TaskCompletionSource Class

Definition

generic 
public ref class TaskCompletionSource

public class TaskCompletionSource

type TaskCompletionSource<'Result> = class

Public Class TaskCompletionSource(Of TResult)

Type Parameters

Inheritance

Object

TaskCompletionSource

Examples

The following example shows how to use a TaskCompletionSource:

using System;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Threading;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

class TCSDemo
{
    // Demonstrated features:
    // 		TaskCompletionSource ctor()
    // 		TaskCompletionSource.SetResult()
    // 		TaskCompletionSource.SetException()
    //		Task.Result
    // Expected results:
    // 		The attempt to get t1.Result blocks for ~1000ms until tcs1 gets signaled. 15 is printed out.
    // 		The attempt to get t2.Result blocks for ~1000ms until tcs2 gets signaled. An exception is printed out.
    static void Main()
    {
        TaskCompletionSource tcs1 = new TaskCompletionSource();
        Task t1 = tcs1.Task;

        // Start a background task that will complete tcs1.Task
        Task.Factory.StartNew(() =>
        {
            Thread.Sleep(1000);
            tcs1.SetResult(15);
        });

        // The attempt to get the result of t1 blocks the current thread until the completion source gets signaled.
        // It should be a wait of ~1000 ms.
        Stopwatch sw = Stopwatch.StartNew();
        int result = t1.Result;
        sw.Stop();

        Console.WriteLine("(ElapsedTime={0}): t1.Result={1} (expected 15) ", sw.ElapsedMilliseconds, result);

        // ------------------------------------------------------------------

        // Alternatively, an exception can be manually set on a TaskCompletionSource.Task
        TaskCompletionSource tcs2 = new TaskCompletionSource();
        Task t2 = tcs2.Task;

        // Start a background Task that will complete tcs2.Task with an exception
        Task.Factory.StartNew(() =>
        {
            Thread.Sleep(1000);
            tcs2.SetException(new InvalidOperationException("SIMULATED EXCEPTION"));
        });

        // The attempt to get the result of t2 blocks the current thread until the completion source gets signaled with either a result or an exception.
        // In either case it should be a wait of ~1000 ms.
        sw = Stopwatch.StartNew();
        try
        {
            result = t2.Result;

            Console.WriteLine("t2.Result succeeded. THIS WAS NOT EXPECTED.");
        }
        catch (AggregateException e)
        {
            Console.Write("(ElapsedTime={0}): ", sw.ElapsedMilliseconds);
            Console.WriteLine("The following exceptions have been thrown by t2.Result: (THIS WAS EXPECTED)");
            for (int j = 0; j < e.InnerExceptions.Count; j++)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("\n-------------------------------------------------\n{0}", e.InnerExceptions[j].ToString());
            }
        }
    }
}

Imports System.Diagnostics
Imports System.Threading
Imports System.Threading.Tasks

Module TCSDemo
    ' Demonstrated features:
    '   TaskCompletionSource ctor()
    '   TaskCompletionSource.SetResult()
    '   TaskCompletionSource.SetException()
    '   Task.Result
    ' Expected results:
    '   The attempt to get t1.Result blocks for ~1000ms until tcs1 gets signaled. 15 is printed out.
    '   The attempt to get t2.Result blocks for ~1000ms until tcs2 gets signaled. An exception is printed out.

    Private Sub Main()
        Dim tcs1 As New TaskCompletionSource(Of Integer)()
        Dim t1 As Task(Of Integer) = tcs1.Task

        ' Start a background task that will complete tcs1.Task
        Task.Factory.StartNew(Sub()
                                  Thread.Sleep(1000)
                                  tcs1.SetResult(15)
                              End Sub)

        ' The attempt to get the result of t1 blocks the current thread until the completion source gets signaled.
        ' It should be a wait of ~1000 ms.
        Dim sw As Stopwatch = Stopwatch.StartNew()
        Dim result As Integer = t1.Result
        sw.Stop()

        Console.WriteLine("(ElapsedTime={0}): t1.Result={1} (expected 15) ", sw.ElapsedMilliseconds, result)

        ' ------------------------------------------------------------------

        ' Alternatively, an exception can be manually set on a TaskCompletionSource.Task
        Dim tcs2 As New TaskCompletionSource(Of Integer)()
        Dim t2 As Task(Of Integer) = tcs2.Task

        ' Start a background Task that will complete tcs2.Task with an exception
        Task.Factory.StartNew(Sub()
                                  Thread.Sleep(1000)
                                  tcs2.SetException(New InvalidOperationException("SIMULATED EXCEPTION"))
                              End Sub)

        ' The attempt to get the result of t2 blocks the current thread until the completion source gets signaled with either a result or an exception.
        ' In either case it should be a wait of ~1000 ms.
        sw = Stopwatch.StartNew()
        Try
            result = t2.Result

            Console.WriteLine("t2.Result succeeded. THIS WAS NOT EXPECTED.")
        Catch e As AggregateException
            Console.Write("(ElapsedTime={0}): ", sw.ElapsedMilliseconds)
            Console.WriteLine("The following exceptions have been thrown by t2.Result: (THIS WAS EXPECTED)")
            For j As Integer = 0 To e.InnerExceptions.Count - 1
                Console.WriteLine(vbLf & "-------------------------------------------------" & vbLf & "{0}", e.InnerExceptions(j).ToString())
            Next
        End Try
    End Sub

End Module

Remarks

In many scenarios, it's useful to enable a Task to represent an external asynchronous operation. TaskCompletionSource is provided for this purpose. It enables the creation of a task that can be handed out to consumers. The consumers can use the members of the task the same way as they would in any other scenario handling task member variables. However, unlike most tasks, the state of a task created by a TaskCompletionSource is controlled explicitly by the methods on TaskCompletionSource. This enables the completion of the external asynchronous operation to be propagated to the underlying Task. The separation also ensures that consumers are not able to transition the state without access to the corresponding TaskCompletionSource. For more information, see the entry The Nature of TaskCompletionSource in the Parallel Programming with .NET blog.

Thread Safety

All members of TaskCompletionSource are thread-safe and may be used from multiple threads concurrently.

See also

• Using TPL with Other Asynchronous Patterns
• How to: Wrap EAP Patterns in a Task