Making main form unclickable during from UI Update

[85ssp]

I have a server applicatoin that has a multitude of labels related to the clients connected to it. When I have a number near 50 clients and i recieve a updatated status from each of the clients at once the labels are updated to the current status. (basically a label color is changed depending on status), this operation causes the mainform to freeze until it can process all of the messages recieved.

I have tried everything possible to make the form update asyncronously without this hang but cannot get it to work. Since each client thread runs the same update function i placed in a multitude of invoke code to make it update but there has been no change.

So my next idea was to make the from unclickable until its ready but am unsure how to do this? anyone got any ideas?

example of process:

server:
sendtoclients("GETSTATUS")
client:
client("RETURNSTATUS|GREEN")
server:
case "RETURNSTATUS"
                         If Not statusdict.ContainsKey(sender.WS) Then
                        statusdict.Add(sender.WS, dataArray(1))
                    Else
                        statusdict.Item(sender.WS) = dataArray(1)
                    End If
                    '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
                    UpdateUI()
                    TargetHandler.BeginInvoke(CallbackHandler, Nothing)
 
'''''old method call   'readstatusdictoinary()
end select
 
sub readstatusentry()
Dim entry As DictionaryEntry
 
        Dim comp As String
        Dim status As String
        Dim ILoop As Integer = 0
        Dim ALoop As Integer = 0
        Dim green As Integer = 0
        Dim red As Integer = 0
 
        'nulls(display)
        loggedInLabel.Text = "0"
        LockedLabel.Text = "0"
 
        'HERE is where it changes label color
        Try
            For Each entry In New System.Collections.Hashtable(statusdict)
                ALoop = 0
                comp = entry.Key.ToString
                status = entry.Value.ToString
                For ILoop = 0 To 69
                    If comp = LabelArray(ALoop).Text Then
                        Select Case status.ToLower
                            Case "red"
                                LabelArray(ALoop).BackColor = Color.Red
                                red = red + 1
                                green = green - 1
                                lockedlabel.Text = red.ToString
                            Case "green"
                                LabelArray(ALoop).BackColor = Color.Green
                                green = green + 1
                                red = red - 1
                                loggedInLabel.Text = green.ToString
                            End Select
                        PNRLabel.Text = gray.ToString
                    End If
                    ALoop = ALoop + 1
                Next
            Next
        Catch ex As Exception
            MsgBox(ex.ToString)
        End Try
end sub
 
 
 
    '*** create delegate object to execute method asynchronously
    Private TargetHandler As readstatusentryHandler _
                             = AddressOf readstatusentry
 
    '*** create delegate object to service callback from CLR
    Private CallbackHandler As AsyncCallback _
                               = AddressOf MyCallbackMethod
 
    '*** callback method runs on worker thread and not the UI thread
    Sub MyCallbackMethod(ByVal ar As IAsyncResult)
        Try
 
            UpdateUI()
        Catch ex As Exception
 
            MsgBox("Error: " & ex.Message)
            UpdateUI()
        End Try
    End Sub
 
    '*** can be called from any method on form to update UI
    Sub UpdateUI()
        '*** check to see if thread switch is required
        If Me.InvokeRequired Then
            Dim handler As New UpdateUIHandler(AddressOf readstatusentry)
 
            Me.BeginInvoke(handler)
        Else
            readstatusentry()
        End If
    End Sub
 
    '*** delegate used to switch control over to primary UI thread
    Delegate Sub UpdateUIHandler()
    Delegate Sub readstatusentryHandler()

[kadghar]

...

So my next idea was to make the from unclickable until its ready but am unsure how to do this? anyone got any ideas? ...

Couldn't you just disable it?

me.enabled=false

[85ssp]

Couldn't you just disable it?

me.enabled=false

where should I disable it? if i disable the form at the begining of readstatusentry and then enable it at the end, when another client calls function it will just run the code again and again and again. Just like changing the label color.

[85ssp]

i went ahead and instituted a counter to count the cleint messages and then update the form, this works in a specific circumstance when the server comes up and individual clients connect.

If the server crashes, and you relaunch the server, all clients try to connect at once and the server is not recieving all of the transmissions, roughly missing 3 clients.

Anyone have any idea on how i may go about solving this.

[Sick0Fant]

Maybe there's something I'm not understanding, but can't you just create an event and listen for it in your main form?

[Killer42]

Wouldn't it make sense to have a timer update the labels periodically, independently of when the messages are received? Perhaps once per second, or whatever seems appropriate.

[85ssp]

I went ahead and institiuted a timer to update the ui, but i dont believe this to be my issue now, it appears the server is dropping messages sent to it over the network, basically not recieving everything it needs too when 50 clients send at the same time, any idea how to clear this up? I'm transmitting on port 6000, could this be the issue?