How do I make an eventhandler run asynchronously?

Solution 1:

So you want to raise the event in a manner that prevents the listeners from blocking the background thread? Gimme a couple minutes to whip up an example; it's pretty simple :-)

Here we go: first an important note! Whenever you call BeginInvoke you must call the corresponding EndInvoke, otherwise if the invoked method threw an exception or returned a value then the ThreadPool thread will never be released back to the pool, resulting in a thread-leak!

class TestHarness
{

    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        var raiser = new SomeClass();

        // Emulate some event listeners
        raiser.SomeEvent += (sender, e) => { Console.WriteLine("   Received event"); };
        raiser.SomeEvent += (sender, e) =>
        {
            // Bad listener!
            Console.WriteLine("   Blocking event");
            System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(5000);
            Console.WriteLine("   Finished blocking event");
        };

        // Listener who throws an exception
        raiser.SomeEvent += (sender, e) =>
        {
            Console.WriteLine("   Received event, time to die!");
            throw new Exception();
        };

        // Raise the event, see the effects
        raiser.DoSomething();

        Console.ReadLine();
    }
}

class SomeClass
{
    public event EventHandler SomeEvent;

    public void DoSomething()
    {
        OnSomeEvent();
    }

    private void OnSomeEvent()
    {
        if (SomeEvent != null)
        {
            var eventListeners = SomeEvent.GetInvocationList();

            Console.WriteLine("Raising Event");
            for (int index = 0; index < eventListeners.Count(); index++)
            {
                var methodToInvoke = (EventHandler)eventListeners[index];
                methodToInvoke.BeginInvoke(this, EventArgs.Empty, EndAsyncEvent, null);
            }
            Console.WriteLine("Done Raising Event");
        }
    }

    private void EndAsyncEvent(IAsyncResult iar)
    {
        var ar = (System.Runtime.Remoting.Messaging.AsyncResult)iar;
        var invokedMethod = (EventHandler)ar.AsyncDelegate;

        try
        {
            invokedMethod.EndInvoke(iar);
        }
        catch
        {
            // Handle any exceptions that were thrown by the invoked method
            Console.WriteLine("An event listener went kaboom!");
        }
    }
}

Solution 2:

With the Task Parallel Library it is now possible to do the following:

Task.Factory.FromAsync( ( asyncCallback, @object ) => this.OperationFinished.BeginInvoke( this, EventArgs.Empty, asyncCallback, @object ), this.OperationFinished.EndInvoke, null );

Solution 3:

Also, if I do not want to pass any parameters to the event handler is my syntax correct by using OperationFinished(null, new EventArgs()) ?

No. Typically, you would call it as:

OperationFinished(this, EventArgs.Empty);

You should always pass an object as a sender - it's expected in the pattern (although typically ignored). EventArgs.Empty is better than new EventArgs(), as well.

In order to fire this in a separate thread, the easiest option is probably to just use the thread pool:

private void RaiseOperationFinished()
{
       ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem( new WaitCallback( (s) =>
           {
              if (this.OperationFinished != null)
                   this.OperationFinished(this, EventArgs.Empty);
           }));
}

That being said, raising an event on a separate thread is something that should be thoroughly documented, as it will potentially cause unexpected behavior.

Solution 4:

Try the BeginInvoke and EndInvoke methods on the event delegate - these return immediately, and allow you to use polling, a wait handle or a callback function to notify you when the method has completed. See here for an overview; in your example, the event is the delegate you'll be using

Solution 5:

Maybe Method2 or Method3 below can help :)

public partial class Form1 : Form
{
    private Thread SecondaryThread;

    public Form1()
    {
        InitializeComponent();

        OperationFinished += callback1;
        OperationFinished += callback2;
        OperationFinished += callback3;
    }

    private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        SecondaryThread = new Thread(new ThreadStart(SecondaryThreadMethod));
        SecondaryThread.Start();
    }

     private void SecondaryThreadMethod()
     {
        Stopwatch sw = new Stopwatch();
        sw.Restart();

        OnOperationFinished(new MessageEventArg("test1"));
        OnOperationFinished(new MessageEventArg("test2"));
        OnOperationFinished(new MessageEventArg("test3"));
        //This is where the program waits for whatever operations take
             //place when OperationFinished is triggered.

        sw.Stop();

        Invoke((MethodInvoker)delegate
        {
            richTextBox1.Text += "Time taken (ms): " + sw.ElapsedMilliseconds + "\n";
        });
     }

    void callback1(object sender, MessageEventArg e)
    {
        Thread.Sleep(2000);
        Invoke((MethodInvoker)delegate
        {
            richTextBox1.Text += e.Message + "\n";
        });
    }
    void callback2(object sender, MessageEventArg e)
    {
        Thread.Sleep(2000);
        Invoke((MethodInvoker)delegate
        {
            richTextBox1.Text += e.Message + "\n";
        });
    }

    void callback3(object sender, MessageEventArg e)
    {
        Thread.Sleep(2000);
        Invoke((MethodInvoker)delegate
        {
            richTextBox1.Text += e.Message + "\n";
        });
    }

    public event EventHandler<MessageEventArg> OperationFinished;

    protected void OnOperationFinished(MessageEventArg e)
    {
        //##### Method1 - Event raised on the same thread ##### 
        //EventHandler<MessageEventArg> handler = OperationFinished;

        //if (handler != null)
        //{
        //    handler(this, e);
        //}

        //##### Method2 - Event raised on (the same) separate thread for all listener #####
        //EventHandler<MessageEventArg> handler = OperationFinished;

        //if (handler != null)
        //{
        //    Task.Factory.StartNew(() => handler(this, e));
        //}

        //##### Method3 - Event raised on different threads for each listener #####
        if (OperationFinished != null)
        {
            foreach (EventHandler<MessageEventArg> handler in OperationFinished.GetInvocationList())
            {
                Task.Factory.FromAsync((asyncCallback, @object) => handler.BeginInvoke(this, e, asyncCallback, @object), handler.EndInvoke, null);
            }
        }
    }
}

public class MessageEventArg : EventArgs
{
    public string Message { get; set; }

    public MessageEventArg(string message)
    {
        this.Message = message;
    }
}

}