Background not repainting

[Matthew.Cross]

I have written an app in c# that autoarchives our system files to a sourcesafe database. Some of these actions can take a while and the main form becomes white with no controls drawn. After the operation has completed the controls get redrawn but not the forms background. I have tried an invalidate but this does nothing. Can anyone tell me why the form goes blank in the first place and how to repaint the background.

Thanks.

[MikeVallotton]

Calling Application.DoEvents is the simplest method.

[crackersixx]

Creating a thread for your methods that run a long time is the proper way.

[opedog]

Creating a thread for your methods that run a long time is the proper way.

Yep, the simplest way being using a BackgroundWorker. Very easy to use for simple threading. Just remember to wrap any UI changes in the following:

controlToChange.Invoke((MethodInvoker)delegate()
{
  //controlToChange.Text = "whatever";
  // UI changes here
});

And the BackgroundWorker stuff itself:

BackgroundWorker bw = new BackgroundWorker();
bw.DoWork += new DoWorkEventHandler(bw_DoWork);
bw.RunWorkerAsync();

void bw_DoWork(object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)
{
  // do stuff
}

[Matthew.Cross]

Thank you all for the replies.