Develop Reference

Issue with CancellationTokenSource in C#

I am trying to create a helper class for sending some information periodically to backend server.
Attaching the code below.
public class HeartBeatService
{
private CancellationToken _cancellationToken;
private CancellationTokenSource _cancellationTokenSource;
public void StartHeartBeatService(TimeSpan timeSpan)
{
_cancellationTokenSource = new CancellationTokenSource();
_cancellationToken = _cancellationTokenSource.Token;
Task.Run(async () =>
{
while (!_cancellationToken.IsCancellationRequested)
{
SendHeartBeatToAzure();
try
{
await Task.Delay(timeSpan, _cancellationToken);
}
catch
{
break;
}
}
});
}
public void SuspendHeartBeatService()
{
_cancellationTokenSource?.Cancel();
}
private async void SendHeartBeatToAzure()
{
var platformService = ServiceLocator.Get<IPlatformService>();
var location = await platformService?.GetPositionAsync();
if (!double.IsNaN(location.Item1) && !double.IsNaN(location.Item2))
{
Debug.WriteLine($"Triggering Heartbeat with location{location.Item1},{location.Item2}");
//TODO Invoke heartbeat api call.
}
}
}
The code for sending the information to server is working fine.
But there is some issue with CancellationToken which is not working/it is not cancelling.
not sure what's wrong with the implementation.

Change the signature of the SendHeartBeatToAzure to return a Task, so that it can be awaited:
private async Task SendHeartBeatToAzure()
Then await the task returned by the method inside the loop. To achieve a stable and consisted heartbeat, it is a good idea to create the Task.Delay task before calling the method:
Task.Run(async () =>
{
while (true)
{
var delayTask = Task.Delay(timeSpan, _cancellationToken);
await SendHeartBeatToAzure();
await delayTask;
}
});
As a side note, you should probably store the task returned by Task.Run as a readonly property of the HeartBeatService class, so that the status of the task can be monitored.

How can I delay my task before it returns?

My assertion of acceptor.IsStarted.Should().BeTrue(); (see unit test below) always fails, as it's getting evaluated too early. The call to await task returns immediately and doesn't give this.acceptor.Start() enough time to spin up.
I would like to make the startup of my FixAcceptor() more deterministic and therefor introduced the parameter TimeSpan startupDelay.
However I simply have no clue where and how I can delay the startup.
Putting an additional Thread.Sleep(startupDelay) between this.acceptor.Start() and this.IsStarted = true won't help as it will only block the worker task itself, but not the calling thread.
I hope it's clear what I'd like to archive and what I am struggling with. Thanks in advance.
public class FixAcceptor
{
// Type provided by QuickFix.net
private readonly ThreadedSocketAcceptor acceptor;
public FixAcceptor(IFixSettings settings)
{
// Shortened
}
public bool IsStarted { get; private set; }
public async void Run(CancellationToken cancellationToken, TimeSpan startupDelay)
{
var task = Task.Run(() =>
{
cancellationToken.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
this.acceptor.Start();
this.IsStarted = true;
while (true)
{
// Stop if token has been canceled
if (cancellationToken.IsCancellationRequested)
{
this.acceptor.Stop();
this.IsStarted = false;
cancellationToken.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
}
// Save some CPU cycles
Thread.Sleep(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1));
}
}, cancellationToken);
try
{
await task;
}
catch (OperationCanceledException e)
{
Debug.WriteLine(e.Message);
}
}
}
And the corresponding consumer code
[Fact]
public void Should_Run_Acceptor_And_Stop_By_CancelationToken()
{
// Arrange
var acceptor = new FixAcceptor(new FixAcceptorSettings("test_acceptor.cfg", this.logger));
var tokenSource = new CancellationTokenSource();
// Act
tokenSource.CancelAfter(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(10));
acceptor.Run(tokenSource.Token, TimeSpan.FromSeconds(3));
// Assert
acceptor.IsStarted.Should().BeTrue();
IsListeningOnTcpPort(9823).Should().BeTrue();
// Wait for cancel event to occur
Thread.Sleep(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(15));
acceptor.IsStarted.Should().BeFalse();
}

Adding time delays to achieve determinism is not a recommended practice. You can achieve 100% determinism by using a TaskCompletionSource for controlling the completion of a task at just the right moment:
public Task<bool> Start(CancellationToken cancellationToken)
{
var startTcs = new TaskCompletionSource<bool>();
var task = Task.Run(() =>
{
cancellationToken.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
this.acceptor.Start();
this.IsStarted = true;
startTcs.TrySetResult(true); // Signal that the starting phase is completed
while (true)
{
// ...
}
}, cancellationToken);
HandleTaskCompletion();
return startTcs.Task;
async void HandleTaskCompletion() // async void method = should never throw
{
try
{
await task;
}
catch (OperationCanceledException ex)
{
Debug.WriteLine(ex.Message);
startTcs.TrySetResult(false); // Signal that start failed
}
catch
{
startTcs.TrySetResult(false); // Signal that start failed
}
}
}
Then replace this line in your test:
acceptor.Run(tokenSource.Token, TimeSpan.FromSeconds(3));
...with this one:
bool startResult = await acceptor.Start(tokenSource.Token);
Another issue that caught my eye is the bool IsStarted property which is mutated from one thread and observed by another, without synchronization. This is not really a problem because you could rely on the undocumented memory barrier that is inserted automatically on every await, and be quite confident that you'll not have visibility issues, but if you want to be extra sure you could synchronize the access by using a lock (most robust), or backup the property with a volatile private field like this:
private volatile bool _isStarted;
public bool IsStarted => _isStarted;

I would recommend that you structure your FixAcceptor.Run() methode a little bit different
public async Task Run(CancellationToken cancellationToken, TimeSpan startupDelay)
{
var task = Task.Run(async () =>
{
try
{
cancellationToken.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
this.acceptor.Start();
this.IsStarted = true;
while (true)
{
// Stop if token has been canceled
if (cancellationToken.IsCancellationRequested)
{
this.acceptor.Stop();
this.IsStarted = false;
cancellationToken.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
}
// Save some CPU cycles
await Task.Delay(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1));
}
}
catch (OperationCanceledException e)
{
Debut.WriteLine(e.Message);
}
}, cancellationToken);
await Task.Delay(startupDelay);
}
so the exception handling is in the inner task and the Run methode returns a Task that completes after the startupDelay.
(I also exchanged the Thread.Sleep() with a Task.Delay())
Then in the test methode you can await the Task returned by Run
[Fact]
public async Task Should_Run_Acceptor_And_Stop_By_CancelationToken()
{
// Arrange
var acceptor = new FixAcceptor(new FixAcceptorSettings("test_acceptor.cfg", this.logger));
var tokenSource = new CancellationTokenSource();
// Act
tokenSource.CancelAfter(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(10));
await acceptor.Run(tokenSource.Token, TimeSpan.FromSeconds(3));
// Assert
acceptor.IsStarted.Should().BeTrue();
IsListeningOnTcpPort(9823).Should().BeTrue();
// Wait for cancel event to occur
Thread.Sleep(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(15));
acceptor.IsStarted.Should().BeFalse();
}
It should be okay to make the mehtode async (it seams like you use xunit)

Task scheduler: when awaiting in a Task.Factory.StartNew, is the thread returned to the pool?

I'm implementing a worker engine with an upper limit to concurrency. I'm using a semaphore to wait until concurrency drops below the maximum, then use Task.Factory.StartNew to wrap the async handler in a try/catch, with a finally which releases the semaphore.
I realise this creates threads on the thread pool - but my question is, when one of those task-running threads actually awaits (on a real IO call or wait handle), is the thread returned to the pool, as I'd hope it would be?
If there's a better way to implement a task scheduler with limited concurrency where the work handler is an async method (returns Task), I'd love to hear it too. Or, let's say ideally, if there's a way to queue up an async method (again, it's a Task-returning async method) that feels less dodgy than wrapping it in a synchronous delegate and passing it to Task.Factory.StartNew, that would seem perfect..?
(This also makes me think that there are two kinds of parallelism here: how many tasks are being processed overall, but also how many continuations are running on different threads concurrently. Might be cool to have configurable options for both, though not a fixed requirement..)
Edit: snippet:
concurrencySemaphore.Wait(cancelToken);
deferRelease = false;
try
{
var result = GetWorkItem();
if (result == null)
{ // no work, wait for new work or exit signal
signal = WaitHandle.WaitAny(signals);
continue;
}
deferRelease = true;
tasks.Add(Task.Factory.StartNew(() =>
{
try
{
DoWorkHereAsync(result); // guess I'd think to .GetAwaiter().GetResult() here.. not run this yet
}
finally
{
concurrencySemaphore.Release();
}
}, cancelToken));
}
finally
{
if (!deferRelease)
{
concurrencySemaphore.Release();
}
}

Here an example of a TaskWorker, that will not produce countless worker threads.
The magic is done by awaiting SemaphoreSlim.WaitAsync() which is an IO task (and there is no thread).
class TaskWorker
{
private readonly SemaphoreSlim _semaphore;
public TaskWorker(int maxDegreeOfParallelism)
{
if (maxDegreeOfParallelism <= 0)
{
throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException(nameof(maxDegreeOfParallelism));
}
_semaphore = new SemaphoreSlim(maxDegreeOfParallelism, maxDegreeOfParallelism);
}
public async Task RunAsync(Func<Task> taskFactory, CancellationToken cancellationToken = default(CancellationToken))
{
// No ConfigureAwait(false) here to keep the SyncContext if any
// for the real task
await _semaphore.WaitAsync(cancellationToken);
try
{
await taskFactory().ConfigureAwait(false);
}
finally
{
_semaphore.Release(1);
}
}
public async Task<T> RunAsync<T>(Func<Task<T>> taskFactory, CancellationToken cancellationToken = default(CancellationToken))
{
await _semaphore.WaitAsync(cancellationToken);
try
{
return await taskFactory().ConfigureAwait(false);
}
finally
{
_semaphore.Release(1);
}
}
}
and a simple console app to test
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
var worker = new TaskWorker(1);
var cts = new CancellationTokenSource();
var token = cts.Token;
var tasks = Enumerable.Range(1, 10)
.Select(e => worker.RunAsync(() => SomeWorkAsync(e, token), token))
.ToArray();
Task.WhenAll(tasks).GetAwaiter().GetResult();
}
static async Task SomeWorkAsync(int id, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
{
Console.WriteLine($"Some Started {id}");
await Task.Delay(2000, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
Console.WriteLine($"Some Finished {id}");
}
}
Update
TaskWorker implementing IDisposable
class TaskWorker : IDisposable
{
private readonly CancellationTokenSource _cts = new CancellationTokenSource();
private readonly SemaphoreSlim _semaphore;
private readonly int _maxDegreeOfParallelism;
public TaskWorker(int maxDegreeOfParallelism)
{
if (maxDegreeOfParallelism <= 0)
{
throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException(nameof(maxDegreeOfParallelism));
}
_maxDegreeOfParallelism = maxDegreeOfParallelism;
_semaphore = new SemaphoreSlim(maxDegreeOfParallelism, maxDegreeOfParallelism);
}
public async Task RunAsync(Func<Task> taskFactory, CancellationToken cancellationToken = default(CancellationToken))
{
ThrowIfDisposed();
using (var cts = CancellationTokenSource.CreateLinkedTokenSource(cancellationToken, _cts.Token))
{
// No ConfigureAwait(false) here to keep the SyncContext if any
// for the real task
await _semaphore.WaitAsync(cts.Token);
try
{
await taskFactory().ConfigureAwait(false);
}
finally
{
_semaphore.Release(1);
}
}
}
public async Task<T> RunAsync<T>(Func<Task<T>> taskFactory, CancellationToken cancellationToken = default(CancellationToken))
{
ThrowIfDisposed();
using (var cts = CancellationTokenSource.CreateLinkedTokenSource(cancellationToken, _cts.Token))
{
await _semaphore.WaitAsync(cts.Token);
try
{
return await taskFactory().ConfigureAwait(false);
}
finally
{
_semaphore.Release(1);
}
}
}
private void ThrowIfDisposed()
{
if (disposedValue)
{
throw new ObjectDisposedException(this.GetType().FullName);
}
}
#region IDisposable Support
private bool disposedValue = false;
protected virtual void Dispose(bool disposing)
{
if (!disposedValue)
{
if (disposing)
{
_cts.Cancel();
// consume all semaphore slots
for (int i = 0; i < _maxDegreeOfParallelism; i++)
{
_semaphore.WaitAsync().GetAwaiter().GetResult();
}
_semaphore.Dispose();
_cts.Dispose();
}
disposedValue = true;
}
}
public void Dispose()
{
Dispose(true);
}
#endregion
}

You can think that thread is returned to a ThreadPool even thought it is not actauly a return. The thread simply picks next queued item when async operation starts.
I would suggest you to look at Task.Run instead of Task.Factory.StartNew Task.Run vs Task.Factory.StartNew.
And also have a look at TPL DataFlow. I think it will match your requirements.

Queue of async tasks with throttling which supports muti-threading

I need to implement a library to request vk.com API. The problem is that API supports only 3 requests per second. I would like to have API asynchronous.
Important: API should support safe accessing from multiple threads.
My idea is implement some class called throttler which allow no more than 3 request/second and delay other request.
The interface is next:
public interface IThrottler : IDisposable
{
Task<TResult> Throttle<TResult>(Func<Task<TResult>> task);
}
The usage is like
var audio = await throttler.Throttle(() => api.MyAudio());
var messages = await throttler.Throttle(() => api.ReadMessages());
var audioLyrics = await throttler.Throttle(() => api.AudioLyrics(audioId));
/// Here should be delay because 3 requests executed
var photo = await throttler.Throttle(() => api.MyPhoto());
How to implement throttler?
Currently I implemented it as queue which is processed by background thread.
public Task<TResult> Throttle<TResult>(Func<Task<TResult>> task)
{
/// TaskRequest has method Run() to run task
/// TaskRequest uses TaskCompletionSource to provide new task
/// which is resolved when queue processed til this element.
var request = new TaskRequest<TResult>(task);
requestQueue.Enqueue(request);
return request.ResultTask;
}
This is shorten code of background thread loop which process the queue:
private void ProcessQueue(object state)
{
while (true)
{
IRequest request;
while (requestQueue.TryDequeue(out request))
{
/// Delay method calculates actual delay value and calls Thread.Sleep()
Delay();
request.Run();
}
}
}
Is it possible to implement this without background thread?

So we'll start out with a solution to a simpler problem, that of creating a queue that process up to N tasks concurrently, rather than throttling to N tasks started per second, and build on that:
public class TaskQueue
{
private SemaphoreSlim semaphore;
public TaskQueue()
{
semaphore = new SemaphoreSlim(1);
}
public TaskQueue(int concurrentRequests)
{
semaphore = new SemaphoreSlim(concurrentRequests);
}
public async Task<T> Enqueue<T>(Func<Task<T>> taskGenerator)
{
await semaphore.WaitAsync();
try
{
return await taskGenerator();
}
finally
{
semaphore.Release();
}
}
public async Task Enqueue(Func<Task> taskGenerator)
{
await semaphore.WaitAsync();
try
{
await taskGenerator();
}
finally
{
semaphore.Release();
}
}
}
We'll also use the following helper methods to match the result of a TaskCompletionSource to a `Task:
public static void Match<T>(this TaskCompletionSource<T> tcs, Task<T> task)
{
task.ContinueWith(t =>
{
switch (t.Status)
{
case TaskStatus.Canceled:
tcs.SetCanceled();
break;
case TaskStatus.Faulted:
tcs.SetException(t.Exception.InnerExceptions);
break;
case TaskStatus.RanToCompletion:
tcs.SetResult(t.Result);
break;
}
});
}
public static void Match<T>(this TaskCompletionSource<T> tcs, Task task)
{
Match(tcs, task.ContinueWith(t => default(T)));
}
Now for our actual solution what we can do is each time we need to perform a throttled operation we create a TaskCompletionSource, and then go into our TaskQueue and add an item that starts the task, matches the TCS to its result, doesn't await it, and then delays the task queue for 1 second. The task queue will then not allow a task to start until there are no longer N tasks started in the past second, while the result of the operation itself is the same as the create Task:
public class Throttler
{
private TaskQueue queue;
public Throttler(int requestsPerSecond)
{
queue = new TaskQueue(requestsPerSecond);
}
public Task<T> Enqueue<T>(Func<Task<T>> taskGenerator)
{
TaskCompletionSource<T> tcs = new TaskCompletionSource<T>();
var unused = queue.Enqueue(() =>
{
tcs.Match(taskGenerator());
return Task.Delay(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1));
});
return tcs.Task;
}
public Task Enqueue<T>(Func<Task> taskGenerator)
{
TaskCompletionSource<bool> tcs = new TaskCompletionSource<bool>();
var unused = queue.Enqueue(() =>
{
tcs.Match(taskGenerator());
return Task.Delay(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1));
});
return tcs.Task;
}
}

I solved a similar problem using a wrapper around SemaphoreSlim. In my scenario, I had some other throttling mechanisms as well, and I needed to make sure that requests didn't hit the external API too often even if request number 1 took longer to reach the API than request number 3. My solution was to use a wrapper around SemaphoreSlim that had to be released by the caller, but the actual SemaphoreSlim would not be released until a set time had passed.
public class TimeGatedSemaphore
{
private readonly SemaphoreSlim semaphore;
public TimeGatedSemaphore(int maxRequest, TimeSpan minimumHoldTime)
{
semaphore = new SemaphoreSlim(maxRequest);
MinimumHoldTime = minimumHoldTime;
}
public TimeSpan MinimumHoldTime { get; }
public async Task<IDisposable> WaitAsync()
{
await semaphore.WaitAsync();
return new InternalReleaser(semaphore, Task.Delay(MinimumHoldTime));
}
private class InternalReleaser : IDisposable
{
private readonly SemaphoreSlim semaphoreToRelease;
private readonly Task notBeforeTask;
public InternalReleaser(SemaphoreSlim semaphoreSlim, Task dependantTask)
{
semaphoreToRelease = semaphoreSlim;
notBeforeTask = dependantTask;
}
public void Dispose()
{
notBeforeTask.ContinueWith(_ => semaphoreToRelease.Release());
}
}
}
Example usage:
private TimeGatedSemaphore requestThrottler = new TimeGatedSemaphore(3, TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1));
public async Task<T> MyRequestSenderHelper(string endpoint)
{
using (await requestThrottler.WaitAsync())
return await SendRequestToAPI(endpoint);
}

Here is one solution that uses a Stopwatch:
public class Throttler : IThrottler
{
private readonly Stopwatch m_Stopwatch;
private int m_NumberOfRequestsInLastSecond;
private readonly int m_MaxNumberOfRequestsPerSecond;
public Throttler(int max_number_of_requests_per_second)
{
m_MaxNumberOfRequestsPerSecond = max_number_of_requests_per_second;
m_Stopwatch = Stopwatch.StartNew();
}
public async Task<TResult> Throttle<TResult>(Func<Task<TResult>> task)
{
var elapsed = m_Stopwatch.Elapsed;
if (elapsed > TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1))
{
m_NumberOfRequestsInLastSecond = 1;
m_Stopwatch.Restart();
return await task();
}
if (m_NumberOfRequestsInLastSecond >= m_MaxNumberOfRequestsPerSecond)
{
TimeSpan time_to_wait = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1) - elapsed;
await Task.Delay(time_to_wait);
m_NumberOfRequestsInLastSecond = 1;
m_Stopwatch.Restart();
return await task();
}
m_NumberOfRequestsInLastSecond++;
return await task();
}
}
Here is how this code can be tested:
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
DoIt();
Console.ReadLine();
}
static async Task DoIt()
{
Func<Task<int>> func = async () =>
{
await Task.Delay(100);
return 1;
};
Throttler throttler = new Throttler(3);
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
var result = await throttler.Throttle(func);
Console.WriteLine(DateTime.Now);
}
}
}

You can use this as Generic
public TaskThrottle(int maxTasksToRunInParallel)
{
_semaphore = new SemaphoreSlim(maxTasksToRunInParallel);
}
public void TaskThrottler<T>(IEnumerable<Task<T>> tasks, int timeoutInMilliseconds, CancellationToken cancellationToken = default(CancellationToken)) where T : class
{
// Get Tasks as List
var taskList = tasks as IList<Task<T>> ?? tasks.ToList();
var postTasks = new List<Task<int>>();
// When the first task completed, it will flag
taskList.ForEach(x =>
{
postTasks.Add(x.ContinueWith(y => _semaphore.Release(), cancellationToken));
});
taskList.ForEach(x =>
{
// Wait for open slot
_semaphore.Wait(timeoutInMilliseconds, cancellationToken);
cancellationToken.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
x.Start();
});
Task.WaitAll(taskList.ToArray(), cancellationToken);
}

Edit: this solution works but use it only if it is ok to process all request in serial (in one thread). Otherwise use solution accepted as answer.
Well, thanks to Best way in .NET to manage queue of tasks on a separate (single) thread
My question is almost duplicate except adding delay before execution, which is actually simple.
The main helper here is SemaphoreSlim class which allows to restrict degree of parallelism.
So, first create a semaphore:
// Semaphore allows run 1 thread concurrently.
private readonly SemaphoreSlim semaphore = new SemaphoreSlim(1, 1);
And, final version of throttle looks like
public async Task<TResult> Throttle<TResult>(Func<Task<TResult>> task)
{
await semaphore.WaitAsync();
try
{
await delaySource.Delay();
return await task();
}
finally
{
semaphore.Release();
}
}
Delay source is also pretty simple:
private class TaskDelaySource
{
private readonly int maxTasks;
private readonly TimeSpan inInterval;
private readonly Queue<long> ticks = new Queue<long>();
public TaskDelaySource(int maxTasks, TimeSpan inInterval)
{
this.maxTasks = maxTasks;
this.inInterval = inInterval;
}
public async Task Delay()
{
// We will measure time of last maxTasks tasks.
while (ticks.Count > maxTasks)
ticks.Dequeue();
if (ticks.Any())
{
var now = DateTime.UtcNow.Ticks;
var lastTick = ticks.First();
// Calculate interval between last maxTasks task and current time
var intervalSinceLastTask = TimeSpan.FromTicks(now - lastTick);
if (intervalSinceLastTask < inInterval)
await Task.Delay((int)(inInterval - intervalSinceLastTask).TotalMilliseconds);
}
ticks.Enqueue(DateTime.UtcNow.Ticks);
}
}

A pattern to pause/resume an async task?

I have a mostly IO-bound continuous task (a background spellchecker talking to a spellcheck server). Sometimes, this task needs to be put on hold and resumed later, depending on the user activity.
While suspend/resume is essentially what async/await does, I've found little information on how to implement the actual pause/play logic for an asynchronous method. Is there a recommended pattern for this?
I've also looked at using Stephen Toub's AsyncManualResetEvent for this, but thought it might be an overkill.

Updated for 2019, I've recently had a chance to revisit this code, below is complete example as a console app (warning: PauseTokenSource needs good unit testing).
Note, in my case, the requirement was that when the consumer-side code (which requested the pause) would continue, the producer-side code should have already reached the paused state. Thus, by the time the UI is ready to reflect the paused state, all background activity is expected to have been already paused.
using System;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Threading;
namespace Console_19613444
{
class Program
{
// PauseTokenSource
public class PauseTokenSource
{
bool _paused = false;
bool _pauseRequested = false;
TaskCompletionSource<bool> _resumeRequestTcs;
TaskCompletionSource<bool> _pauseConfirmationTcs;
readonly SemaphoreSlim _stateAsyncLock = new SemaphoreSlim(1);
readonly SemaphoreSlim _pauseRequestAsyncLock = new SemaphoreSlim(1);
public PauseToken Token { get { return new PauseToken(this); } }
public async Task<bool> IsPaused(CancellationToken token = default(CancellationToken))
{
await _stateAsyncLock.WaitAsync(token);
try
{
return _paused;
}
finally
{
_stateAsyncLock.Release();
}
}
public async Task ResumeAsync(CancellationToken token = default(CancellationToken))
{
await _stateAsyncLock.WaitAsync(token);
try
{
if (!_paused)
{
return;
}
await _pauseRequestAsyncLock.WaitAsync(token);
try
{
var resumeRequestTcs = _resumeRequestTcs;
_paused = false;
_pauseRequested = false;
_resumeRequestTcs = null;
_pauseConfirmationTcs = null;
resumeRequestTcs.TrySetResult(true);
}
finally
{
_pauseRequestAsyncLock.Release();
}
}
finally
{
_stateAsyncLock.Release();
}
}
public async Task PauseAsync(CancellationToken token = default(CancellationToken))
{
await _stateAsyncLock.WaitAsync(token);
try
{
if (_paused)
{
return;
}
Task pauseConfirmationTask = null;
await _pauseRequestAsyncLock.WaitAsync(token);
try
{
_pauseRequested = true;
_resumeRequestTcs = new TaskCompletionSource<bool>(TaskCreationOptions.RunContinuationsAsynchronously);
_pauseConfirmationTcs = new TaskCompletionSource<bool>(TaskCreationOptions.RunContinuationsAsynchronously);
pauseConfirmationTask = WaitForPauseConfirmationAsync(token);
}
finally
{
_pauseRequestAsyncLock.Release();
}
await pauseConfirmationTask;
_paused = true;
}
finally
{
_stateAsyncLock.Release();
}
}
private async Task WaitForResumeRequestAsync(CancellationToken token)
{
using (token.Register(() => _resumeRequestTcs.TrySetCanceled(), useSynchronizationContext: false))
{
await _resumeRequestTcs.Task;
}
}
private async Task WaitForPauseConfirmationAsync(CancellationToken token)
{
using (token.Register(() => _pauseConfirmationTcs.TrySetCanceled(), useSynchronizationContext: false))
{
await _pauseConfirmationTcs.Task;
}
}
internal async Task PauseIfRequestedAsync(CancellationToken token = default(CancellationToken))
{
Task resumeRequestTask = null;
await _pauseRequestAsyncLock.WaitAsync(token);
try
{
if (!_pauseRequested)
{
return;
}
resumeRequestTask = WaitForResumeRequestAsync(token);
_pauseConfirmationTcs.TrySetResult(true);
}
finally
{
_pauseRequestAsyncLock.Release();
}
await resumeRequestTask;
}
}
// PauseToken - consumer side
public struct PauseToken
{
readonly PauseTokenSource _source;
public PauseToken(PauseTokenSource source) { _source = source; }
public Task<bool> IsPaused() { return _source.IsPaused(); }
public Task PauseIfRequestedAsync(CancellationToken token = default(CancellationToken))
{
return _source.PauseIfRequestedAsync(token);
}
}
// Basic usage
public static async Task DoWorkAsync(PauseToken pause, CancellationToken token)
{
try
{
while (true)
{
token.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
Console.WriteLine("Before await pause.PauseIfRequestedAsync()");
await pause.PauseIfRequestedAsync();
Console.WriteLine("After await pause.PauseIfRequestedAsync()");
await Task.Delay(1000);
}
}
catch (Exception e)
{
Console.WriteLine("Exception: {0}", e);
throw;
}
}
static async Task Test(CancellationToken token)
{
var pts = new PauseTokenSource();
var task = DoWorkAsync(pts.Token, token);
while (true)
{
token.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
Console.WriteLine("Press enter to pause...");
Console.ReadLine();
Console.WriteLine("Before pause requested");
await pts.PauseAsync();
Console.WriteLine("After pause requested, paused: " + await pts.IsPaused());
Console.WriteLine("Press enter to resume...");
Console.ReadLine();
Console.WriteLine("Before resume");
await pts.ResumeAsync();
Console.WriteLine("After resume");
}
}
static async Task Main()
{
await Test(CancellationToken.None);
}
}
}

AsyncManualResetEvent is exactly what you need, considering how messy your current code is. But a slightly better solution would be to use another approach from Stephen Toub: PauseToken. It works similarly to AsyncManualResetEvent, except its interface is made specifically for this purpose.

All the other answers seem either complicated or missing the mark when it comes to async/await programming by holding the thread which is CPU expensive and can lead to deadlocks. After lots of trial, error and many deadlocks, this finally worked for my high usage test.
var isWaiting = true;
while (isWaiting)
{
try
{
//A long delay is key here to prevent the task system from holding the thread.
//The cancellation token allows the work to resume with a notification
//from the CancellationTokenSource.
await Task.Delay(10000, cancellationToken);
}
catch (TaskCanceledException)
{
//Catch the cancellation and it turns into continuation
isWaiting = false;
}
}

it is works for me
using System;
using System.Threading;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
namespace TaskTest2
{
class Program
{
static ManualResetEvent mre = new ManualResetEvent(false);
static void Main(string[] args)
{
mre.Set();
Task.Factory.StartNew(() =>
{
while (true)
{
Console.WriteLine("________________");
mre.WaitOne();
}
} );
Thread.Sleep(10000);
mre.Reset();
Console.WriteLine("Task Paused");
Thread.Sleep(10000);
Console.WriteLine("Task Will Resume After 1 Second");
Thread.Sleep(1000);
mre.Set();
Thread.Sleep(10000);
mre.Reset();
Console.WriteLine("Task Paused");
Console.Read();
}
}
}

Ok, maybe this deserves an answer, but I'm not so familiar with C# and I don't have MonoDevelop here, and it's 3 o' clock AM, so please have pity.
I'm suggesting something like this
class Spellchecker
{
private CancellationTokenSource mustStop = null;
private volatile Task currentTask = null;
//TODO add other state variables as needed
public void StartSpellchecker()
{
if (currentTask != null)
{
/*
* A task is already running,
* you can either throw an exception
* or silently return
*/
}
mustStop = new CancellationTokenSource();
currentTask = SpellcheckAsync(mustStop.Token);
currentTask.Start();
}
private async Task SpellcheckAsync(CancellationToken ct)
{
while (!ct.IsCancellationRequested))
{
/*
* TODO perform spell check
* This method must be the only one accessing
* the spellcheck-related state variables
*/
}
currentTask = null;
}
public async Task StopSpellchecker()
{
if (currentTask == null)
{
/*
* There is no task running
* you can either throw an exception
* or silently return
*/
}
else
{
/*
* A CancelAfter(TimeSpan) method
* is also available, which might interest you
*/
mustStop.Cancel();
//Remove the following lines if you don't want to wait for the task to actually stop
var task = currentTask;
if (task != null)
{
await task;
}
}
}
}