C# WinForms. Multiple Forms in separate threads
- by Calum Murray
I'm trying to run an ATM Simulation in C# with Windows Forms that can have more than one instance of an ATM machine transacting with a bank account simultaneously.
The idea is to use semaphores/locking to block critical code that may lead to race conditions.
My question is this:
How can I run two Forms simultaneously on separate threads? In particular, how does all of this fit in with the Application.Run() that's already there?
Here's my main class:
public class Bank
{
private Account[] ac = new Account[3];
private ATM atm;
public Bank()
{
ac[0] = new Account(300, 1111, 111111);
ac[1] = new Account(750, 2222, 222222);
ac[2] = new Account(3000, 3333, 333333);
Application.Run(new ATM(ac));
}
static void Main(string[] args)
{
new Bank();
}
}
...that I want to run two of these forms on separate threads...
public partial class ATM : Form
{
//local reference to the array of accounts
private Account[] ac;
//this is a reference to the account that is being used
private Account activeAccount = null;
private static int stepCount = 0;
private string buffer = "";
// the ATM constructor takes an array of account objects as a reference
public ATM(Account[] ac)
{
InitializeComponent(); //Sets up Form ATM GUI in ATM.Designer.cs
this.ac = ac;
}
...
I've tried using
Thread ATM2 = new Thread(new ThreadStart(/*What goes in here?*/));
But what method do I put in the ThreadStart constructor, since the ATM form is event-driven and there's no one method controlling it?
Thanks,
Calum
