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How to skip/pause notifications sent to observers in c#

I implemented an observer pattern using events and delegates. The program is receiving and processing big amounts of data (around 3000 messages per second) but at some point, it starts sending messages with a delayed timestamp, which I am trying to fix. I have 3 main classes that do the job in my opinion:
public class MessageTracker : IObservable<MessageEventArgs>
{
private List<IObserver<MessageEventArgs>> observers;
public MessageTracker()
{
observers = new List<IObserver<MessageEventArgs>>();
}
private static readonly MessageTracker mInstance = new MessageTracker();
private static MessageTracker getInstance() => mInstance;
private class Unsubscriber : IDisposable
{
private List<IObserver<MessageEventArgs>> _observers;
private IObserver<MessageEventArgs> _observer;
public Unsubscriber(List<IObserver<MessageEventArgs>> observers, IObserver<MessageEventArgs> observer)
{
this._observers = observers;
this._observer = observer;
}
public void Dispose()
{
if (! (_observer == null)) _observers.Remove(_observer);
}
}
public IDisposable Subscribe(IObserver<MessageEventArgs> observer)
{
if (! observers.Contains(observer))
observers.Add(observer);
return new Unsubscriber(observers, observer);
}
public void MessageTrack(MessageEventArgs msg) {
observers.AsParallel().ForAll(observer =>
{
if (msg is null)
observer.OnError(new ArgumentException("MessageError."));
else
observer.OnNext(msg);
});
}
public void EndMessageTrans(){
foreach(var observer in observers.ToArray())
if (observers.Contains(observer))
observer.OnCompleted();
observers.Clear();
}
}
public class MessageReporter : IObserver<MessageEventArgs>
{
private IDisposable unsubscriber;
public MessageReporter()
{ }
public event EventHandler<MessageEventArgs> OnNextMessage;
public virtual void Subscribe(IObservable<MessageEventArgs> provider)
{
if (provider != null)
unsubscriber = provider.Subscribe(this);
}
public void OnCompleted()
{
this.Unsubscribe();
}
public void OnError(Exception error)
{
}
public void OnNext(MessageEventArgs value)
{
if (OnNextMessage != null)
{
OnNextMessage?.Invoke(this, value);
}
}
public virtual void Unsubscribe()
{
unsubscriber.Dispose();
}
}
public sealed class MessageDataWorker
{
private readonly bool mSubscribeAll;
private readonly IEnumerable<string> mMessages;
public MessageDataWorker(IEnumerable<string> messages)
{
mMessages = messages;
if ((mMessages?.Count() ?? 0) == 0)
mSubscribeAll = true;
}
public override void DoWork()
{
var messageReporter = new MessageReporter();
messageReporter.OnNextMessage += OnNewMessageReceived;
messageReporter.Subscribe(MessageTracker.GetInstance());
while (!mShouldStop.WaitOne(100)) ;
MessageReporter.Unsubscribe();
}
private void OnNewMessageReceived(object sender, MessageEventArgs e)
{
if (!mSubscribeAll && !mMessages.Contains(e.Message))
return;
string message = "Message|" +
$"{e.Time}|" +
$"{e.Text};
try
{
Console.WriteLine(message);
}
catch { }
}
}
What I am trying to achieve is skipping notifications or receiving data for X milliseconds after sending the last message and afterward send the newest received message. I tried sleeping the observers and the provider but it just increased the delay. I think I am missing something and any suggestion would be appreciated.

From what I can tell from your code you could write the three classes with this code:
var messageTrack = new Subject<MessageEventArgs>();
var query =
from e in messageTrack
where !mMessages.Contains(e.Message)
select $"Message|{e.Time}|{e.Text}";
query.Throttle(TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(X)).Subscribe(Console.WriteLine);
You should never need to implement IObservable<> or IObserver<> yourself. It almost always ends in disaster.
The above code handles the throttling you wanted.

Detect Duplicate Items in DataFlow

I've been building out a service that processes files using a Queue<string> object to manage the items.
public partial class BasicQueueService : ServiceBase
{
private readonly EventWaitHandle completeHandle =
new EventWaitHandle(false, EventResetMode.ManualReset, "ThreadCompleters");
public BasicQueueService()
{
QueueManager = new Queue<string>();
}
public bool Stopping { get; set; }
private Queue<string> QueueManager { get; }
protected override void OnStart(string[] args)
{
Stopping = false;
ProcessFiles();
}
protected override void OnStop()
{
Stopping = true;
}
private void ProcessFiles()
{
while (!Stopping)
{
var count = QueueManager.Count;
for (var i = 0; i < count; i++)
{
//Check the Stopping Variable again.
if (Stopping) break;
var fileName = QueueManager.Dequeue();
if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(fileName) || !File.Exists(fileName))
continue;
Console.WriteLine($"Processing {fileName}");
Task.Run(() =>
{
DoWork(fileName);
})
.ContinueWith(ThreadComplete);
}
if (Stopping) continue;
Console.WriteLine("Waiting for thread to finish, or 1 minute.");
completeHandle.WaitOne(new TimeSpan(0, 0, 15));
completeHandle.Reset();
}
}
partial void DoWork(string fileName);
private void ThreadComplete(Task task)
{
completeHandle.Set();
}
public void AddToQueue(string file)
{
//Called by FileWatcher/Manual classes, not included for brevity.
lock (QueueManager)
{
if (QueueManager.Contains(file)) return;
QueueManager.Enqueue(file);
}
}
}
Whilst researching how to limit the number of threads on this (I've tried a manual class with an incrementing int, but there's an issue where it doesn't decrement properly in my code), I came across TPL DataFlow, which seems like its a better fit for what I'm trying to achieve - specifically, it allows me to let the framework handle threading/queueing, etc.
This is now my service:
public partial class BasicDataFlowService : ServiceBase
{
private readonly ActionBlock<string> workerBlock;
public BasicDataFlowService()
{
workerBlock = new ActionBlock<string>(file => DoWork(file), new ExecutionDataflowBlockOptions()
{
MaxDegreeOfParallelism = 32
});
}
public bool Stopping { get; set; }
protected override void OnStart(string[] args)
{
Stopping = false;
}
protected override void OnStop()
{
Stopping = true;
}
partial void DoWork(string fileName);
private void AddToDataFlow(string file)
{
workerBlock.Post(file);
}
}
This works well. However, I want to ensure that a file is only ever added to the TPL DataFlow once. With the Queue, I can check that using .Contains(). Is there a mechanism that I can use for TPL DataFlow?

Your solution with Queue works only if file goes into your service twice in a small period of time. If it came again in, say, few hours, queue will not contain it, as you Dequeue it from there.
If this solution is expected, then you may use a MemoryCache to store file paths being already handled, like this:
using System.Runtime.Caching;
private static object _lock = new object();
private void AddToDataFlow(string file)
{
lock (_lock)
{
if (MemoryCache.Default.Contains(file))
{
return;
}
// no matter what to put into the cache
MemoryCache.Default[file] = true;
// we can now exit the lock
}
workerBlock.Post(file);
}
However, if your application must run for a long time (which service is intended to do), you'll eventually run out of memory. In that case you probably need to store your file paths in database or something, so even after restarting the service your code will restore the state.

You can check it inside of DoWork.
You have to save in Hash already works items and check current filename doesn't exist in hash.

Properly dispose of event producer from a different thread

This is SIMPLIFIED code just illustrating a problem I am trying to solve (haven't compiled it so please ignore any syntax errors). Suppose I have a ProducerProxy like:
public class ProducerProxy : IDisposable {
public event EventHandler<EventArgs> NotificationEvent;
private volatile bool itsKeepProducing = true;
public DoStuff() {
Task.Factory.StartNew(() => {
while (itsKeepProducing) {
RaiseNotificationEvent();
Thread.Sleep(100);
}
}
}
public void Dispose() {
itsKeepProducing = false;
DestroySomeStuff();
}
}
Suppose I now have a class that uses this ProducerProxy:
public class Consumer : IDisposable {
private ProducerProxy itsProducerProxy;
public void Consumer() {
itsProducerProxy = new ProducerProxy();
itsProducerProxy.NotificationEvent += OnNotificationEvent;
}
public void Start() {
itsProducerProxy.DoStuff();
}
public void OnNotificationEvent(object sender, EventArgs args) {
DealWithNotification(args); //this could take some time maybe 1-2 seconds
}
public void Dispose() {
//how do I dispose of the producer here?
//I can't just do the following because notifications might still be processing in OnNotification event:
if (itsProducerProxy != null) {
itsProducerProxy.NotificationEvent -= OnNotificationEvent;
itsProducerProxy.Dispose();
itsProducerProxy = null;
}
}
So my use case is (yes, it should be done using try/catch or using using but that distracts from the question -- just illustrating a point)
var consumer = new Consumer();
consumer.Start();
... //do some stuff
consumer.Dispose();
What is the correct/proper thread-safe implementation for Consumer.Dispose()? or maybe for Producer.Dispose()?

You can use the cooperative thread cancellation pattern by passing in a CancellationToken into your process...
public class Consumer : IDisposable {
private ProducerProxy itsProducerProxy;
// how we signal others that we are disposed
private CancellationTokenSource _cts = new CancellationTokenSource();
/* SNIP */
public void OnNotificationEvent(object sender, EventArgs args) {
// We now provide the inner process with the cancellation token
DealWithNotification(_cts.Token);
}
public void Dispose()
{
// not thread safe but you get the gist
if (_cts!= null) {
_cts.Cancel();
_cts.Dispose();
_cts = null;
}
/* SNIP */
}
}
where the inner process short circuits when cancellation has been requested
private void DealWithNotification(CancellationToken token)
{
if(token.IsCancellationRequested) return;
var foo = "omgwtflol" + bar;
if(token.IsCancellationRequested) return;
Thread.Sleep(2);
if(token.IsCancellationRequested) return;
var reallyEveryTime = File.ReadAllBytes(foo);
if(token.IsCancellationRequested) return;
foreach(var b in reallyEveryTime)
{
if(token.IsCancellationRequested) return;
InnerProcess(token);
}
// etc etc etc you get the idea
}

Joining a thread started with StartNew()

When using the StartNew() method to kick off a process on a new thread, I need to figure out how to make another call into this object in that same thread (I assume this would be some sort of Join operation?).
The following example is dumbed down to illustrate the meat of what I am trying to do. I am well aware it is severely lacking in basic concurrency considerations. But I didn't want to cloud the code with all of that logic, so please forgive me on that.
The following console app shows what I am trying to accomplish. Assume on the StartNew() call a new thread with ID 9976 is created and the method invoked there. I would like the subsequent call to ProcessImmediate() in the file system watcher change event handler to be made on thread 9976 as well. As it stands, the call would share the same thread that is used for the file system watcher change event.
Can this be done, and if so, how?
namespace ConsoleApplication1
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
var runner = new Runner();
runner.Run();
Console.ReadKey();
}
}
public class Runner
{
private Activity _activity = null;
private FileSystemWatcher _fileSystemWatcher;
public void Run()
{
_activity = new Activity();
// start activity on a new thread
Task.Factory.StartNew(() => _activity.Go());
_fileSystemWatcher = new FileSystemWatcher();
_fileSystemWatcher.Filter = "*.watcher";
_fileSystemWatcher.Path = "c:\temp";
_fileSystemWatcher.Changed += FileSystemWatcher_Changed;
_fileSystemWatcher.EnableRaisingEvents = true;
}
private void FileSystemWatcher_Changed(object sender, FileSystemEventArgs e)
{
// WANT TO CALL THIS FOR ACTIVITY RUNNING ON PREVIOUSLY CALLED THREAD
_activity.ProcessImmediate();
}
}
public class Activity
{
public void Go()
{
while (!Stop)
{
// for purposes of this example, magically assume that ProcessImmediate has not been called when this is called
DoSomethingInteresting();
System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(2000);
}
}
protected virtual void DoSomethingInteresting() { }
public void ProcessImmediate()
{
// for purposes of this example, assume that Go is magically in its sleep state when ProcessImmediate is called
DoSomethingInteresting();
}
public bool Stop { get; set; }
}
}
* UPDATE *
Thanks for the excellent responses. I took Mike's suggestion and implemented it for my console app. Below is the full working code which also includes the use of a cancellation token. I post this in case someone else might find it useful.
namespace ConsoleApplication1
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
var runner = new Runner();
runner.Run();
Console.ReadKey();
runner.Stop();
Console.ReadKey();
}
}
public class Runner
{
private Activity _activity = null;
private FileSystemWatcher _fileSystemWatcher;
private CancellationTokenSource _cts = new CancellationTokenSource();
public void Stop() { _cts.Cancel(); }
public void Run()
{
_activity = new Activity();
// start activity on a new thread
var task = new Task(() => _activity.Go(_cts.Token), _cts.Token, TaskCreationOptions.LongRunning);
task.Start();
_fileSystemWatcher = new FileSystemWatcher();
_fileSystemWatcher.Filter = "*.watcher";
_fileSystemWatcher.Path = "C:\\Temp\\FileSystemWatcherPath";
_fileSystemWatcher.Changed += FileSystemWatcher_Changed;
_fileSystemWatcher.EnableRaisingEvents = true;
}
private void FileSystemWatcher_Changed(object sender, FileSystemEventArgs e)
{
// WANT TO CALL THIS FOR ACTIVITY RUNNING ON PREVIOUSLY CALLED THREAD
_activity.ProcessImmediate();
}
}
public class Activity : IDisposable
{
private AutoResetEvent _processing = new AutoResetEvent(false);
public void Go(CancellationToken ct)
{
Thread.CurrentThread.Name = "Go";
while (!ct.IsCancellationRequested)
{
// for purposes of this example, magically assume that ProcessImmediate has not been called when this is called
DoSomethingInteresting();
_processing.WaitOne(5000);
}
Console.WriteLine("Exiting");
}
protected virtual void DoSomethingInteresting()
{
Console.WriteLine(string.Format("Doing Something Interesting on thread {0}", Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId));
}
public void ProcessImmediate()
{
// for purposes of this example, assume that Go is magically in its sleep state when ProcessImmediate is called
_processing.Set();
}
public void Dispose()
{
if (_processing != null)
{
_processing.Dispose();
_processing = null;
}
}
}
}

First, you should use TaskCreationOptions.LongRunning if you are creating a task that will not complete quickly. Second, use an AutoResetEvent to signal the waiting thread to wake up. Note that below ProcessImmediate will return before DoSomethingInteresting has completed running on the other thread. Example:
using System.Threading;
public class Activity : IDisposable
{
private AutoResetEvent _processing = new AutoResetEvent(false);
public void Go()
{
while (!Stop)
{
// for purposes of this example, magically assume that ProcessImmediate has not been called when this is called
DoSomethingInteresting();
_processing.WaitOne(2000);
}
}
protected virtual void DoSomethingInteresting() { }
public void ProcessImmediate()
{
_processing.Set();
}
public bool Stop { get; set; }
public void Dispose()
{
if (_processing != null)
{
_processing.Dispose();
_processing = null;
}
}
}

User mike has given a better solution, which will be appropriate when you like to call the same method immediately. If you want to call a different methods immediately I'll expand mike's answer to achieve that.
using System.Threading;
public class Activity : IDisposable
{
private AutoResetEvent _processing = new AutoResetEvent(false);
private ConcurrentQueue<Action> actionsToProcess = new ConcurrentQueue<Action>();
public void Go()
{
while (!Stop)
{
// for purposes of this example, magically assume that ProcessImmediate has not been called when this is called
DoSomethingInteresting();
_processing.WaitOne(2000);
while(!actionsToProcess.IsEmpty)
{
Action action;
if(actionsToProcess.TryDeque(out action))
action();
}
}
}
protected virtual void DoSomethingInteresting() { }
public void ProcessImmediate(Action action)
{
actionsToProcess.Enqueue(action);
_processing.Set();
}
public bool Stop { get; set; }
public void Dispose()
{
if (_processing != null)
{
_processing.Dispose();
_processing = null;
}
}
}

To execute different methods on the same thread you can use a message loop that dispatches incoming requests. A simple option would be to use the event loop scheduler of the Reactive Extensions and to "recursively" schedule your Go() function - if in the mean time a different operation is scheduled it would be processed before the next Go() operation.
Here is a sample:
class Loop
: IDisposable
{
IScheduler scheduler = new EventLoopScheduler();
MultipleAssignmentDisposable stopper = new MultipleAssignmentDisposable();
public Loop()
{
Next();
}
void Next()
{
if (!stopper.IsDisposed)
stopper.Disposable = scheduler.Schedule(Handler);
}
void Handler()
{
Thread.Sleep(1000);
Console.WriteLine("Handler: {0}", Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId);
Next();
}
public void Notify()
{
scheduler.Schedule(() =>
{
Console.WriteLine("Notify: {0}", Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId);
});
}
public void Dispose()
{
stopper.Dispose();
}
}
static void Main(string[] args)
{
using (var l = new Loop())
{
Console.WriteLine("Press 'q' to quit.");
while (Console.ReadKey().Key != ConsoleKey.Q)
l.Notify();
}
}

Singleton Bindable Controls While Tasking/Multi-Threading

before posting the question i did my research for 10 days so really hope someone can shed some light into solving this issue.
The issue is that any bindable control, does not update once the binding list from singleton class is changed. This is a common issue on multi-threaded apps. Most if not all solutions offer suggestions where the bindlinglist or collection is initialized from parent thread, and then some invocation to be made. Not what i'm looking for. The same issue persist if static class is used instead of singleton.
Basically, the application triggers some Tasks, which in turn create object(s) on different business classes. These objects post messages into the bindinglist, which should update the UI listbox, but does not. And yes, the message object is in the list, and binding after the TASK finished works (items displayed). Locking/unlocking object(s) access is also not an issue.
Appreciate any suggestions/solutions
A trimmed down version of business objects:
namespace MyNameSpace
{
public class Message
{
private string messageSummary;
public Message() { }
public string MessageSummary
{
set { messageSummary = value; }
get { return messageSummary; }
}
}
}
A trimmed down version of another class doing some ops:
namespace MyNameSpace
{
public class WorkDoingClass
{
public WorkDoingClass() { }
public void DoSomeWork()
{
//some routines
Message messageObj = new Message();
messageObj.MessageSummary = "DoSOmrWork Finished";
}
public void DoSomeOtherWork()
{
//some routines
Message messageObj = new Message();
messageObj.MessageSummary = "DoSomeOtherWork Finished";
AllMessages.Instance.AllMessagesBindingList.Add(messageObj);
}
}
}
Singleton:
namespace MyNameSpace
{
public sealed class AllMessages
{
private static readonly AllMessages _instance = new AllMessages();
private BindingList<Message> _allMessagesBL;
public WorkDoingClass() { _allMessagesBL = new BindingList<Message>(); }
public static AllMessages Instance
{
get { return _instance; }
}
public BindingList<Message> AllMessagesBindingList
{
get { return _allMessagesBL};
}
}
}
This is also a trimmed down version from where calls start:
namespace MyNameSpace
{
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
private Task _TaskSqlData;
private CancellationTokenSource cTokenSourceSql;
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
listBox1.DataSource = AllMessages.Instance.AllMessagesBindingList;
listBox1.DisplayMember = "MessageSummary";
}
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
cTokenSourceSql = new CancellationTokenSource();
var tokenSqlData = cTokenSourceSql.Token;
if (this._TaskSqlData != null)
{
if (this._TaskSqlData.Status == TaskStatus.Running)
this.cTokenSourceSql.Cancel();
this._TaskSqlData.Dispose();
this._TaskSqlData = null;
}
_TaskSqlData = Task.Factory.StartNew(()
=> StartDoingWork(this, tokenSqlData, null), tokenSqlData);
}
public void StartDoingWork(object sender, CancellationToken ct, EventArgs e)
{
if (ct.IsCancellationRequested)
ct.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
WorkDoingClass work = new WorkDoingClass();
work.DoSomeOtherWork();
}

Your problem is that the thread(the main UI thread) making the listbox is different from the thread(the worker thread) modifying the collection.
Try the following code. It could solve your issue. I use SynchronizationContext to synchronize the two threads, which serves as the same function with Control.Invoke().
namespace WindowsFormsApplication1
{
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
private Task _TaskSqlData;
private CancellationTokenSource cTokenSourceSql;
WorkDoingClass _work;
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
listBox1.DataSource = AllMessages.Instance.AllMessagesBindingList;
listBox1.DisplayMember = "MessageSummary";
_work = new WorkDoingClass(SynchronizationContext.Current);
}
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
cTokenSourceSql = new CancellationTokenSource();
var tokenSqlData = cTokenSourceSql.Token;
if (this._TaskSqlData != null)
{
if (this._TaskSqlData.Status == TaskStatus.Running)
this.cTokenSourceSql.Cancel();
this._TaskSqlData.Dispose();
this._TaskSqlData = null;
}
_TaskSqlData = Task.Factory.StartNew(()
=> StartDoingWork(this, tokenSqlData, null), tokenSqlData);
}
public void StartDoingWork(object sender, CancellationToken ct, EventArgs e)
{
if (ct.IsCancellationRequested)
ct.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
_work.DoSomeOtherWork();
}
}
public class Message
{
private string messageSummary;
public Message() { }
public string MessageSummary
{
set { messageSummary = value; }
get { return messageSummary; }
}
}
public class WorkDoingClass
{
private SynchronizationContext _syncContext;
public WorkDoingClass() { }
public WorkDoingClass(SynchronizationContext _syncContext)
{
// TODO: Complete member initialization
this._syncContext = _syncContext;
}
public void DoSomeWork()
{
//some routines
Message messageObj = new Message();
messageObj.MessageSummary = "DoSOmrWork Finished";
}
public void DoSomeOtherWork()
{
_syncContext.Send(DoWork, null);
}
private static void DoWork(object arg)
{
//some routines
Message messageObj = new Message();
messageObj.MessageSummary = "DoSomeOtherWork Finished";
AllMessages.Instance.AllMessagesBindingList.Add(messageObj);
}
}
public sealed class AllMessages
{
private static readonly AllMessages _instance = new AllMessages();
private BindingList<Message> _allMessagesBL;
public AllMessages() { _allMessagesBL = new BindingList<Message>(); }
public static AllMessages Instance
{
get { return _instance; }
}
public BindingList<Message> AllMessagesBindingList
{
get { return _allMessagesBL; }
}
}
}