How to build a rate-limiting API with Observables? - c#

I would like to create a simple Calculator service that has a single method to add numbers. This Add method should be async and has to limit the number of concurrent calls being made at a given time. For instance, no more than 5 concurrent calls per second. If the rate limit is exceeded, the call should throw an exception.
The class should be like:
public class RateLimitingCalculator
{
public async Task<int> Add(int a, int b)
{
//...
}
}
Any ideas? I would like implement it with Reactive Extensions, but if it's better to use another strategy, I would stick to it!

I don't think using Rx makes sense here, unless you can rewrite your method into something like public IObservable<int> Add(IObservable<Tuple<int, int>> values), as suggested by Enigmativity in a comment.
What I would do is to separate the concern of rate limiting into a separate class. That way, your code could look something like this:
public class RateLimitingCalculator
{
private RateLimiter rateLimiter = new RateLimiter(5, TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1));
public async Task<int> Add(int a, int b)
{
rateLimiter.ThrowIfRateExceeded();
//...
}
}
The implementation of RateLimiter depends on your exact requirements, but a very simple, not-thread-safe version could look like this:
class RateLimiter
{
private readonly int rate;
private readonly TimeSpan perTime;
private DateTime secondStart = DateTime.MinValue;
private int count = 0;
public RateLimiter(int rate, TimeSpan perTime)
{
this.rate = rate;
this.perTime = perTime;
}
public void ThrowIfRateExceeded()
{
var now = DateTime.UtcNow;
if (now - secondStart > perTime)
{
secondStart = now;
count = 1;
return;
}
if (count >= rate)
throw new RateLimitExceededException();
count++;
}
}

Related

Generic Timer/Worker Function

I want to be able to perform workloads at intervals.
I want to be able to make this class generic so I can pass it whatever "workload" I want and my timer function just does it. I also would like a means of "returning" the workload response back to the caller.
As an example. Let's say I have a series of classes I have built that download data from a JSON API, or scrape a web page. This web scraper/API downloader needs to download pages from a site at different intervals. Each page will take a different number of parameters. I have found something online that indicates setting the Elapsed event to a delegate. This "may"work but I need to have the passed in delegate "dynamic" itself. So the Start method below which accepts a Func won't be correct from a "generic" standpoint, which is what I am after.
The solution itself is just an example of a line of thinking. Am open to other generic alternatives that help me achieve this.
public abstract class TimerWorkerDelegate : IDisposable, ITimerWorker
{
protected System.Timers.Timer DataTimer;
public virtual void Start(Func<string> callback,double interval)
{
DataTimer = new System.Timers.Timer();
DataTimer.Interval = interval;
DataTimer.Elapsed += delegate {
callback();
};
if (!DataTimer.Enabled)
DataTimer.Enabled = true;
//IDisposable code
}
}
I might not understand 100% what you are REALLY trying to achieve, but... maybe something like.
public class Worker<T>
{
public event EventHandler<T> OnCompleted;
public Worker()
{}
public Worker(Func<T> fn, int interval)
{
Func = fn;
Interval = interval;
}
public async void Start()
{
if (Func == null)
throw new ArgumentNullException();
while (true)
{
await Task.Delay(Interval);
try
{
var result = Func();
OnCompleted(this, result);
}
catch
{
return; // handle
}
}
}
public Func<T> Func { get; set; }
public int Interval { get; set; }
}
And then usage in Console tester app as
public static void Main(string[] args)
{
var worker = new Worker<string>
{
Interval = 1000,
Func = () => { return string.Format("did some work at {0}", DateTime.Now); }
};
worker.OnCompleted += (sender, result) => { Console.WriteLine(result); };
worker.Start();
Console.ReadLine();
}
If you're open to using a library you could look at System.Reactive
With it you could setup something very easily to accomplish what you are looking to do.
Below is a very rudimentary implementation of something that could work for you:
void Main()
{
var scheduled = Schedule(
TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1),
() => Console.WriteLine($"The current time is: {DateTime.Now}"));
Console.ReadLine();
// Dispose will stop the scheduled action
scheduled.Dispose();
}
public IDisposable Schedule<T>(TimeSpan interval, Func<T> func)
=> Observable.Interval(interval).Subscribe(_ => func());
public IDisposable Schedule(TimeSpan interval, Action action)
=> Observable.Interval(interval).Subscribe(_ => action());

C# Trying to wrap a function with a stopwatch

I've been attempting to see how long functions take to execute in my code as practice to see where I can optimize. Right now I use a helper class that is essentially a stopwatch with a message to check these. The goal of this is that I should be able to wrap whatever method call I want in the helper and I'll get it's duration.
public class StopwatcherData
{
public long Time { get; set; }
public string Message { get; set; }
public StopwatcherData(long time, string message)
{
Time = time;
Message = message;
}
}
public class Stopwatcher
{
public delegate void CompletedCallBack(string result);
public static List<StopwatcherData> Data { get; set; }
private static Stopwatch stopwatch { get; set;}
public Stopwatcher()
{
Data = new List<StopwatcherData>();
stopwatch = new Stopwatch();
stopwatch.Start();
}
public static void Click(string message)
{
Data.Add(new StopwatcherData(stopwatch.ElapsedMilliseconds, message));
}
public static void Reset()
{
stopwatch.Reset();
stopwatch.Start();
}
}
Right now to use this, I have to call the Reset before the function I want so that the timer is restarted, and then call the click after it.
Stopwatcher.Reset()
MyFunction();
Stopwatcher.Click("MyFunction");
I've read a bit about delegates and actions, but I'm unsure of how to apply them to this situation. Ideally, I would pass the function as part of the Stopwatcher call.
//End Goal:
Stopwatcher.Track(MyFunction(), "MyFunction Time");
Any help is welcome.
It's not really a good idea to profile your application like that, but if you insist, you can at least make some improvements.
First, don't reuse Stopwatch, just create new every time you need.
Second, you need to handle two cases - one when delegate you pass returns value and one when it does not.
Since your Track method is static - it's a common practice to make it thread safe. Non-thread-safe static methods are quite bad idea. For that you can store your messages in a thread-safe collection like ConcurrentBag, or just use lock every time you add item to your list.
In the end you can have something like this:
public class Stopwatcher {
private static readonly ConcurrentBag<StopwatcherData> _data = new ConcurrentBag<StopwatcherData>();
public static void Track(Action action, string message) {
var w = Stopwatch.StartNew();
try {
action();
}
finally {
w.Stop();
_data.Add(new StopwatcherData(w.ElapsedMilliseconds, message));
}
}
public static T Track<T>(Func<T> func, string message) {
var w = Stopwatch.StartNew();
try {
return func();
}
finally {
w.Stop();
_data.Add(new StopwatcherData(w.ElapsedMilliseconds, message));
}
}
}
And use it like this:
Stopwatcher.Track(() => SomeAction(param1), "test");
bool result = Stopwatcher.Track(() => SomeFunc(param2), "test");
If you are going to use that with async delegates (which return Task or Task<T>) - you need to add two more overloads for that case.
Yes, you can create a timer function that accepts any action as a delegate. Try this block:
public static long TimeAction(Action action)
{
var timer = new Stopwatch();
timer.Start();
action();
timer.Stop();
return timer.ElapsedMilliseconds;
}
This can be used like this:
var elapsedMilliseconds = TimeAction(() => MyFunc(param1, param2));
This is a bit more awkward if your wrapped function returns a value, but you can deal with this by assigning a variable from within the closure, like this:
bool isSuccess ;
var elapsedMilliseconds = TimeToAction(() => {
isSuccess = MyFunc(param1, param2);
});
I've had this problem a while ago as well and was always afraid of the case that I'll leave errors when I change Stopwatcher.Track(() => SomeFunc(), "test")(See Evk's answer) back to SomeFunc(). So I tought about something that wraps it without changing it!
I came up with a using, which is for sure not the intended purpose.
public class OneTimeStopwatch : IDisposable
{
private string _logPath = "C:\\Temp\\OneTimeStopwatch.log";
private readonly string _itemname;
private System.Diagnostics.Stopwatch sw = new System.Diagnostics.Stopwatch();
public OneTimeStopwatch(string itemname)
{
_itemname = itemname;
sw.Start();
}
public void Dispose()
{
sw.Stop();
System.IO.File.AppendAllText(_logPath, string.Format($"{_itemname}: {sw.ElapsedMilliseconds}ms{Environment.NewLine}"));
}
}
This can be used a easy way
using (new OneTimeStopwatch("test"))
{
//some sensible code not to touch
System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(1000);
}
//logfile with line "test: 1000ms"
I only need to remove 2 lines (and auto format) to make it normal again.
Plus I can easily wrap multiple lines here which isn't possible without defining new functions in the other approach.
Again, this is not recommended for terms of few miliseconds.

Change normal loop to Parallel loop

I have the following code:
static void Main(string[] args)
{
TaskExecuter.Execute();
}
class Task
{
int _delay;
private Task(int delay) { _delay = delay; }
public void Execute() { Thread.Sleep(_delay); }
public static IEnumerable GetAllTasks()
{
Random r = new Random(4711);
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
yield return new Task(r.Next(100, 5000));
}
}
static class TaskExecuter
{
public static void Execute()
{
foreach (Task task in Task.GetAllTasks())
{
task.Execute();
}
}
}
I need to change the loop in Execute method to paralle with multiple threads, I tried the following, but it isn't working since GetAllTasks returns IEnumerable and not a list
Parallel.ForEach(Task.GetAllTasks(), task =>
{
//Execute();
});
Parallel.ForEach works with IEnumerable<T>, so adjust your GetAllTasks to return IEnumerable<Task>.
Also .net has widely used Task class, I would avoid naming own class like that to avoid confusion.
Parallel.ForEach takes an IEnumerable<TSource>, so your code should be fine. However, you need to perform the Execute call on the task instance that is passed as parameter to your lambda statement.
Parallel.ForEach(Task.GetAllTasks(), task =>
{
task.Execute();
});
This can also be expressed as a one-line lambda expression:
Parallel.ForEach(Task.GetAllTasks(), task => task.Execute());
There is also another subtle bug in your code that you should pay attention to. Per its internal implementation, Parallel.ForEach may enumerate the elements of your sequence in parallel. However, you are calling an instance method of the Random class in your enumerator, which is not thread-safe, possibly leading to race issues. The easiest way to work around this would be to pre-populate your sequence as a list:
Parallel.ForEach(Task.GetAllTasks().ToList(), task => task.Execute());
This worked on my linqpad. I just renamed your Task class to Work and also returned an IEnumerable<T> from GetAllTasks:
class Work
{
int _delay;
private Work(int delay) { _delay = delay; }
public void Execute() { Thread.Sleep(_delay); }
public static IEnumerable<Work> GetAllTasks()
{
Random r = new Random(4711);
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
yield return new Work(r.Next(100, 5000));
}
}
static class TaskExecuter
{
public static void Execute()
{
foreach (Work task in Work.GetAllTasks())
{
task.Execute();
}
}
}
void Main()
{
System.Threading.Tasks.Parallel.ForEach(Work.GetAllTasks(), new Action<Work>(task =>
{
//Execute();
}));
}

Ref in async Task

How I can to pass a reference as a parameter to Async method in Windows Store App ? I'm looking for something like this:
var a = DoThis(ref obj.value);
public async Task DoThis(ref int value)
{
value = 10;
}
But error:
Async methods cannot have ref or out parameters
Has any another way?
Note:I need to pass exactly obj.value. This method would be used by different types of objects, by same type of objects, by one object, but I will pass obj.val_1, obj.val_2 or obj.val_10. All values will be same type (for ex string)
If you don't care about a little overhead and possibly prolonged lifetime of your objects, you could emulate the ref behavior by passing a setter and a getter method to the function, like this:
public async Task DoStuff(Func<int> getter, Action<int> setter)
{
var value1 = getter();
await DoSomeOtherAsyncStuff();
setter(value1 * value1);
}
And call it like this:
await DoStuff(() => obj.Value, x => obj.Value = x);
You could directly pass the object itself and set the value of the corresponding property inside the method:
var a = DoThis(obj);
public async Task DoThis(SomeObject o)
{
o.value = 10;
}
And if you do not have such object simply write one and have the async method take that object as parameter:
public class SomeObject
{
public int Value { get; set; }
}
You can always use the Task<> class and return the desired value. Then Your code would look something like:
var a = DoThis(obj.value);
obj.value = a.Result;
public async Task<int> DoThis(int value)
{
int result = value + 10; //compute the resulting value
return result;
}
EDIT
Ok, the other way to go with this that I can think of is encapsulating the update of the given object's member in a method and then passing an action invoking this method as the task's argument, like so:
var a = DoThis(() => ChangeValue(ref obj.value));
public void ChangeValue(ref int val)
{
val = 10;
}
public async Task DoThis(Action act)
{
var t = new Task(act);
t.Start();
await t;
}
As far as I tested it the change was made in the child thread, but still it's effect was visible in the parent thread. Hope this helps You.
You can't do this as you have it (as you know). So, a few work arounds:
You can do this by passing the initial object since it will be a reference type
var a = DoThis(obj);
public async Task DoThis(object obj) //replace the object with the actual object type
{
obj.value = 10;
}
EDIT
Based upon your comments, create an interface and have your classes implement it (providing it's always the same type you want to pass). Then you can pass the interface which is shared (maybe over kill, depends on your needs, or even unrealistic amount of work).
Or, provide a base class with the property! (I don't like this suggestion but since you're asking for something which can't be done it may suffice although I don't recommend it).
An example of the interface is here (not using what you have, but close enough using a Colsone App)
using System;
namespace InterfacesReferenceTypes
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
MyClass mc = new MyClass();
DoThis(mc);
Console.WriteLine(mc.Number);
Console.ReadKey();
}
static void DoThis(IDemo id)
{
id.Number = 10;
}
}
class MyClass : IDemo
{
//other props and methods etc
public int Number { get; set; }
}
interface IDemo
{
int Number { get; set; }
}
}
EDIT2
After next comments, you will have to still use an interface, but re assign the value afterwards. I'm sure there is a better way to do this, but this works:
using System.Text;
namespace InterfacesRerefenceTypes
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
MyClass mc = new MyClass();
Console.WriteLine(mc.Number);
mc.val1 = 3;
mc.val2 = 5;
mc.Number = mc.val2;
DoThis(mc);
mc.val2 = mc.Number;
Console.WriteLine(mc.val2);
Console.ReadKey();
}
static void DoThis(IDemo id)
{
id.Number = 15;
}
}
class MyClass : IDemo
{
public int val1 { get; set; }
public int val2 { get; set; }
public int Number { get; set; }
}
interface IDemo
{
int Number { get; set; }
}
}

Async result handle to return to callers

I have a method that queues some work to be executed asynchronously. I'd like to return some sort of handle to the caller that can be polled, waited on, or used to fetch the return value from the operation, but I can't find a class or interface that's suitable for the task.
BackgroundWorker comes close, but it's geared to the case where the worker has its own dedicated thread, which isn't true in my case. IAsyncResult looks promising, but the provided AsyncResult implementation is also unusable for me. Should I implement IAsyncResult myself?
Clarification:
I have a class that conceptually looks like this:
class AsyncScheduler
{
private List<object> _workList = new List<object>();
private bool _finished = false;
public SomeHandle QueueAsyncWork(object workObject)
{
// simplified for the sake of example
_workList.Add(workObject);
return SomeHandle;
}
private void WorkThread()
{
// simplified for the sake of example
while (!_finished)
{
foreach (object workObject in _workList)
{
if (!workObject.IsFinished)
{
workObject.DoSomeWork();
}
}
Thread.Sleep(1000);
}
}
}
The QueueAsyncWork function pushes a work item onto the polling list for a dedicated work thread, of which there will only over be one. My problem is not with writing the QueueAsyncWork function--that's fine. My question is, what do I return to the caller? What should SomeHandle be?
The existing .Net classes for this are geared towards the situation where the asynchronous operation can be encapsulated in a single method call that returns. That's not the case here--all of the work objects do their work on the same thread, and a complete work operation might span multiple calls to workObject.DoSomeWork(). In this case, what's a reasonable approach for offering the caller some handle for progress notification, completion, and getting the final outcome of the operation?
Yes, implement IAsyncResult (or rather, an extended version of it, to provide for progress reporting).
public class WorkObjectHandle : IAsyncResult, IDisposable
{
private int _percentComplete;
private ManualResetEvent _waitHandle;
public int PercentComplete {
get {return _percentComplete;}
set
{
if (value < 0 || value > 100) throw new InvalidArgumentException("Percent complete should be between 0 and 100");
if (_percentComplete = 100) throw new InvalidOperationException("Already complete");
if (value == 100 && Complete != null) Complete(this, new CompleteArgs(WorkObject));
_percentComplete = value;
}
public IWorkObject WorkObject {get; private set;}
public object AsyncState {get {return WorkObject;}}
public bool IsCompleted {get {return _percentComplete == 100;}}
public event EventHandler<CompleteArgs> Complete; // CompleteArgs in a usual pattern
// you may also want to have Progress event
public bool CompletedSynchronously {get {return false;}}
public WaitHandle
{
get
{
// initialize it lazily
if (_waitHandle == null)
{
ManualResetEvent newWaitHandle = new ManualResetEvent(false);
if (Interlocked.CompareExchange(ref _waitHandle, newWaitHandle, null) != null)
newWaitHandle.Dispose();
}
return _waitHandle;
}
}
public void Dispose()
{
if (_waitHandle != null)
_waitHandle.Dispose();
// dispose _workObject too, if needed
}
public WorkObjectHandle(IWorkObject workObject)
{
WorkObject = workObject;
_percentComplete = 0;
}
}
public class AsyncScheduler
{
private Queue<WorkObjectHandle> _workQueue = new Queue<WorkObjectHandle>();
private bool _finished = false;
public WorkObjectHandle QueueAsyncWork(IWorkObject workObject)
{
var handle = new WorkObjectHandle(workObject);
lock(_workQueue)
{
_workQueue.Enqueue(handle);
}
return handle;
}
private void WorkThread()
{
// simplified for the sake of example
while (!_finished)
{
WorkObjectHandle handle;
lock(_workQueue)
{
if (_workQueue.Count == 0) break;
handle = _workQueue.Dequeue();
}
try
{
var workObject = handle.WorkObject;
// do whatever you want with workObject, set handle.PercentCompleted, etc.
}
finally
{
handle.Dispose();
}
}
}
}
If I understand correctly you have a collection of work objects (IWorkObject) that each complete a task via multiple calls to a DoSomeWork method. When an IWorkObject object has finished its work you'd like to respond to that somehow and during the process you'd like to respond to any reported progress?
In that case I'd suggest you take a slightly different approach. You could take a look at the Parallel Extension framework (blog). Using the framework, you could write something like this:
public void QueueWork(IWorkObject workObject)
{
Task.TaskFactory.StartNew(() =>
{
while (!workObject.Finished)
{
int progress = workObject.DoSomeWork();
DoSomethingWithReportedProgress(workObject, progress);
}
WorkObjectIsFinished(workObject);
});
}
Some things to note:
QueueWork now returns void. The reason for this is that the actions that occur when progress is reported or when the task completes have become part of the thread that executes the work. You could of course return the Task that the factory creates and return that from the method (to enable polling for example).
The progress-reporting and finish-handling are now part of the thread because you should always avoid polling when possible. Polling is more expensive because usually you either poll too frequently (too early) or not often enough (too late). There is no reason you can't report on the progress and finishing of the task from within the thread that is running the task.
The above could also be implemented using the (lower level) ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem method.
Using QueueUserWorkItem:
public void QueueWork(IWorkObject workObject)
{
ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem(() =>
{
while (!workObject.Finished)
{
int progress = workObject.DoSomeWork();
DoSomethingWithReportedProgress(workObject, progress);
}
WorkObjectIsFinished(workObject);
});
}
The WorkObject class can contain the properties that need to be tracked.
public class WorkObject
{
public PercentComplete { get; private set; }
public IsFinished { get; private set; }
public void DoSomeWork()
{
// work done here
this.PercentComplete = 50;
// some more work done here
this.PercentComplete = 100;
this.IsFinished = true;
}
}
Then in your example:
Change the collection from a List to a Dictionary that can hold Guid values (or any other means of uniquely identifying the value).
Expose the correct WorkObject's properties by having the caller pass the Guid that it received from QueueAsyncWork.
I'm assuming that you'll start WorkThread asynchronously (albeit, the only asynchronous thread); plus, you'll have to make retrieving the dictionary values and WorkObject properties thread-safe.
private Dictionary<Guid, WorkObject> _workList =
new Dictionary<Guid, WorkObject>();
private bool _finished = false;
public Guid QueueAsyncWork(WorkObject workObject)
{
Guid guid = Guid.NewGuid();
// simplified for the sake of example
_workList.Add(guid, workObject);
return guid;
}
private void WorkThread()
{
// simplified for the sake of example
while (!_finished)
{
foreach (WorkObject workObject in _workList)
{
if (!workObject.IsFinished)
{
workObject.DoSomeWork();
}
}
Thread.Sleep(1000);
}
}
// an example of getting the WorkObject's property
public int GetPercentComplete(Guid guid)
{
WorkObject workObject = null;
if (!_workList.TryGetValue(guid, out workObject)
throw new Exception("Unable to find Guid");
return workObject.PercentComplete;
}
The simplest way to do this is described here. Suppose you have a method string DoSomeWork(int). You then create a delegate of the correct type, for example:
Func<int, string> myDelegate = DoSomeWork;
Then you call the BeginInvoke method on the delegate:
int parameter = 10;
myDelegate.BeginInvoke(parameter, Callback, null);
The Callback delegate will be called once your asynchronous call has completed. You can define this method as follows:
void Callback(IAsyncResult result)
{
var asyncResult = (AsyncResult) result;
var #delegate = (Func<int, string>) asyncResult.AsyncDelegate;
string methodReturnValue = #delegate.EndInvoke(result);
}
Using the described scenario, you can also poll for results or wait on them. Take a look at the url I provided for more info.
Regards,
Ronald
If you don't want to use async callbacks, you can use an explicit WaitHandle, such as a ManualResetEvent:
public abstract class WorkObject : IDispose
{
ManualResetEvent _waitHandle = new ManualResetEvent(false);
public void DoSomeWork()
{
try
{
this.DoSomeWorkOverride();
}
finally
{
_waitHandle.Set();
}
}
protected abstract DoSomeWorkOverride();
public void WaitForCompletion()
{
_waitHandle.WaitOne();
}
public void Dispose()
{
_waitHandle.Dispose();
}
}
And in your code you could say
using (var workObject = new SomeConcreteWorkObject())
{
asyncScheduler.QueueAsyncWork(workObject);
workObject.WaitForCompletion();
}
Don't forget to call Dispose on your workObject though.
You can always use alternate implementations which create a wrapper like this for every work object, and who call _waitHandle.Dispose() in WaitForCompletion(), you can lazily instantiate the wait handle (careful: race conditions ahead), etc. (That's pretty much what BeginInvoke does for delegates.)

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