invoke required keeps true

[Meganutter]

Hello all, i am making a multithreaded program which copies a file.
at the end of the file copy it will call a process to update a certain dropdownlist.
the following code will cause a stack overflow, i copied it from the MSDN library and took out the items i didnt need (parameters) and replaced it with my variables.

any help would be appreciated, it could well be that i overlooked something

delegate void LoadList();
 
private void loadList()
        {
            if (ddlTools.InvokeRequired)
            {
                LoadList d = new LoadList(loadList);
                d.Invoke();
            }
            else
            {
                //Clear our list
                ddlTools.Items.Clear();
                //Etc,,,
            }
        }

[tlhintoq]

I'm going to bet you are looping endlessly really fast and running the stack out.

In the method loadList(), line 7 calls a new loadList(), which is itself, which then calls a new loadList() which is itself, which calls a new loadList() which is itself... get the idea?

Put a breakpoint at line 7 and step through it. I'll bet you see this getting called over and over.

[Meganutter]

yes, i know that far.
i also found out that d.invoke() will use the same thread
so i must use this.invoke(d)
*edit*
capitals are different
loadList
LoadList

[tlhintoq]

Right. LoadList keeps making a new loadList. Over and over and over because it keeps calling itself in line 7.

But it will only do this if the condition of line 5 is true.
Try this: insert a line between 6 and 7 that makes ddtool.InvokeRequired false. That way it will work the first time through, but be changed after it has done the first invoke.

[Meganutter]

i already fixed it by using this.invoke(d)
if i forced it to true i'd probably get a unsafe threadcall error since its still a different thread then the UI component (hence the eternal loop?)

[mldisibio]

In order to marshal the thread back to the UI thread, it is the control which needs to call invoke on the delegate. This is different than just creating a new delegate and calling invoke on it, because, as tlhintoq says, that just keeps calling itself, and since the thread has not been marshalled yet, the InvokeRequired condition remains true.

Try the following:

delegate void LoadList();
 
private void loadList()
        {
            if (ddlTools.InvokeRequired)
            {
                LoadList d = new LoadList(loadList);
                ddlTools.Invoke(d);
            }
            else
            {
                //Clear our list
                ddlTools.Items.Clear();
                //Etc,,,
            }
        }

[Plater]

As long as the control used in the if statement is the same one used to .Invoke you should be fine.
I use "this" for both and it seems to work well enough