Develop Reference

Running a thread in the background when controller return to UI with full results - async call of a function from Controller method

Hi I have Controller method as below
[HttpPost]
public JsonResult Post(string vehiclesString, string Entity, int EntityId, ApplicationUser CurrentUser)
{
//https://stackify.com/understanding-asp-net-performance-for-reading-incoming-data/
List<Vehicle> vehicles = Newtonsoft.Json.JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<List<Vehicle>>(vehiclesString);
InputFieldController c = new InputFieldController();
var errors = new List<string>();
try
{
//let's get model for each of the input field
InputFieldController icController = new InputFieldController();
List<InputField> fields = icController.GetNamesValues("VehicleField", -1, "Vehicle", 0);
foreach (Vehicle vehicle in vehicles)
{
//convert array of strings into array of input fields
if (fields.Count != vehicle.ValueStrings.Count)
{
throw new Exception("Vehicle columns mismatch. Expected "
+ fields.Count + " fields, but received " + vehicle.ValueStrings.Count);
}
for (int i = 0; i < fields.Count; i++)
{
InputField field = fields[i];
string cell = vehicle.ValueStrings[i];
if ((cell != null || cell != String.Empty) && (field.Type == "radio" || field.Type == "dropdown"))
{
var f = field.InputDropdowns.Where(x => x.Name == cell).FirstOrDefault();
if (f != null)
{
field.InputValue.InputDropdownId = f.InputDropdownId;
}
else
field.InputValue.InputDropdownId = null;
}
else
{
field.InputValue.Value = cell;
}
vehicle.Values.Add(field);
}
vehicle.Blob = Newtonsoft.Json.JsonConvert.SerializeObject(vehicle.Values);
Vehicle v = new Vehicle();
if (vehicle.VehicleId == 0)
{
v = this.DomainLogicUnitOfWork.VehicleManager.Create(vehicle, Entity, EntityId);
}
}
JsonResult data = Json(new
{
success = true,
});
List<Vehicle> vehiclesList = this.DomainLogicUnitOfWork.VehicleManager.List(Entity, EntityId);
if (vehiclesList != null)
foreach (Vehicle v in vehiclesList)
{
if ((v != null) && (v.Blob != null))
v.Values = Newtonsoft.Json.JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<List<InputField>>(v.Blob);
}
//Task task = Task.Run(async () => await this.DomainLogicUnitOfWork.VehicleInfoManager.CreateOrUpdate(Entity, EntityId));
/*
* Here I have to call the this.DomainLogicUnitOfWork.VehicleInfoManager.CreateOrUpdate(string Entity, int EntityId) asynchronously
* but return the data without waiting for the CreateOrUpdate to complete
*/
System.Web.Hosting.HostingEnvironment.QueueBackgroundWorkItem(async cancellationToken =>
{
await this.DomainLogicUnitOfWork.VehicleInfoManager.CreateOrUpdate(vehiclesList, Entity, EntityId);
});
return data;
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
LogHandler.LogError(9000, "Error updating input fields", ex);
errors.Add("Error 9000:" + ex.Message);
return Json(new
{
error = ex.Message
});
}
}
And I have CreateOrUpdate method defined as below in VehicleInfoManager class
public async Task CreateOrUpdate(string Entity, int EntityId)
{
//do some stuff
var task = Task.Run(() => Test(Entity, EntityId));
//do other stuff
await task;
//some more stuff
}
And Test method is as follows
private void Test(string Entity, int EntityId)
{
List<VehicleInfo> addList; List<VehicleInfo> updateList;
try
{
this.GetAddAndUpdateList(Entity, EntityId, out addList, out updateList);
if ((addList != null) && (addList.Count > 0))
using (var cont = this.UnitOfWork.Context)
{
foreach (var a in addList)
{
cont.VehicleInfos.Add(a);
}
cont.SaveChanges();
}
if ((updateList != null) && (updateList.Count > 0))
using (var cont = this.UnitOfWork.Context)
{
foreach (var a in updateList)
{
var aa = cont.VehicleInfos?.Where(x => x.VehicleInfoId == a.VehicleInfoId)?.FirstOrDefault();
aa.Address_City = a.Address_City;
aa.Address_Country = a.Address_Country;
aa.Address_StateCode = a.Address_StateCode;
aa.Address_Street1 = a.Address_Street1;
aa.Address_Street2 = a.Address_Street2;
aa.Address_Zip = a.Address_Zip;
aa.ChassisYear = a.ChassisYear;
aa.EngineFamilyName = a.EngineFamilyName;
aa.Entity = a.Entity;
aa.EntityId = a.EntityId;
aa.InputFieldEntity = a.InputFieldEntity;
aa.InputFieldEntityId = a.InputFieldEntityId;
aa.InputFieldGroup = a.InputFieldGroup;
aa.LicensePlate = a.LicensePlate;
aa.Manufacturer = a.Manufacturer;
aa.ModelYear = a.ModelYear;
aa.PurchasedDate = a.PurchasedDate;
aa.RegHoldClearBy = a.RegHoldClearBy;
aa.RegHoldClearDate = a.RegHoldClearDate;
aa.RegHoldComment = a.RegHoldComment;
aa.RegHoldSet = a.RegHoldSet;
aa.RegHoldSetBy = a.RegHoldSetBy;
aa.RegHoldSetDate = a.RegHoldSetDate;
aa.TrailerPlate = a.TrailerPlate;
aa.UpdatedBy = a.UpdatedBy;
aa.UpdatedDate = a.UpdatedDate;
aa.VehicleId = a.VehicleId;
aa.VehicleOperator = a.VehicleOperator;
aa.VehicleOwner = a.VehicleOwner;
aa.VIN = a.VIN;
}
cont.SaveChanges();
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
ARB.Logging.LogHandler.LogError(9001, "CreateOrUpdate(string Entity, int EntityId) in class VehicleInfoManager", ex);
throw ex;
}
}
What I want is, I want two things here
the Post method to call or start the CreateOrUpdate method as background call but instead of waiting until the CreateOrUpdate method finishes, it should return the result data to UI and continue the big task CreateOrUpdate in the background.
Is there anyway to start the background method CreateOrUpdate after sometime like (10 mins etc) post method returns to UI, if it can't be done, its OK we don't have to worry but just asking if there is anyway to trigger this from within the same application
When I implemented it in the above way, even after using System.Web.Hosting.HostingEnvironment.QueueBackgroundWorkItem I am still getting the null http context at the following location
user = System.Web.HttpContext.Current.User.Identity.Name; url = System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Request.Url.ToString();
System.Web.HttpContext.Current is coming out as null.
and the application is breaking,
I chaned my async call to the following to use HostingEnvironment.QueueBackgroundWorkItem, still the same htt current context is coming out as null, any help please
System.Web.Hosting.HostingEnvironment.QueueBackgroundWorkItem(async cancellationToken =>
{
await this.DomainLogicUnitOfWork.VehicleInfoManager.CreateOrUpdate(Entity, EntityId);
});
Thank you

System.Web.HttpContext.Current is maintained by the ASP.NET's SynchronizationContext.
When you start a new Task, the code will be executing on another thread pool thread without a SynchronizationContext and the value of System.Web.HttpContext.Current is not safe to use, whatever its value.
When the execution of the action method (Post) ends, the request will end and the HttpContext instance will be invalid, even if you mange to get a reference to it.
Also, there is no guarantee that that code you posted to the thread pool will run to complete, since it's out of ASP.NET control and ASP.NET won't be aware of it if IIS decides, for some reason, to recycle the application pool or the web application.
If you to post background work, use HostingEnvironment.QueueBackgroundWorkItem. Beware if its constraints.

Multithreaded c# console app to scrape data from sites

I have written an app that goes through our own properties and scraps the data. To make sure I don't run through the same URLs, I am using a MySQL database to store the URL, flag it once its processed. All this was being done in a single thread and it's fine if I had only few thousand entries. But I have few hundred thousand entries that I need to parse so I need to make changes in the code (I am newbie in multithreading in general). I found an example and was trying to copy the style but doesn't seem to work. Anyone know what the issue is with the following code?
EDIT: Sorry didn't mean to make people guess the issue but was stupid of me to include the exception. Here is the exception
"System.InValidCastException: 'Specified cast is not valid.'"
When I start the process it collects the URLs from the database and then never hits DoWork method
//This will get the entries from the database
List<Mappings> items = bot.GetUrlsToProcess(100);
if (items != null)
{
var tokenSource = new CancellationTokenSource();
var token = tokenSource.Token;
Worker.Done = new Worker.DoneDelegate(WorkerDone);
foreach (var item in items)
{
urls.Add(item.Url);
WaitingTasks.Enqueue(new Task(id => new Worker().DoWork((int)id, item.Url, token), item.Url, token));
}
LaunchTasks();
}
static async void LaunchTasks()
{
// keep checking until we're done
while ((WaitingTasks.Count > 0) || (RunningTasks.Count > 0))
{
// launch tasks when there's room
while ((WaitingTasks.Count > 0) && (RunningTasks.Count < MaxRunningTasks))
{
Task task = WaitingTasks.Dequeue();
lock (RunningTasks) RunningTasks.Add((int)task.AsyncState, task);
task.Start();
}
UpdateConsole();
await Task.Delay(300); // wait before checking again
}
UpdateConsole(); // all done
}
static void UpdateConsole()
{
Console.Write(string.Format("\rwaiting: {0,3:##0} running: {1,3:##0} ", WaitingTasks.Count, RunningTasks.Count));
}
static void WorkerDone(int id)
{
lock (RunningTasks) RunningTasks.Remove(id);
}
public class Worker
{
public delegate void DoneDelegate(int taskId);
public static DoneDelegate Done { private get; set; }
public async void DoWork(object id, string url, CancellationToken token)
{
if (token.IsCancellationRequested) return;
Content obj;
try
{
int tries = 0;
bool IsUrlProcessed = true;
DateTime dtStart = DateTime.Now;
string articleDate = string.Empty;
try
{
ScrapeWeb bot = new ScrapeWeb();
SearchApi searchApi = new SearchApi();
SearchHits searchHits = searchApi.Url(url, 5, 0);
if (searchHits.Hits.Count() == 0)
{
obj = await bot.ReturnArticleObject(url);
if (obj.Code != HttpStatusCode.OK)
{
Console.WriteLine(string.Format("\r Status is {0}", obj.Code));
tries = itemfound.UrlMaxTries + 1;
IsUrlProcessed = false;
itemfound.HttpCode = obj.Code;
}
else
{
string title = obj.Title;
string content = obj.Contents;
string description = obj.Description;
Articles article = new Articles();
article.Site = url.GetSite();
article.Content = content;
article.Title = title;
article.Url = url.ToLower();
article.Description = description;
string strThumbNail = HtmlHelper.GetImageUrl(url, obj.RawResponse);
article.Author = HtmlHelper.GetAuthor(url, obj.RawResponse);
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(strThumbNail))
{
//This condition needs to be added to remove ?n=<number> from EP thumbnails
if (strThumbNail.Contains("?"))
{
article.ImageUrl = strThumbNail.Substring(0, strThumbNail.IndexOf("?")).Replace("http:", "https:");
}
else
article.ImageUrl = strThumbNail.Replace("http:", "https:");
}
else
{
article.ImageUrl = string.IsNullOrEmpty(strThumbNail) ? article.Url.GetDefaultImageUrls() : strThumbNail.Replace("http:", "https:");
}
articleDate = HtmlHelper.GetPublishDate(url, obj.RawResponse);
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(articleDate))
article.Pubdate = DateTime.Now;
else
article.Pubdate = DateTime.Parse(articleDate);
var client = new Index(searchApi);
var result = client.Upsert(article);
itemfound.HttpCode = obj.Code;
if (result)
{
itemfound.DateCreated = DateTime.Parse(articleDate);
itemfound.DateModified = DateTime.Parse(articleDate);
UpdateItem(itemfound);
}
else
{
tries = itemfound.UrlMaxTries + 1;
IsUrlProcessed = false;
itemfound.DateCreated = DateTime.Parse(articleDate);
itemfound.DateModified = DateTime.Parse(articleDate) == null ? DateTime.Now : DateTime.Parse(articleDate);
UpdateItem(itemfound, tries, IsUrlProcessed);
}
}
}
else
{
tries = itemfound.UrlMaxTries + 1;
IsUrlProcessed = true;
itemfound.HttpCode = HttpStatusCode.OK;
itemfound.DateCreated = DateTime.Parse(articleDate);
itemfound.DateModified = DateTime.Parse(articleDate) == null ? DateTime.Now : DateTime.Parse(articleDate);
}
}
catch (Exception e)
{
tries = itemfound.UrlMaxTries + 1;
IsUrlProcessed = false;
itemfound.DateCreated = DateTime.Parse(articleDate);
itemfound.DateModified = DateTime.Parse(articleDate) == null ? DateTime.Now : DateTime.Parse(articleDate);
}
finally
{
DateTime dtEnd = DateTime.Now;
Console.WriteLine(string.Format("\r Total time taken to process items is {0}", (dtEnd - dtStart).TotalSeconds));
}
}
catch (Exception e)
{
Console.WriteLine(e);
}
Done((int)id);
}
}
All this code is based from Best multi-thread approach for multiple web requests this link. Can someone tell me how to get this approach running?

I think the problem is in the way you're creating your tasks:
new Task(id => new Worker().DoWork((int)id, item.Url, token), item.Url, token)
This Task constructor overload expected Action<object> delegate. That means id will be typed as object and you need to cast it back to something useful first.
Parameters
action
Type: System.Action<Object>
The delegate that represents the code to execute in the task.
state
Type: System.Object
An object representing data to be used by the action.
cancellationToken
Type: System.Threading.CancellationToken
-The CancellationToken that that the new task will observe.
You decided to cast it to int by calling (int)id, but you're passing item.Url as the object itself. I can't tell you 100% what the type of Url is but I don't expect Url-named property to be of type int.

Based on what #MarcinJuraszek said I just went back to my code and added an int as I couldn't find another way to resolve it. Here is the change I made
int i=0
foreach (var item in items)
{
urls.Add(item.Url);
WaitingTasks.Enqueue(new Task(id => new Worker().DoWork((string)id, item.Url, token), item.Url, token));
i++;
}

Task<T>.Factory.StartNew in ASP.NET MVC

I'm stuck with a problem. I need help...
In general, I have an ASP.NET MVC 5 project. When a user clicks on "Save" button, I run some code in a new created task. I need to know the result of operation, so I return the instance of my class ChangesMade. Then I serialze the object to JSON format and pass to a view. Then I check if result is true, I open an url in a new window.
So, in my controller I have the following:
public async Task<ActionResult> Save(here some parameters)
{
var changes = await _model.SaveAsync(some parameters);
return NewtownJson(changes);
}
The main saving logic is the following:
public async Task<ChangesMade> SaveAsync(some parameters here)
{
var data = (await _model.GetData(some parameter)).ToList();
// create a task of ChangesMade that contains public bool property MemoAdded
// that I need to pass to a view to know the result of operation
var task = Task<ChangesMade>.Factory.StartNew(() =>
{
ChangesMade changes = new ChangesMade();
try
{
using (var tr = new TransactionScope())
{
// some code here omitted for simplicity…
// if (someCondition == true) changes.MemoAdded = true;
tr.Complete();
}
return changes;
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
throw ex;
}
});
try
{
task.Wait();
}
catch (AggregateException ex)
{
string msg = "";
msg= ex.Flatten().InnerExceptions
.Where(e => e != null)
.Select(e => e.Message)
.Aggregate(msg, (current, message) => current + " " + message + ";")
.TrimEnd(';');
throw new Exception(msg);
}
return task.Result;
}
I publish the project on two sites on IIS. The first works fine. But the second doesn't - by some reason, it always returns changes.MemoAdded false to the view.
I can't find out a reason of that. I don't have a clue what to do ...

Entity Framework sometimes doesn't insert record

I have a very ugly problem with a code made by a co worker. The action is within a TransactionScope. First a database insert is performed:
var billingRecord = new Billing
{
ACCOUNT_ID = AccountId,
AMOUNT = Amount,
};
_ObjectContext.AddToBilling(billingRecord);
_ObjectContext.SaveChanges(SaveOptions.None)
Then a web service call is performed:
var webServiceCallResult = Request(params);
if (webServiceCallResult.Result == 1)
{
success = true;
}
else
{
success = false;
}
If the web service call is ok, the transaction is completed in a finally block:
finally
{
if (success)
{
tran.Complete();
_ObjectContext.AcceptAllChanges();
_Logger.Info(String.Format("Transaction completed"));
}
else
{
_Logger.Info(String.Format("Transaction uncompleted"));
}
}
The problem is that for some reason, some records are not stored in the database. I tested a lot of transactions but that never happen to me in development environment, but sometimes happens in production environment. When I say "sometimes" it's because this situation is very unusual or rare.
Looking in the log file, I can see the message:
Transaction completed
and no exceptions displayed, so the web service call is good and the transaction was completed but the record was not inserted to table.
I know that is not necessary to create a TransactionScope because there is a only a insert and no additional database operations are needed. The object context of EF is created like a global var in the class and is never disposed , that is a bad practice but as far as I have knowledge the ObjectContext will be destroyed by the garbage collector, so I think that is not what causes the problem.
I read a lot about transactions and the correct way to use a Entity Framework ObjectContext and the methods SaveChanges() and AcceptAllChanges() and even the code is not using the best practices that should work. I don't want only refactor the code, I would like to know the real reason of the problem.
I would appreciate your help.
I am using:
ASP.NET MVC 3,
Entity Framework 5.0,
Ninject,
DevExpress
Here is the the complete class:
public class Implementation : IExecute
{
private readonly Logger _Logger;
private readonly ExampleEntities _ObjectContext = new ExampleEntities();
public TopUpExecuteImplementation()
{
_Logger = LogManager.GetLogger("Logger");
}
public Response perfomOperation(String account, String amount)
{
var success = false;
using (var tran = new System.Transactions.TransactionScope())
{
try
{
var accountRecord =
_ObjectContext.Accounts.First(
p => p.Account.Equals(account, StringComparison.InvariantCultureIgnoreCase));
var billingRecord = new Billing
{
ACCOUNT = account,
AMOUNT = amount,
};
_ObjectContext.AddToBillings(billingRecord);
_ObjectContext.SaveChanges(SaveOptions.None);
var webServiceCallResult = Request(account,amount);
_Logger.Info(String.Format("Request Result {0} ", webServiceCallResult.Result));
if (webServiceCallResult.Result == 0)
{
success = false;
}
else
{
if ((String.IsNullOrEmpty(webServiceCallResult.statusCode) == false) &&
(webServiceCallResult.statusCode.Equals("Success",
StringComparison.InvariantCultureIgnoreCase)))
{
success = true;
}
else
{
success = false;
}
}
}
catch (OptimisticConcurrencyException ex)
{
_Logger.Info(String.Format("Exception type {0} Exception {1} Inner Exception {2} ",
ex.GetType().ToString(), ex.Message,
ex.InnerException != null ? ex.InnerException.Message : String.Empty));
_ObjectContext.SaveChanges();
success = true;
}
catch (Exception e)
{
_Logger.Info(String.Format("Exception type {0} Exception {1} Inner Exception {2} ",
e.GetType().ToString(), e.Message,
e.InnerException != null ? e.InnerException.Message : String.Empty));
success = false;
}
finally
{
if (success)
{
tran.Complete();
_ObjectContext.AcceptAllChanges();
_Logger.Info(String.Format("Transaction completed"));
}
else
_Logger.Info(String.Format("Transaction uncompleted"));
}
}
return returnValue;
}
}

Duplicate entries on server response .net

Scenario
One windows service polls a url every two minutes to retrieve certain data.
If any data has been added since the previous call, the data is retrieved and stored otherwise the loop carries on.
Issue
Sometimes a request takes more than two minutes to return a response.
When this happens, the next request is still made and finds new data, since the previous request hasn't return a response yet
This results in duplicate entries when the data is stored.
What I've tried
I tried to handle that by using a boolean like so:
Boolean InProgress = true;
foreach (var item in Lists)
{
\\Make a request and return new data (if any)
InProgress = false;
if (InProgress = false)
{
\\Store new data
}
}
This doesn't solve the issue. I believe I'm using the boolean in wrong place, but I'm not sure where it should.
This is the loop that makes the request and store the data
void serviceTimer_Elapsed(object sender, ElapsedEventArgs e)
{
try
{
Data getCredentials = new Data();
DataTable credentials = getCredentials.loadCredentials();
Boolean InProgress = true;
for (int i = 0; i < credentials.Rows.Count; i++)
{
if (credentials != null)
{
var PBranchID = (int)credentials.Rows[i]["PortalBranchID"];
var negRef = (int)credentials.Rows[i]["NegotiatorRef"];
var Username = credentials.Rows[i]["Username"].ToString();
var Password = credentials.Rows[i]["Password"].ToString();
var Domain = credentials.Rows[i]["Domain"].ToString();
var FooCompanyBaseUrl = "https://" + Domain + ".FooCompany.com/";
Data getCalls = new Data();
DataTable calls = getCalls.loadCalls(PBranchID);
//If it's not the first call
if (calls != null && calls.Rows.Count > 0)
{
//Makes a call
DateTime CreatedSince = DateTime.SpecifyKind((DateTime)calls.Rows[0]["LastSuccessOn"], DateTimeKind.Local);
string IssueListUrl = FooCompany.WebApi.V2.URLs.Issues(BaseUrl, null, CreatedSince.ToUniversalTime(), null);
FooCompany.WebApi.V2.DTO.PrevNextPagedList resultIssueList;
resultIssueList = FooCompany.WebApi.Client.Helper.Utils.Getter<Foocompany.WebApi.V2.DTO.PrevNextPagedList>(IssueListUrl, Username, Password);
InProgress = false;
if (InProgress == false)
{
if (resultIssueList.Items.Count > 0)
{
//If call returns new issues, save call
Data saveCalls = new Data();
saveCalls.saveCalls(PBranchID);
foreach (var item in resultIssueList.Items)
{
var Issue = FooCompany.WebApi.Client.Helper.Utils.Getter<FooCompany.WebApi.V2.DTO.Issue>(item, Username, Password);
string TenantSurname = Issue.Surname;
string TenantEmail = Issue.EmailAddress;
Data tenants = new Data();
int tenantPropRef = Convert.ToInt32(tenants.loadTenantPropRef(PBranchID, TenantSurname, TenantEmail));
Data Properties = new Data();
DataTable propAddress = Properties.loadPropAddress(PBranchID, tenantPropRef);
var Address1 = propAddress.Rows[0]["Address1"];
var Address2 = propAddress.Rows[0]["Address2"];
var AddressFolder = Address1 + "," + Address2;
if (!Directory.Exists("path"))
{
Directory.CreateDirectory("path");
}
string ReportPDFDestination = "path";
if (File.Exists(ReportPDFDestination))
{
File.Delete(ReportPDFDestination);
}
FooCompany.WebApi.Client.Helper.Utils.DownloadFileAuthenticated(FooCompany.WebApi.V2.URLs.IssueReport(BaseUrl, Issue.Id), Username, Password, ReportPDFDestination);
//Store data
}
IssueListUrl = resultIssueList.NextURL;
}
}
}
else
{
continue;
}
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
//write to log
}
}
Question
I'm sure there is a better way than a boolean.
Could anyone advice a different method to handle the issue properly?
Thanks.
Solution
I ended up using a combination of both Thomas and Mason suggestions. I wrapped a lock statement around the main function of my windows service and used a boolean inside the function section that makes the call to the remote server.
Tested many times and it's error free.

You seems to have a problem of synchronisation, just surround the code that iterate though the List with a lock, and you will be fine.
public class MyClass{
private readonly object internalLock= new object();
private bool AlreadyRunning { get; set; }
void serviceTimer_Elapsed(object sender, ElapsedEventArgs e)
{
if(AlreadyRunning){
return;
}
try{
lock(internalLock){
Thread.MemoryBarrier();
if(AlreadyRunning){
return;
}
AlreadyRunning = true;
...Do all the things...
}
}
catch(Exception e){
..Exception handling
}
finally
{
AlreadyRunning = false;
}
}

bool InProgress=false;
void serviceTimer_Elapsed(object sender, ElapsedEventArgs e)
{
if(!InProgress)
{
InProgress=true;
//retrieve data
InProgress=false;
}
}
Your InProgress variable needs to be declared outside the event handler. When you enter the method, check to see if it's already running. If it is, then we do nothing. If it's not running, then we say it's running, retrieve our data, then reset our flag to say we've finished running.
You'll probably need to add appropriate locks for thread safety, similar to Thomas's answer.