BackgroundWorker and Threads

Question

What are the pros and cons in using the either for achieving a given task.

The million dollar question is which one to use and when?

Many Thanks.

Answer 1

Have a look at this great threading overview:

[The BackgroundWorker] provides the following features:

• A "cancel" flag for signaling a worker to end without using Abort

• A standard protocol for reporting progress, completion and cancellation

• An implementation of IComponent allowing it be sited in the Visual Studio Designer Exception handling on the worker thread

• The ability to update Windows Forms and WPF controls in response to worker progress or completion.

The last two features are particularly useful – it means you don't have to include a try/catch block in your worker method, and can update Windows Forms and WPF controls without needing to call Control.Invoke.