Develop Reference

Task WhenAll exception

I have to execute about 10 tasks and then obtain their results (all different). I have created a wrapper to catch the exceptions, I don't want to know which one failed, but if a failure it should not continue. I also use WhenAll for this, but the problem is that then I get the results of each one and I get an unhandled exception, is there no way not to continue if there are any exceptions from my wrapper?
var 1Task = api.1TaskAsync();
var 2Task = api.2TaskAsync();
var 3Task = api.3TaskAsync();
await taskService.RunSafeAsync(() => Task.WhenAll(1Task, 2Task, 3Task));
var result = await 1Task; <-------------exception
TaskService:
public async Task RunSafeAsync(Func<Task> task)
{
try
{
await task();
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
}
}

You can't retrieve the result from a function that has faulted. It doesn't have a result-- because it never finished. Attempting to retrieve its result (as you are) is going to throw an exception, because there is nothing to assign to the variable that is supposed to accept the return value.
To avoid this, check if the task is faulted before attempting to retrieve the result.
var 1Task = api.1TaskAsync();
var 2Task = api.2TaskAsync();
var 3Task = api.3TaskAsync();
await taskService.RunSafeAsync(() => Task.WhenAll(1Task, 2Task, 3Task));
if (!1Task.IsFaulted)
{
var result = await 1Task;

If you just want to not continue if there was an exception in any of the methods then don't wrap WhenAll and react if it throws.
try
{
await Task.WhenAll(...);
// None of the tasks threw an exception;
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
// One or more tasks threw an exception
return / throw / etc.
}
//Continue the happy path
Cancellation token
If you need to attempt tasks simultaneously and abort all tasks if one fails than you'll need to look at the cancellation token and activate the token if any exceptions occur (not in the catch for whole WhenAll, but each tasks would have to be executed in a try..catch).
Maybe sequentially?
BTW. With .WhenAll all tasks will be attempted. Maybe you actually want to execute the tasks in sequence and continue only if there are not exceptions:
try
{
await F1();
await F2();
}
catch(Exception ex)
{
}
This doesn't seem slick but it makes it very clear that task 2 will not run unless task 1 is a success.

How to catch CancellationToken.ThrowIfCancellationRequested

When this section of code is executed
cancellationToken.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
The try catch block doesn't handle the exception.
public EnumerableObservable(IEnumerable<T> enumerable)
{
this.enumerable = enumerable;
this.cancellationSource = new CancellationTokenSource();
this.cancellationToken = cancellationSource.Token;
this.workerTask = Task.Factory.StartNew(() =>
{
try
{
foreach (var value in this.enumerable)
{
//if task cancellation triggers, raise the proper exception
//to stop task execution
cancellationToken.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
foreach (var observer in observerList)
{
observer.OnNext(value);
}
}
}
catch (AggregateException e)
{
Console.Write(e.ToString());
}
}, this.cancellationToken);
}

AggregateExceptions are thrown when a possible multitude of exceptions during asynchronous operations occured. They contain all exceptions that were raised e.g. in chained Tasks (via .ContinueWith) or within cascaded async/await calls.
As #Mitch Stewart pointed out, the correct exception-type to handle would be OperationCancelledException in your example.

Since ThrowIfCancellationRequested() throws an exception of type OperationCanceledException, you must catch OperationCanceledException or one of its base classes.
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.operationcanceledexception(v=vs.110).aspx

How to propagate an Exception from a Task / Thread to the method that created this Task in c#?

I do not know how I should properly propagate an exception from a Task to the thread that created this task:
private void threadMT()
{
Task task;
try
{
task = new Task(() =>
{
throw new Exception("blabla");
});
task.Start();
while(!task.IsCompleted)
Thread.Sleep(500);
if (task.IsFaulted)
throw task.Exception;
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
throw ex;
}
}
When this line is reached:
throw new Exception("blabla");
the app halts saying that the exception is not handled.
Can it be propagated back to method?
Thx in advance.

The easiest way for you to propagate an exception from a Task executed on the thread-pool is to turn it to actually return a Task which you can await on:
public async Task AwaitOnTaskAsync()
{
try
{
await DoStuffWithThreadAsync();
}
catch (Exception e)
{
}
}
public Task DoStuffWithThreadAsync()
{
return Task.Run(() => { throw new Exception("blabla"); });
}
await will make sure to unwrap the exception out of the Task, allowing you to apply a try-catch on it.
Side Note - Don't use the Task constructor, instead use Task.Run to return a "hot task" (one which has already started). There's no point in creating a Task which you're actively blocking on using Thread.Sleep later on, either execute it synchronously or use async-await to asynchronously wait on the task.

Exception is not caught at Cancelation of Task.Run

I have a class Worker which is doing some work (with simulated workload):
public class Worker
{ ...
public void DoWork(CancellationToken ct)
{
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
ct.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
Thread.Sleep(2000);
}
}
Now I want to use this method in a Task.Run (from my Windows Forms App,at button-click) which can be cancelled:
private CancellationTokenSource _ctSource;
try
{
Task.Run(() =>
{
_worker.DoWork(_ctSource.Token);
},_ctSource.Token);
}
catch (AggregateException aex)
{
String g = aex.Message;
}
catch (OperationCanceledException ex)
{
String g = ex.Message;
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
String g = ex.Message;
}
But when the task is started, I can't cancel it with _ctSource.Cancel();
I get an error in visual studio that the OperationCanceledException is not handled!
But I surrounded the Task.Run Call in a try-catch-clause! The Exception which ocurrs in the Worker object should thrown up or not?
What is the problem?

Your Task.Run call creates the task and then returns immediately. It doesn't ever throw. But the task it creates may fail or be canceled later on.
You have several solutions here:
Use await:
await Task.Run(...)
Attach a continuation depending on the failure/cancellation case:
var task = Task.Run(...);
task.ContinueWith(t => ..., TaskContinuationOptions.OnlyOnCanceled);
task.ContinueWith(t => ..., TaskContinuationOptions.OnlyOnFaulted);
Attach a single continuation on failure:
Task.Run(...).ContinueWith(t => ..., TaskContinuationOptions.NotOnRanToCompletion);
The solution you can/should use depends on the surrounding code.

You need to new the token
private CancellationTokenSource _ctSource = new CancellationTokenSource();
Why are throwing an expectation in DoWork?
Exception from one thread don't bubble up another thread that started the thread.
Cancellation in Managed Threads

If a parallel Task throws an exception it'll return execution and will have it's Exception property (as an AggregateException, you should check for its InnerException) set (and either its IsCanceled or IsFaulted property set to true). Some minimal sample code from a project of mine which escalates the exception to the main thread:
var t = new Task(Initialize);
t.Start();
while (!t.IsCompleted && !t.IsFaulted)
{
// Do other work in the main thread
}
if (t.IsFaulted)
{
if (t.Exception != null)
{
if(t.Exception.InnerException != null)
throw t.Exception.InnerException;
}
throw new InvalidAsynchronousStateException("Initialization failed for an unknown reason");
}
If you use a CancellationTokenSource it should be easy to enhance this to check for IsCanceled (instead of IsFaulted)
You can also use Task.Wait() instead of the while loop... in my project and in that precise case it seemed more appropiate to use the while loop, but you need to wait for the Task to end in one way or another.
If you use Task.Run() you can use a .ContinueWith(Task) which will have the original task passed in (where you can check for IsFaulted or IsCanceled), or have it run only on faulted execution, at your will.

Cancellation Token source and nested tasks

I have a doubt with cancellation token source which I am using as shown in the below code:
void Process()
{
//for the sake of simplicity I am taking 1, in original implementation it is more than 1
var cancellationToken = _cancellationTokenSource.Token;
Task[] tArray = new Task[1];
tArray[0] = Task.Factory.StartNew(() =>
{
cancellationToken.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
//do some work here
MainTaskRoutine();
}, cancellationToken);
try
{
Task.WaitAll(tArray);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
//do error handling here
}
}
void MainTaskRoutine()
{
//for the sake of simplicity I am taking 1, in original implementation it is more than 1
//this method shows that a nested task is created
var cancellationToken = _cancellationTokenSource.Token;
Task[] tArray = new Task[1];
tArray[0] = Task.Factory.StartNew(() =>
{
cancellationToken.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
//do some work here
}, cancellationToken);
try
{
Task.WaitAll(tArray);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
//do error handling here
}
}
Edit: further elaboration
End objective is: when a user cancels the operation, all the immediate pending tasks(either children or grand children) should cancel.
Scenario:
As per above code:
1. I first check whether user has asked for cancellation
2. If user has not asked for cancellation then only continue with the task (Please see Process method).
sample code shows only one task here but actually there can be three or more
Lets say that CPU started processing Task1 while other tasks are still in the Task queue waiting for some CPU to come and execute them.
User requests cancellation: Task 2,3 in Process method are immediately cancelled, but Task 1 will continue to work since it is already undergoing processing.
In Task 1 it calls method MainTaskRoutine, which in turn creates more tasks.
In the function of MainTaskRoutine I have written: cancellationToken.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
So the question is: is it correct way of using CancellationTokenSource as it is dependent on Task.WaitAll()?

[EDITED] As you use an array in your code, I assume there could be multiple tasks, not just one. I also assume that within each task that you're starting from Process you want to do some CPU-bound work first (//do some work here), and then run MainTaskRoutine.
How you handle task cancellation exceptions is determined by your project design workflow. E.g., you could do it inside Process method, or from where you call Process. If your only concern is to remove Task objects from the array where you keep track of the pending tasks, this can be done using Task.ContinueWith. The continuation will be executed regardless of the task's completion status (Cancelled, Faulted or RanToCompletion):
Task Process(CancellationToken cancellationToken)
{
var tArray = new List<Task>();
var tArrayLock = new Object();
var task = Task.Run(() =>
{
cancellationToken.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
//do some work here
return MainTaskRoutine(cancellationToken);
}, cancellationToken);
// add the task to the array,
// use lock as we may remove tasks from this array on a different thread
lock (tArrayLock)
tArray.Add(task);
task.ContinueWith((antecedentTask) =>
{
if (antecedentTask.IsCanceled || antecedentTask.IsFaulted)
{
// handle cancellation or exception inside the task
// ...
}
// remove task from the array,
// could be on a different thread from the Process's thread, use lock
lock (tArrayLock)
tArray.Remove(antecedentTask);
}, TaskContinuationOptions.ExecuteSynchronously);
// add more tasks like the above
// ...
// Return aggregated task
Task[] allTasks = null;
lock (tArrayLock)
allTasks = tArray.ToArray();
return Task.WhenAll(allTasks);
}
Your MainTaskRoutine can be structured in exactly the same way as Process, and have the same method signature (return a Task).
Then you may want to perform a blocking wait on the aggregated task returned by Process, or handle its completion asynchronously, e.g:
// handle the completion asynchronously with a blocking wait
void RunProcessSync()
{
try
{
Process(_cancellationTokenSource.Token).Wait();
MessageBox.Show("Process complete");
}
catch (Exception e)
{
MessageBox.Show("Process cancelled (or faulted): " + e.Message);
}
}
// handle the completion asynchronously using ContinueWith
Task RunProcessAync()
{
return Process(_cancellationTokenSource.Token).ContinueWith((task) =>
{
// check task.Status here
MessageBox.Show("Process complete (or cancelled, or faulted)");
}, TaskScheduler.FromCurrentSynchronizationContext());
}
// handle the completion asynchronously with async/await
async Task RunProcessAync()
{
try
{
await Process(_cancellationTokenSource.Token);
MessageBox.Show("Process complete");
}
catch (Exception e)
{
MessageBox.Show("Process cancelled (or faulted): " + e.Message);
}
}

After doing some research I found this link.
The code now looks like this:
see the usage of CancellationTokenSource.CreateLinkedTokenSource in below code
void Process()
{
//for the sake of simplicity I am taking 1, in original implementation it is more than 1
var cancellationToken = _cancellationTokenSource.Token;
Task[] tArray = new Task[1];
tArray[0] = Task.Factory.StartNew(() =>
{
cancellationToken.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
//do some work here
MainTaskRoutine(cancellationToken);
}, cancellationToken);
try
{
Task.WaitAll(tArray);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
//do error handling here
}
}
void MainTaskRoutine(CancellationToken cancellationToken)
{
//for the sake of simplicity I am taking 1, in original implementation it is more than 1
//this method shows that a nested task is created
using (var cancellationTokenSource = CancellationTokenSource.CreateLinkedTokenSource(cancellationToken))
{
var cancelToken = cancellationTokenSource.Token;
Task[] tArray = new Task[1];
tArray[0] = Task.Factory.StartNew(() =>
{
cancelToken.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
//do some work here
}, cancelToken);
try
{
Task.WaitAll(tArray);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
//do error handling here
}
}
}
Note: I haven't used it, but I will let You know once it is done :)