Skip the await task response conditional - c#

I have the following code:
//Await #1
var response1 = await doSomething();
if(response1.isSuccess) {
//Await #2
var response2 = await doSomethingElse();
}
Response 1 and response 2 are totally independent and i want to parallelize the await task here.
Basically response 2 takes a lot of time and hence is only invoked when response1 is success.
Is there any way in which i can invoke both tasks and see the result of response 1 and if it is fail, i drop/skip the response of Await#2.

Essentially what you want is to cancel a task, but with a little more logic.
You need to edit doSomethingElse so that it accepts a CancellationToken, and also so that it makes use of it to stop what its doing:
public async Task<Foo> DoSomethingElse(CancellationToken token) {
...
if (token.IsCancellationRequested) {
// stop what you are doing...
// I can't tell you how to implement this without seeing how DoSomethingElse is implemented
}
...
}
Now, get a CancellationToken from a CancellationTokenSource:
var source = new CancellationTokenSource();
var token = source.Token;
And here comes the logic of "if response 1 fails cancel response 2":
var response2Task = DoSomethingElse(token);
var response1 = await DoSomething();
if (!response1.IsSuccess) {
source.Cancel();
} else {
var response2 = await response2Task;
}

var task2 = doSomethingElse();
var response1 = await doSomething();
if(response1.isSuccess) {
var response2 = await task2;
}
This will start the execution of doSomethingElse() immediately, and only wait for its completion when response1.isSuccess == true

You can launch both threads, then once the first task obtains a result, you could either stop, or 'wait' for the second thread to finish.
The conditional logic, imo, should be placed in the first task's thread. If you do not have access to the doSomething, make a lambda in which you will await doSomething's response and then proceed with the condition logic.
How to stop a thread? Here you go, and here you go

This is what you can do:
var task1 = Task.Run(() =>
{
Console.WriteLine("running task 1");
return 1;
});
var task2 = Task.Run(() =>
{
Console.WriteLine("running task 2");
return 2;
});
await Task.WhenAll(task1, task2);
So you will run the 2 tasks in parallel. If you need to check the result of particular tasks, this is the way to do that(it won't trigger the task again if you run Task.WhenAll() previously. It will just get you the results of previously executed tasks):
var result1 = await task1;
var result2 = await task2;
Then you can apply some condition:
if(result1 == 1) return result2;
etc..

Related

Do something periodically while waiting for result of an GetAsync

I want to start an GetAsync or PostAsync and then in a loop do something and check for results.
req1 = client.GetAsync(url_1); // a time consuming request
do
{
//do something here
var req2= await client.GetAsync(url_2);
var result2 = await req2.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
} while (!IsResultReady(req1)); // check if url_1 job is done and stop the loop
var result1 = await req1.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
this example should give you what you need
async Task Main()
{
var mainTask = MyLongRunningTask();
// mainTask is already started without await
do
{
await DoSomethingElse();
} while (!mainTask.IsCompleted);
}
public async Task MyLongRunningTask()
{
Console.WriteLine("Long Running Task Started");
await Task.Delay(3000); // simulating client.GetAsync(url_1)
Console.WriteLine("Long Running Task Finished");
}
async Task DoSomethingElse()
{
Console.WriteLine("doing some other tasks");
await Task.Delay(1000);
}
output:
Long Running Task Started
doing some other tasks
doing some other tasks
doing some other tasks
Long Running Task Finished

C# TaskWhenAll on method which is returing result depending on awaited call

i'm trying to make this code works in async way, but i got some doubts.
public async Task<string> GetAsync(string inputA, string inputB)
{
var result = await AnotherGetAsync(inputA, inputB)
.ConfigureAwait(false);
return result.Enabled
? inputB
: string.Empty;
}
I got some string input collection, and i would like to run this method on them.
Then i would do Task.WhenAll, and filter for non empty strings.
But it won't be async as inside the method i'm already awaiting for the result right?
I assumed the real question is:
If a single item is awaited inside method A, will this run sequential if I use Task.WhenAll for a range of items calling method A?
They will be run simultaneous with Task.WhenAll.
Perhaps it is best explained with an example:
void Main()
{
Test().GetAwaiter().GetResult();
}
private async Task<bool> CheckEmpty(string input)
{
await Task.Delay(200);
return String.IsNullOrEmpty(input);
}
private async Task Test()
{
var list = new List<string>
{
"1",
null,
"2",
""
};
var stopwatch = new Stopwatch();
stopwatch.Start();
// This takes aprox 4 * 200ms == 800ms to complete.
foreach (var itm in list)
{
Console.WriteLine(await CheckEmpty(itm));
}
Console.WriteLine(stopwatch.Elapsed);
Console.WriteLine();
stopwatch.Reset();
stopwatch.Start();
// This takes aprox 200ms to complete.
var tasks = list.Select(itm => CheckEmpty(itm));
var results = await Task.WhenAll(tasks); // Runs all at once.
Console.WriteLine(String.Join(Environment.NewLine, results));
Console.WriteLine(stopwatch.Elapsed);
}
My test results:
False
True
False
True
00:00:00.8006182
False
True
False
True
00:00:00.2017568
If we break this down:
AnotherGetAsync(inputA, inputB)
Returns a Task. Using the await keyword implicitly returns another Task to the code calling GetAsync(string inputA, string inputB).
Using the await keyword will free up the current thread, which is what makes the code asynchronous.
once the Task returned by AnotherGetAsync(inputA, inputB) is complete, result will be set to that Task.Result.
The remainder of the method will then resume:
return result.Enabled
? inputB
: string.Empty;
Setting the Task.Result of the Task returned from GetAsync.
If GetAsync is to be run multiple times, you can use Task.WhenAll to wait for each resulting Task to complete:
Task.WhenAll(yourStringCollection.Select(s => GetAsync(s, "another string"));
Task.WhenAll itself returns another Task that will complete when all the GetAsync tasks have completed:
var strings = await Task.WhenAll(yourStringCollection.Select(s => GetAsync(s, "another string"));
var nonEmptyStrings = strings.Where(s => s != string.Empty);
No, it will be async. When you await a task inside an async method, the task will be awaited when the async method is invoked. Here is your example simplified, using explicit variables for the created tasks:
public async Task<string> GetAsync()
{
var innerTask = InnerGetAsync();
var result = await innerTask;
var stringResult = result.ToString();
return stringResult;
}
Later you create two tasks by invoking the GetAsync() method:
var task1 = GetAsync();
var task2 = GetAsync();
At this point the two tasks are running concurrently. Each one has invoked internally the InnerGetAsync() method, which means that the two innerTasks are also up and running, and awaited. Any code that follows the await will not run before the innerTask is completed.
The completion of each outer task (task1 and task2) is dependent on the completion of its innerTask. Any code that will await task1, will also implicitly await innerTask as well.
After creating the two tasks, you combine them with Task.WhenAll, then do something else, then await the combined task, and finally process the results:
Task<string[]> whenAllTask = Task.WhenAll(task1, task2);
DoSomethingElse();
string[] results = await whenAllTask;
ProcessResults(results);
It is important that the DoSomethingElse() method will run before the two tasks are completed. So at this point three things will be happening concurrently, the DoSomethingElse() and the two active tasks. The await inside the GetAsync() method is local to this method, and does not mean that the generated outer task will be automatically awaited upon creation. To process the results of task1 and task2 you must first await them as well.

How to chain async tasks with a CancellationToken?

I'd like to chain some tasks but conditionally continue with the execution if the CancellationToken I have wasn't fired.
What I'm aiming to achieve is something equivalent to
var cts = new CancellationTokenSource();
var cancellationToken = cts.Token;
var t = Task.Run(async () => {
if (cancellationToken.IsCancellationRequested) return;
await t1();
if (cancellationToken.IsCancellationRequested) return;
await t2();
if (cancellationToken.IsCancellationRequested) return;
await t3();
if (cancellationToken.IsCancellationRequested) return;
await t4();
});
var timeout = Task.Delay(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(4));
var completedTask = await Task.WhenAny(t, timeout);
if (completedTask != t)
{
cts.Cancel();
await t;
}
That's what I have by now and it is working, though it is also verbose.
var cts = new CancellationTokenSource();
var t = Task.Run(async () => {
await t1();
await t2();
await t3();
await t4();
}, cts.Token);
cts.CancelAfter(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(4));
try
{
await t;
}
catch (OperationCanceledException)
{
// The cancellation token was triggered, add logic for that
....
}
Your original code is correct-ish -- it assumes that you always want the individual tasks to run to completion and that if cancelled you want the overall task to complete with success. Neither of these things are idiomatic.
A more normal way to do it would be something like:
var cts = new CancellationTokenSource();
var cancellationToken = cts.Token;
var t = Task.Run(async () => {
cancellationToken.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
await t1(cancellationToken);
cancellationToken.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
await t2(cancellationToken);
cancellationToken.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
await t3(cancellationToken);
cancellationToken.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
await t4(cancellationToken);
}, cancellationToken);
Then, somewhere else:
cts.Cancel();
You can omit the calls to ThrowIfCancellationRequested here assuming that the individual tasks check it fairly soon after entry, but the core idea is that you should be passing the token down to the innermost loop of whatever is doing the work, and they should throw on cancellation by calling that, which ends up setting the task to a cancelled state rather than a success state.
(So really you only need to actually call ThrowIfCancellationRequested if you hit a function that doesn't accept a CancellationToken parameter -- which is why all async methods should do so, as otherwise its task will be non-cancellable.)
It seems like your goal is to just stop execution if the whole operation has taken longer than 4 seconds.
If you were passing the CancellationToken to your t1/t2/etc. methods, I'd say you couldn't do any better than what you have. But as you have it, you could just use a Stopwatch instead of a CancellationToken:
var timeout = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(4);
var stopwatch = new Stopwatch();
stopwatch.Start();
await t1();
if (stopwatch.Elapsed > timeout) return;
await t2();
if (stopwatch.Elapsed > timeout) return;
await t3();
if (stopwatch.Elapsed > timeout) return;
await t4();
stopwatch.Stop();
I assume this is in a method somewhere, where you can use return, but you can modify if needed (return a value, throw an exception, etc.).
Your code is functionally OK, but when reading it at a glance it's not clear what it's doing. So I suggest that you encapsulate this logic inside a utility method with descriptive name and parameters:
public static async Task RunSequentially(IEnumerable<Func<Task>> taskFactories,
int timeout = Timeout.Infinite, bool onTimeoutAwaitIncompleteTask = false)
{
using (var cts = new CancellationTokenSource(timeout))
{
if (onTimeoutAwaitIncompleteTask)
{
await Task.Run(async () =>
{
foreach (var taskFactory in taskFactories)
{
if (cts.IsCancellationRequested) throw new TimeoutException();
await taskFactory();
}
});
}
else // On timeout return immediately
{
var allSequentially = Task.Run(async () =>
{
foreach (var taskFactory in taskFactories)
{
cts.Token.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
var task = taskFactory(); // Synchronous part of task
cts.Token.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
await task; // Asynchronous part of task
}
}, cts.Token);
var timeoutTask = new Task(() => {}, cts.Token);
var completedTask = await Task.WhenAny(allSequentially, timeoutTask);
if (completedTask.IsCanceled) throw new TimeoutException();
await completedTask; // Propagate any exception
}
}
}
This code defers from yours in that it throws a TimeoutException on time-out. I think that it's better to force the caller to handle explicitly this exception, instead of hiding the fact that the operation timed-out. The caller can ignore the exception by leaving empty the catch block:
try
{
await RunSequentially(new[] { t1, t2, t3, t4 },
timeout: 4000,
onTimeoutAwaitIncompleteTask: true);
}
catch (TimeoutException)
{
// Do nothing
}
You should consider using Microsoft's Reactive Framework (aka Rx) - NuGet System.Reactive and add using System.Reactive.Linq; - then you can do this:
IObservable<Unit> tasks =
from x1 in Observable.FromAsync(() => t1())
from x2 in Observable.FromAsync(() => t2())
from x3 in Observable.FromAsync(() => t3())
from x4 in Observable.FromAsync(() => t4())
select Unit.Default;
IObservable<Unit> timer =
Observable
.Timer(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(4.0))
.Select(x => Unit.Default)
IDisposable subscription =
Observable
.Amb(tasks, timer)
.Subscribe();
If the timer observable fires before the tasks are complete then the entire pipeline is canceled. No unnecessary tasks are run.
If you want to cancel manually then just call subscription.Dispose().
The code is simple and beautiful too.
Since no one here gave a better answer I'll do it myself.
The code I provided in the question is, in my opinion, most cohesive and also general enough to be recycled in other cases.

Task null using Task.Run and Parallel.For

I have two services that ultimately both update the same object, so we have a test to ensure that the writes to that object complete (Under the hood we have retry policies on each).
9 times out of 10, one or more of the theories will fail, with the task.ShouldNotBeNull(); always being the assertion to fail. What am i getting wrong with the async code in this sample? Why would the task be null?
[Theory]
[InlineData(1)]
[InlineData(5)]
[InlineData(10)]
[InlineData(20)]
public async Task ConcurrencyIssueTest(int iterations)
{
var orderResult = await _driver.PlaceOrder();
var tasksA = new List<Task<ApiResponse<string>>>();
var tasksB = new List<Task<ApiResponse<string>>>();
await Task.Run(() => Parallel.For(1, iterations,
x =>
{
tasksA.Add(_Api.TaskA(orderResult.OrderId));
tasksB.Add(_Api.TaskB(orderResult.OrderId));
}));
//Check all tasks return successful
foreach (var task in tasksA)
{
task.ShouldNotBeNull();
var result = task.GetAwaiter().GetResult();
result.ShouldNotBeNull();
result.StatusCode.ShouldBe(HttpStatusCode.OK);
}
foreach (var task in tasksB)
{
task.ShouldNotBeNull();
var result = task.GetAwaiter().GetResult();
result.ShouldNotBeNull();
result.StatusCode.ShouldBe(HttpStatusCode.OK);
}
}
}
There's no need for Tasks and Parrallel looping here. I'm presuming that your _api calls are IO bound? You want something more like this:
var tasksA = new List<Task<ApiResponse<string>>>();
var tasksB = new List<Task<ApiResponse<string>>>();
//fire off all the async tasks
foreach(var it in iterations){
tasksA.Add(_Api.TaskA(orderResult.OrderId));
tasksB.Add(_Api.TaskB(orderResult.OrderId));
}
//await the results
await Task.WhenAll(tasksA).ConfigureAwait(false);
foreach (var task in tasksA)
{
//no need to get GetAwaiter(), you've awaited above.
task.Result;
}
//to get the most out of the async only await them just before you need them
await Task.WhenAll(tasksB).ConfigureAwait(false);
foreach (var task2 in tasksB)
{
task2.Result;
}
this will fire all your api calls async then block while the results return. You Parallel for and tasks are just using additional thread pool threads to zero benefit.
If _api is CPU bound you could get benefit from Task.Run but I'm guessing these are web api or something. So the Task.Run is doing nothing but using an additional thread.
As others have suggested, remove the Parallel, and await on all tasks to finish before asserting them.
I would also recommend to remove .Result from each task, and await them instead.
public async Task ConcurrencyIssueTest(int iterations)
{
var orderResult = await _driver.PlaceOrder();
var taskA = _Api.TaskA(orderResult.OrderId);
var taskB = _Api.TaskB(orderResult.OrderId);
await Task.WhenAll(taskA, taskB);
var taskAResult = await taskA;
taskAResult.ShouldNotBeNull();
taskAResult.StatusCode.ShouldBe(HttpStatusCode.OK);
var taskBResult = await taskB;
taskBResult.ShouldNotBeNull();
taskBResult.StatusCode.ShouldBe(HttpStatusCode.OK);
}

GetStringAsync with ContinueWith and WhenAll -- Not Waiting for all requests to finish

I'm trying to process each individual request as it finishes, which is what would happen in the ContinueWith after the GetStringAsync and then when they've all completed have an additional bit of processing.
However, it seems that the ContinueWith on the WhenAll fires right away. It appears as if the GetStringAsync tasks are faulting, but I can't figure out why.
When I use WaitAll instead of WhenAll and just add my processing after the WaitAll then my requests work just fine. But when I change it to WhenAll it fails.
Here is an example of my code:
using (var client = new HttpClient())
{
Task.WhenAll(services.Select(x =>
{
return client.GetStringAsync(x.Url).ContinueWith(response =>
{
Console.WriteLine(response.Result);
}, TaskContinuationOptions.AttachedToParent);
}).ToArray())
.ContinueWith(response =>
{
Console.WriteLine("All tasks completed");
});
}
You shouldn't use ContinueWith and TaskContinuationOptions.AttachedToParent when using async-await. Use async-await only, instead:
async Task<IEnumerable<string>> SomeMethod(...)
{
using (var client = new HttpClient())
{
var ss = await Task.WhenAll(services.Select(async x =>
{
var s = await client.GetStringAsync(x.Url);
Console.WriteLine(response);
return s;
};
Console.WriteLine("All tasks completed");
return ss;
}
}
Well, I found the issue. I'll leave it here in case anyone else comes along looking for a similar answer. I still needed to await the Task.WhenAll method.
So, the correct code would be:
using (var client = new HttpClient())
{
await Task.WhenAll(services.Select(x =>
{
return client.GetStringAsync(x.Url).ContinueWith(response =>
{
Console.WriteLine(response.Result);
}, TaskContinuationOptions.AttachedToParent);
}).ToArray())
.ContinueWith(response =>
{
Console.WriteLine("All tasks completed");
});
}
I still see a couple issues with your solution:
Drop the using statement - you don't want to dispose HttpClient.
Drop the ContinueWiths - you don't need them if your are using await properly.
The Task.WhenAny approach described in this MSDN article is a somewhat cleaner way to process tasks as they complete.
I would re-write your example like this:
var client = new HttpClient();
var tasks = services.Select(x => client.GetStringAsync(x.Url)).ToList();
while (tasks.Count > 0)
{
var firstDone = await Task.WhenAny(tasks);
tasks.Remove(firstDone);
Console.WriteLine(await firstDone);
}
Console.WriteLine("All tasks completed");
Edit to address comment:
If you need access to the service object as the tasks complete, one way would be to modify tasks to be a list of Task<ObjectWithMoreData> instead of Task<string>. Notice the lambda is marked async so we can await within it:
var client = new HttpClient();
var tasks = services.Select(async x => new
{
Service = x,
ResponseText = await client.GetStringAsync(x.Url)
}).ToList();
while (tasks.Count > 0)
{
var firstDone = await Task.WhenAny(tasks);
tasks.Remove(firstDone);
var result = await firstDone;
Console.WriteLine(result.ResponseText);
// do something with result.Service
}
Console.WriteLine("All tasks completed");

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