title: Options to run background task in .net 4.0 UI
body: <p>I have a vb.net 4.0 UI that basically allows users to search for data on a SQL Server 2008 database and update/manipulate it. All of the communication with the database is done through stored procs. One of the update procs may take up to 6 minutes to process - currently the users just see the "processing..." message until the update has completed, and then they are shown the results. </p>
  
  <p>I think this is a good candidate for a background task. I would like the users to be able to invoke the request, and then continue to do other work in the UI. When the task finishes it would notify them of the results. Can I accomplish this with threading? I'm new to threading but given some literature and an example or 2 I could be on my way. I've done some Googling but it's not apparent in the examples whether the user can continue working in the UI while the task executes. Are there other options to accomplish what I have described?</p>
  
  <p>thanks.</p>