Using ServerController and Update Panel update not working

Question

So, I have a repeater that displays a list of custom functions on a remote server. The repeater displays as follows.

serverName   serviceName    serviceStatus   Button1 Button2
----------------------------------------------------------
 Carolina    StatsTracker      Running       update  stop
 ...
 ..
 .

The serviceStatus is rapped in an update panel inside the repeater

<asp:UpdatePanel ID="statusUpdate" runat="server" UpdateMode="Conditional" ChildrenAsTriggers="false">
                <ContentTemplate>                           
                    <td><asp:Label ID="RowStatus" Width="100px" Text="Status..." runat="server"  /></td>
                </ContentTemplate>
           </asp:UpdatePanel>

and in the code behind I send commands to the server via servercontroller and attempt to update the serviceStatus real time or at least as close as possible to real time. like this

                if (svc.Status != ServiceControllerStatus.Stopped)
                {
                    svc.Stop();
                    StatusLabel.Text = "Stopping";
                    statusUPdatePanel.Update();

                    while (svc.Status != ServiceControllerStatus.Stopped)
                    {
                        System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(1000);
                        svc.Refresh();
                    }
                    StatusLabel.Text = svc.Status.ToString();
                    statusUPdatePanel.Update();

                }
                System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(1000);
                if (svc.Status != ServiceControllerStatus.Running)
                {
                    svc.Start();
                    StatusLabel.Text = "Starting";
                    statusUPdatePanel.Update();

                    while (svc.Status != ServiceControllerStatus.Running)
                    {
                        System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(1000);
                        svc.Refresh();
                    }
                    StatusLabel.Text = svc.Status.ToString();
                    statusUPdatePanel.Update();

                }

This issue is that the status doesn't update real time. It only updates to the final value which is either running or error. but never shows the stopping, starting, or stopped as it happens. also on the button click I disable the buttons while the serverController is running, a small user proofing step and which doesn't seem to cause the buttons to become disabled. I've read threw a large number of updatepanel issue post and think it might be a binding issue but i'm am not sure because i have tired the many of those suggested solutions to no avail.
Thanks in advance for any help.

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 05 '12 at 19:52

According to your question you would like to refresh your updatePanel twice! That is not possible. The (partial) postback will only occur on your method completing... Furthermore those while (...) are a bad idea, imo. You could rather use

ServiceController.WaitForStatus(ServiceControllerStatus.Running, new TimeSpan(0, 0, 5));

But that would not take care of your problem/question that you would like to see BOTH status (xxxPending and xxx). I think there is only one chance to this - you have to re-ask your server for the current status of a given service. So I created an example in which

I use an JQUery AJAX call to change the status of a service
on success I take the immediate server response and show it on the client (usually xxxPending)
wait for 5 secs on the client and re-ask the server for the current status of this service

Worked fine for me - tested it with my local services.

serviceController_Repeater.aspx

<head runat="server">
    <title></title>
    <script type="text/javascript" src="js/jquery-1.7.1.js"></script>
    <script type="text/javascript">
        $(document).ready(function () {
            console.log("Add AJAX calls to buttons\n");
            $('input[type=button]').click(
                    function () {
                        changeStatus($(this).attr("value"), $(this).parents("tr").find("span[id$=lblName]"), $(this).parents("tr").find("span[id$=lblStatus]"));
                    });
            });

            function changeStatus(newStatus, displayLabel, statusLabel) {
                var displayName = displayLabel.text();    
                console.log("change status to '" + newStatus + "' for service '" + displayName + "'");
                $.ajax({
                    type: "POST",
                    url: "serviceController_Repeater.aspx/ChangeStatus",
                    data: "{ 'newStatus': '" + newStatus + "', 'displayName' : '" + displayName + "'}",
                    contentType: "application/json; charset=utf-8",
                    dataType: "json",
                    success: function (msg) {
                        console.log("server says\n\tnew status is now: " + msg.d);
                        statusLabel.text(msg.d);
                        if (newStatus != "")
                            window.setTimeout(function () { changeStatus("", displayLabel, statusLabel) }, 5000);
                    }
                });
            }
    </script>
</head>
<body>
    <form id="form1" runat="server">
    <div>
        <asp:Repeater ID="rptServices" runat="server">
            <HeaderTemplate>
                <table>
                    <thead>
                        <tr>
                            <th>
                                Name
                            </th>
                            <th>
                                Status
                            </th>
                            <th colspan="4">
                            </th>
                        </tr>
                    </thead>
                    <tbody>
            </HeaderTemplate>
            <FooterTemplate>
                </tbody></table></FooterTemplate>
            <ItemTemplate>
                <tr id="1">
                    <td>
                        <asp:Label ID="lblName" runat="server" Text='<%# Eval("DisplayName") %>'></asp:Label>
                    </td>
                    <td>
                        <asp:Label ID="lblStatus" runat="server" Text='<%# Eval("Status") %>'></asp:Label>
                    </td>
                    <td> 
                        <input type="button" <%# Eval("Status").ToString()=="Stopped" ? "" : "disabled" %> value="Start" />
                    </td>
                    <td>
                        <input type="button" <%# Eval("Status").ToString()=="Running" ? "" : "disabled" %> value="Stop" />
                    </td>
                    <td>
                        <input type="button" <%# Eval("Status").ToString()=="Running" ? "" : "disabled" %> value="Pause" />
                    </td>
                    <td>
                        <input type="button" <%# Eval("Status").ToString()=="Paused" ? "" : "disabled" %> value="Continue" />
                    </td>
                </tr>
            </ItemTemplate>
        </asp:Repeater>
    </div>
    </form>
</body>

serviceController_Repeater.aspx.cs

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    if (!Page.IsPostBack)
        bindServices();
}
private void bindServices()
{
    ServiceController[] services = ServiceController.GetServices();
    rptServices.DataSource = services;
    rptServices.DataBind();
}

[WebMethod]
public static string ChangeStatus(string newStatus, string displayName)//
{
    Debug.WriteLine(string.Format("Service {0} new status {1}", displayName, newStatus));
    ServiceController sc = new ServiceController(displayName);

    switch (newStatus)
    {
        case "Start":
            sc.Start();
            // instead of waiting on the SERVER for xxx secondes 
            // immediately RETURN to CLIENT
            //sc.WaitForStatus(ServiceControllerStatus.Running, new TimeSpan(0, 0, 15));
            break;
        case "Stop":
            sc.Stop();
            break;
        case "Pause":
            sc.Pause();
            break;
        case "Continue":
            sc.Continue();
            break;
        default:
            break;
    }
    return sc.Status.ToString();
}

Thank you for your response, this seems to be quite useful. particularly the `ServiceController.WaitForStatus(ServiceControllerStatus.Running, new TimeSpan(0, 0, 5));` but I was thinking more of getting the update panel to update multiple times on text change event but was unsure. maybe via another method interdependent of the repeater item command event in the code behind. However I believe your answer is a valid one, but will wait until i can implement it to see if it works in my situation, as the answer. Thank you very much — user1250570, Sep 05 '12 at 20:24
as i pointed out, there is **no way to update the panel multiple times** from the _server to the client_ within one request. you will have to make two requests (_partial, full - via button or ajax ..._) - glad I could help — Pilgerstorfer Franz, Sep 05 '12 at 20:27
so i'm having a bit of an issue adapting this to master pages, i'm not very familiar with jquery. i'm assuming i need to adjust the identifiers? — user1250570, Sep 06 '12 at 14:52
my js code looks for identifiers which ends with XXX, so in best case, you don't have to adjust any identifiers! — Pilgerstorfer Franz, Sep 06 '12 at 15:22

Using ServerController and Update Panel update not working

1 Answers1