//load the query in a separate thread
private Stream threadLoad(string query)
{
start_timer ();
Stream stream = null;
WebDownload downloader = new WebDownload ();
bool finished = false;
Thread thread = new Thread (delegate() {
//catch any errors. ugly, but works.
try
{ stream = downloader.ReadUrl (query); }
catch
{
Application.Invoke (delegate{ fail_timer (); });
}
finished = true;
});
thread.Start ();
//blocks the main thread waiting for the
//downloading thread to finish. this keeps the
//user interface responsive.
while (!finished)
while (Application.EventsPending ())
Application.RunIteration ();
return stream;
}