animation - wpf is it possible to block ui thread while animating? -

folks, came across problem when going show off daughter power of wpf animation on resolving hanoi problem. problem related codes below:

   void moveset(disk[] disks, int maxindex, char from, char via, char to)    {         if (maxindex > 0) moveset(disks, maxindex - 1, from, to, via);         moveone(disks[maxindex], from, to);         if (maxindex > 0) moveset(disks, maxindex - 1, via, from, to);    } 

the above codes move disks recursively. , added animation in moveone method this:

void moveone(disk disk, char from, char to) {     // set animation parameters     ... upanimation...     ... levelshiftanimation...     ... downanimation...      storyboard.settarget(upanimation, disk);     storyboard.settarget(levelshiftanimation, disk);     storyboard.settarget(downanimation, disk);     storyboard.begin(disk); } 

the above codes work good. animations run @ same time. after few unordered animations disks changed position. looks not cool. want show animation of each disk 1 one. modified moveone method , made such changes:

void moveone(disk disk, char from, char to) {     ...     storyboard.settarget(upanimation, disk);     storyboard.settarget(levelshiftanimation, disk);     storyboard.settarget(downanimation, disk);      autoresetevent signaler=new autoresetevent(false);     eventhandler eh = null;     eh = (s, e) =>      {         storyboard.completed -= eh;         signaler.set();     };     storyboard.completed+=eh;     storyboard.begin(disk);     signaler.waitone(); } 

the above modifications made whole program stuck. think cause both animation , moveone method running in 1 ui thread, blocking moveone method blocks animation. tried create , start(using ui dispatcher invoke) animation in newly created task, didn't work yet. @ last, had straighten real demands. want run 1 animation , block other animations , of them run on same sole ui thread. seems contradictory. don't know whether have wrong understanding. and, there solution occasion?

you wrap execution of storboard in task , await task.

this described in this answer. basically, subscribe completed event of storyboard. can await result. (code adopted provided link).

public static class storyboardextensions {     public static task beginasync(this storyboard storyboard, frameworkcontentelement element)     {         system.threading.tasks.taskcompletionsource<bool> tcs = new taskcompletionsource<bool>();         if (storyboard == null)             tcs.setexception(new argumentnullexception());         else         {             eventhandler oncomplete = null;             oncomplete = (s, e) => {                 storyboard.completed -= oncomplete;                  tcs.setresult(true);              };             storyboard.completed += oncomplete;             storyboard.begin(element);         }         return tcs.task;     } } 

in case, need is, replace call of storyboard.begin(disc); in moveon-method await storyboard.beginasync(disc);.

with change, turn event-based approach (using completed event) awaitable task makes handling easier.