF and Prism (aka composite application guidance, CAG) which simulates engaging a taxi (cab). The rules are simple, the app would have3 screens A login screen to authenticate the user An information screen. A screen… >>> More