WPF loading animation on a separate UI thread? (C#)

Question

Okay, I have a loading animation that runs while a large DataTable is populated to let the user know that the program has not frozen. I have the animation working fine, but

Answer 1

I wrote a little test program which shows the use of the Dispatcher class. It just requires a WPF-Window and a ListBox with Name "listBox". Should be easy to apply this solution to your problem.

    public void Populate() {
        // for comparison, freezing the ui thread
        for (int i = 0; i < 1000000; i++) {
            listBox.Items.Add(i);
        }
    }

    private delegate void AddItemDelegate(int item);
    public void PopulateAsync() {
        // create a new thread which is iterating the elements
        new System.Threading.Thread(new System.Threading.ThreadStart(delegate() {
            // inside the new thread: iterate the elements
            for (int i = 0; i < 1000000; i++) {
                // use the dispatcher to "queue" the insertion of elements into the UI-Thread
                // DispatcherPriority.Background ensures Animations have a higher Priority and the UI does not freeze
                // possible enhancement: group the "jobs" to small units to enhance the performance
                listBox.Dispatcher.Invoke(new AddItemDelegate(delegate(int item) {
                    listBox.Items.Add(item);
                }), System.Windows.Threading.DispatcherPriority.Background, i);
            }
        })).Start();
    }