How to call a function asynchronizly in C# # Page1- Delegate.begininvoke, endinvoke
BeginInvoke and EndInvoke
we use four ways to process the asynchronozed call.i.e. EndInvoke,WaitHandler,IsComplete,callbackfunction.they are properties of IAsyncresult.
we can see description from MSDN,
The BeginInvoke method initiates the asynchronous call. It has the same parameters as the method that you want to execute asynchronously, plus two additional optional parameters. The first parameter is an AsyncCallback delegate that references a method to be called when the asynchronous call completes. The second parameter is a user-defined object that passes information into the callback method. BeginInvoke returns immediately and does not wait for the asynchronous call to complete. BeginInvoke returns an IAsyncResult, which can be used to monitor the progress of the asynchronous call.
The EndInvoke method retrieves the results of the asynchronous call. It can be called any time after BeginInvoke. If the asynchronous call has not completed, EndInvoke blocks the calling thread until it completes. The parameters of EndInvoke include the out and ref parameters ( ByRef and ByRef in Visual Basic) of the method that you want to execute asynchronously, plus the IAsyncResult returned by BeginInvoke.
code example:
using System;
using System.Threading;
namespace Examples.AdvancedProgramming.AsynchronousOperations
{
public class AsyncDemo
{
// The method to be executed asynchronously.
public string TestMethod(int callDuration, out int threadId)
{
Console.WriteLine("Test method begins.");
Thread.Sleep(callDuration);
threadId = Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId;
return String.Format("My call time was {0}.", callDuration.ToString());
}
}
// The delegate must have the same signature as the method
// it will call asynchronously.
public delegate string AsyncMethodCaller(int callDuration, out int threadId);
}
using System;
using System.Threading;
namespace Examples.AdvancedProgramming.AsynchronousOperations
{
public class AsyncMain
{
public static void Main()
{
// The asynchronous method puts the thread id here.
int threadId;
// Create an instance of the test class.
AsyncDemo ad = new AsyncDemo();
// Create the delegate.
AsyncMethodCaller caller = new AsyncMethodCaller(ad.TestMethod);
// Initiate the asychronous call.
IAsyncResult result = caller.BeginInvoke(3000,
out threadId, null, null);
Thread.Sleep(0);
Console.WriteLine("Main thread {0} does some work.",
Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId);
// Call EndInvoke to wait for the asynchronous call to complete,
// and to retrieve the results.
string returnValue = caller.EndInvoke(out threadId, result);
Console.WriteLine("The call executed on thread {0}, with return value \"{1}\".",
threadId, returnValue);
}
}
}
/* This example produces output similar to the following:
Main thread 1 does some work.
Test method begins.
The call executed on thread 3, with return value "My call time was 3000.".
*/
code example : Waiting for an Asynchronous Call with WaitHandle
using System;
using System.Threading;
namespace Examples.AdvancedProgramming.AsynchronousOperations
{
public class AsyncMain
{
static void Main()
{
// The asynchronous method puts the thread id here.
int threadId;
// Create an instance of the test class.
AsyncDemo ad = new AsyncDemo();
// Create the delegate.
AsyncMethodCaller caller = new AsyncMethodCaller(ad.TestMethod);
// Initiate the asychronous call.
IAsyncResult result = caller.BeginInvoke(3000,
out threadId, null, null);
Thread.Sleep(0);
Console.WriteLine("Main thread {0} does some work.",
Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId);
// Wait for the WaitHandle to become signaled.
result.AsyncWaitHandle.WaitOne();
// Perform additional processing here.
// Call EndInvoke to retrieve the results.
string returnValue = caller.EndInvoke(out threadId, result);
// Close the wait handle.
result.AsyncWaitHandle.Close();
Console.WriteLine("The call executed on thread {0}, with return value \"{1}\".",
threadId, returnValue);
}
}
}
/* This example produces output similar to the following:
Main thread 1 does some work.
Test method begins.
The call executed on thread 3, with return value "My call time was 3000.".
*/
code example 3: Polling for Asynchronous Call Completion
You can use the IsCompleted property of the IAsyncResult returned by BeginInvoke to discover when the asynchronous call completes. You might do this when making the asynchronous call from a thread that services the user interface. Polling for completion allows the calling thread to continue executing while the asynchronous call executes on a ThreadPool thread.
using System;
using System.Threading;
namespace Examples.AdvancedProgramming.AsynchronousOperations
{
public class AsyncMain
{
static void Main() {
// The asynchronous method puts the thread id here.
int threadId;
// Create an instance of the test class.
AsyncDemo ad = new AsyncDemo();
// Create the delegate.
AsyncMethodCaller caller = new AsyncMethodCaller(ad.TestMethod);
// Initiate the asychronous call.
IAsyncResult result = caller.BeginInvoke(3000,
out threadId, null, null);
// Poll while simulating work.
while(result.IsCompleted == false) {
Thread.Sleep(250);
Console.Write(".");
}
// Call EndInvoke to retrieve the results.
string returnValue = caller.EndInvoke(out threadId, result);
Console.WriteLine("\nThe call executed on thread {0}, with return value \"{1}\".",
threadId, returnValue);
}
}
}
/* This example produces output similar to the following:
Test method begins.
.............
The call executed on thread 3, with return value "My call time was 3000.".
*/
code example4: Executing a Callback Method When an Asynchronous Call Completes
If the thread that initiates the asynchronous call does not need to be the thread that processes the results, you can execute a callback method when the call completes. The callback method is executed on a ThreadPool thread.
To use a callback method, you must pass BeginInvoke an AsyncCallback delegate that represents the callback method. You can also pass an object that contains information to be used by the callback method. In the callback method, you can cast the IAsyncResult, which is the only parameter of the callback method, to an AsyncResult object. You can then use the AsyncResult.AsyncDelegate property to get the delegate that was used to initiate the call so that you can call EndInvoke.
using System;
using System.Threading;
using System.Runtime.Remoting.Messaging;
namespace Examples.AdvancedProgramming.AsynchronousOperations
{
public class AsyncMain
{
static void Main()
{
// Create an instance of the test class.
AsyncDemo ad = new AsyncDemo();
// Create the delegate.
AsyncMethodCaller caller = new AsyncMethodCaller(ad.TestMethod);
// The threadId parameter of TestMethod is an out parameter, so
// its input value is never used by TestMethod. Therefore, a dummy
// variable can be passed to the BeginInvoke call. If the threadId
// parameter were a ref parameter, it would have to be a class-
// level field so that it could be passed to both BeginInvoke and
// EndInvoke.
int dummy = 0;
// Initiate the asynchronous call, passing three seconds (3000 ms)
// for the callDuration parameter of TestMethod; a dummy variable
// for the out parameter (threadId); the callback delegate; and
// state information that can be retrieved by the callback method.
// In this case, the state information is a string that can be used
// to format a console message.
IAsyncResult result = caller.BeginInvoke(3000,
out dummy,
new AsyncCallback(CallbackMethod),
"The call executed on thread {0}, with return value \"{1}\".");
Console.WriteLine("The main thread {0} continues to execute...",
Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId);
// The callback is made on a ThreadPool thread. ThreadPool threads
// are background threads, which do not keep the application running
// if the main thread ends. Comment out the next line to demonstrate
// this.
Thread.Sleep(4000);
Console.WriteLine("The main thread ends.");
}
// The callback method must have the same signature as the
// AsyncCallback delegate.
static void CallbackMethod(IAsyncResult ar)
{
// Retrieve the delegate.
AsyncResult result = (AsyncResult) ar;
AsyncMethodCaller caller = (AsyncMethodCaller) result.AsyncDelegate;
// Retrieve the format string that was passed as state
// information.
string formatString = (string) ar.AsyncState;
// Define a variable to receive the value of the out parameter.
// If the parameter were ref rather than out then it would have to
// be a class-level field so it could also be passed to BeginInvoke.
int threadId = 0;
// Call EndInvoke to retrieve the results.
string returnValue = caller.EndInvoke(out threadId, ar);
// Use the format string to format the output message.
Console.WriteLine(formatString, threadId, returnValue);
}
}
}
/* This example produces output similar to the following:
The main thread 1 continues to execute...
Test method begins.
The call executed on thread 3, with return value "My call time was 3000.".
The main thread ends.
*/
Some reference link about concept: AsyncCallback, IAsyncResult
Waiting for an Asynchronous Call with WaitHandle.
You can obtain a WaitHandle by using the AsyncWaitHandle property of the IAsyncResult returned by BeginInvoke. The WaitHandle is signaled when the asynchronous call completes, and you can wait for it by calling the WaitOne method.
If you use a WaitHandle, you can perform additional processing before or after the asynchronous call completes, but before calling EndInvoke to retrieve the results.
we can refer AsyncWaitHandle, WaitHandle