We Keep Coding

raising events using event Action<T>

I'm used to using delegate EventHandler for event callbacks but now I'm attempting to use event Action for invoking events. I couldn't find much info on how this can be used properly anywhere so I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction.
I have an Action event handler that handles string objects. In my subscriber class I have public event Action<string> UploadProgress;. The event handler is invoked like this:
UploadProgress.Invoke(string.Format("sending file data {0:0.000}%", (bytesSoFar * 100.0f) / totalToUpload));
The listener class is subscribed to this event as below:
uploadFile.UploadProgress += uploadFile_UploadProgress;
void uploadFile_UploadProgress(string obj)
{
var prog = obj;
}
When the event is invoked, I get System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object. I'm not sure what I need to change in the subscriber class to avoid this error. Can someone tell me the proper way to use event Action or provide me the link to where I can read up on it? I know how to use the normal Action but confused about declaring it as an event. Any help is appreciated.

This way is much better, send bytesToUpload and totalToUpload through event, instead of the whole Action (right sample):
internal class Program
{
private static void Main(string[] args)
{
SomeClass someClass = new SomeClass();
someClass.UploadProgress += SomeClass_UploadProgress;
someClass.DoSomeUpload();
}
private static void SomeClass_UploadProgress(object sender, UploadEventArgs e)
{
string s = string.Format("sending file data {0:0.000}%", (e.BytesSoFar * 100.0f) / e.TotalToUpload);
Console.WriteLine(s);
}
}
public class UploadEventArgs : EventArgs
{
public float BytesSoFar { get; set; }
public float TotalToUpload { get; set; }
}
public class SomeClass
{
public event EventHandler<UploadEventArgs> UploadProgress;
public void DoSomeUpload()
{
if (UploadProgress != null)
{
UploadEventArgs e = new UploadEventArgs();
e.BytesSoFar = 123f;
e.TotalToUpload = 100000f;
UploadProgress.Invoke(this, e);
}
}
}

Why is a "forwarded" event not raised when assigning a method group but is when assigning a delegate?

Given the following code:
public delegate void Signal();
public static class SignalExtensions
{
public static void SafeInvoke(this Signal signal)
{
Signal copy = signal;
if (copy != null)
{
copy();
}
}
}
public class RootEventSource
{
public event Signal RootEvent;
public void Raise()
{
this.RootEvent.SafeInvoke();
}
}
public class EventForwarder
{
private readonly RootEventSource rootEventSource;
public EventForwarder(RootEventSource rootEventSource)
{
this.rootEventSource = rootEventSource;
// this is the critical part
this.rootEventSource.RootEvent
+= () => this.AnotherEvent.SafeInvoke();
}
public event Signal AnotherEvent;
// just an example of another method which is using the root event source
public override string ToString()
{
return this.rootEventSource.ToString();
}
}
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
var rootEventSource = new RootEventSource();
var eventForwarder = new EventForwarder(rootEventSource);
eventForwarder.AnotherEvent += HandleAnotherEvent;
rootEventSource.Raise();
Console.WriteLine("done");
Console.ReadKey();
}
private static void HandleAnotherEvent()
{
Console.WriteLine("received AnotherEvent");
}
}
This results in the output:
received AnotherEvent
done
Now I make a slight change to the implementation of EventForwarder to use a method group for forwarding the event:
public EventForwarder(RootEventSource rootEventSource)
{
this.rootEventSource = rootEventSource;
this.rootEventSource.RootEvent += this.AnotherEvent.SafeInvoke;
}
The output becomes:
done
So AnotherEvent is not raised.
Until now i would have considered the two lines:
this.rootEventSource.RootEvent += this.AnotherEvent.SafeInvoke;
this.rootEventSource.RootEvent += () => this.AnotherEvent.SafeInvoke();
as being equivalent. It seems they're not.
So what is the difference? Plus why is the event not being raised?
PS: while usually R# suggests to replace () => this.AnotherEvent.SafeInvoke(); by this.AnotherEvent.SafeInvoke it doesn't do so here. So apparently it knows that it should not do it here.

When you assign a method group to event like this:
this.rootEventSource.RootEvent += this.AnotherEvent.SafeInvoke;
you in fact create a delegate from method SignalExtensions.SafeInvoke which as a parameter takes your this.AnotherEventdelegate object. Since it is initially null, you create a delegate with null parameter. This null value will of course never change, since delegates are immutable.
If you want to forward an event you should maybe do it like this:
public class EventForwarder
{
private readonly RootEventSource rootEventSource;
public EventForwarder(RootEventSource rootEventSource)
{
this.rootEventSource = rootEventSource;
}
public event Signal AnotherEvent
{
add { this.rootEventSource.RootEvent += value; }
remove { this.rootEventSource.RootEvent -= value; }
}
}

One shot events using Lambda in C#

I find myself doing this sort of thing quite often:-
EventHandler eh = null; //can't assign lambda directly since it uses eh
eh = (s, args) =>
{
//small snippet of code here
((SomeType)s).SomeEvent -= eh;
}
variableOfSomeType.SomeEvent += eh;
Basically I only want to attach an event handler to listen for one shot from the event, I no longer want to stay attached after that. Quite often that "snippert of code" is just one line.
My mind is going a bit numb, I'm sure there must be something I can do so I don't need to repeat all this overhead. Bear in mind that EventHandler may well be EventHandler<T>.
Any ideas how I can tidy up the repeative part of the code and just leave the snippet in a Lambda?

You could attache a permanent event handler to the event. The event handler then invokes "one shot event handlers" that are added to an internal queue:
OneShotHandlerQueue<EventArgs> queue = new OneShotHandlerQueue<EventArgs>();
Test test = new Test();
// attach permanent event handler
test.Done += queue.Handle;
// add a "one shot" event handler
queue.Add((sender, e) => Console.WriteLine(e));
test.Start();
// add another "one shot" event handler
queue.Add((sender, e) => Console.WriteLine(e));
test.Start();
Code:
class OneShotHandlerQueue<TEventArgs> where TEventArgs : EventArgs {
private ConcurrentQueue<EventHandler<TEventArgs>> queue;
public OneShotHandlerQueue() {
this.queue = new ConcurrentQueue<EventHandler<TEventArgs>>();
}
public void Handle(object sender, TEventArgs e) {
EventHandler<TEventArgs> handler;
if (this.queue.TryDequeue(out handler) && (handler != null))
handler(sender, e);
}
public void Add(EventHandler<TEventArgs> handler) {
this.queue.Enqueue(handler);
}
}
Test class:
class Test {
public event EventHandler Done;
public void Start() {
this.OnDone(new EventArgs());
}
protected virtual void OnDone(EventArgs e) {
EventHandler handler = this.Done;
if (handler != null)
handler(this, e);
}
}

You can use reflection:
public static class Listener {
public static void ListenOnce(this object eventSource, string eventName, EventHandler handler) {
var eventInfo = eventSource.GetType().GetEvent(eventName);
EventHandler internalHandler = null;
internalHandler = (src, args) => {
eventInfo.RemoveEventHandler(eventSource, internalHandler);
handler(src, args);
};
eventInfo.AddEventHandler(eventSource, internalHandler);
}
public static void ListenOnce<TEventArgs>(this object eventSource, string eventName, EventHandler<TEventArgs> handler) where TEventArgs : EventArgs {
var eventInfo = eventSource.GetType().GetEvent(eventName);
EventHandler<TEventArgs> internalHandler = null;
internalHandler = (src, args) => {
eventInfo.RemoveEventHandler(eventSource, internalHandler);
handler(src, args);
};
eventInfo.AddEventHandler(eventSource, internalHandler);
}
}
Use it like so:
variableOfSomeType.ListenOnce("SomeEvent",
(s, args) => Console.WriteLine("I should print only once!"));
variableOfSomeType.ListenOnce<InterestingEventArgs>("SomeOtherEvent",
(s, args) => Console.WriteLine("I should print only once!"));

If you can use the Reactive Extensions for .NET, you can simplify this.
You can make an Observable from an event, and only listen for the first element using .Take(1), to do your small snippet of code. This turns this entire process into a couple of lines of code.
Edit: In order to demonstrate, I've made a full sample program (I'll paste below).
I moved the observable creation and subscription into a method (HandleOneShot). This lets you do what you're attempting with a single method call. For demonstrating, I made a class with two properties that implements INotifyPropertyChanged, and am listening for the first property changed event, writing to the console when it occurs.
This takes your code, and changes it to:
HandleOneShot<SomeEventArgs>(variableOfSomeType, "SomeEvent", e => {
// Small snippet of code here
});
Notice that all of the subscription/unsubscription happens automatically for you behind the scenes. There's no need to handle putting in the subscription manually - just Subscribe to the Observable, and Rx takes care of this for you.
When run, this code prints:
Setup...
Setting first property...
**** Prop2 Changed! /new val
Setting second property...
Setting first property again.
Press ENTER to continue...
You only get a single, one shot trigger of your event.
namespace ConsoleApplication1
{
using System;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Linq;
class Test : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
private string prop2;
private string prop;
public string Prop
{
get {
return prop;
}
set
{
if (prop != value)
{
prop = value;
if (PropertyChanged!=null)
PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs("Prop"));
}
}
}
public string Prop2
{
get
{
return prop2;
}
set
{
if (prop2 != value)
{
prop2 = value;
if (PropertyChanged != null)
PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs("Prop2"));
}
}
}
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
}
class Program
{
static void HandleOneShot<TEventArgs>(object target, string eventName, Action<TEventArgs> action) where TEventArgs : EventArgs
{
var obsEvent = Observable.FromEvent<TEventArgs>(target, eventName).Take(1);
obsEvent.Subscribe(a => action(a.EventArgs));
}
static void Main(string[] args)
{
Test test = new Test();
Console.WriteLine("Setup...");
HandleOneShot<PropertyChangedEventArgs>(
test,
"PropertyChanged",
e =>
{
Console.WriteLine(" **** {0} Changed! {1}/{2}!", e.PropertyName, test.Prop, test.Prop2);
});
Console.WriteLine("Setting first property...");
test.Prop2 = "new value";
Console.WriteLine("Setting second property...");
test.Prop = "second value";
Console.WriteLine("Setting first property again...");
test.Prop2 = "other value";
Console.WriteLine("Press ENTER to continue...");
Console.ReadLine();
}
}
}

Another user encountered a very similar problem, and I believe the solution in that thread applies here.
In particular, what you have is not an instance of the publish/subscribe pattern, its a message queue. Its easy enough to create your own message queue using a Queue{EventHandler}, where you dequeue events as you invoke them.
So instead of hooking on to an event handler, your "one-shot" events should expose a method allowing clients to add an function to the message queue.

Does it work? If so, then I say go for it. For a one-shot event that looks to be quite elegant.
What I like...
If s is garbage collected, so will the event handler.
The detaching code is right next to the attaching code, making it easy to see what you are are doing.
You might be able to generalize it, but I'm not entierly sure how to because I can't seem to get a pointer to a event.

Personally, I just create a specialized extension method for whatever type has the event I'm dealing with.
Here's a basic version of something I am using right now:
namespace MyLibrary
{
public static class FrameworkElementExtensions
{
public static void HandleWhenLoaded(this FrameworkElement el, RoutedEventHandler handler)
{
RoutedEventHandler wrapperHandler = null;
wrapperHandler = delegate
{
el.Loaded -= wrapperHandler;
handler(el, null);
};
el.Loaded += wrapperHandler;
}
}
}
The reason I think this is the best solution is because you often don't need to just handle the event one time. You also often need to check if the event has already passed... For instance, here is another version of the above extension method that uses an attached property to check if the element is already loaded, in which case it just calls the given handler right away:
namespace MyLibraryOrApplication
{
public static class FrameworkElementExtensions
{
public static void HandleWhenLoaded(this FrameworkElement el, RoutedEventHandler handler)
{
if ((bool)el.GetValue(View.IsLoadedProperty))
{
// el already loaded, call the handler now.
handler(el, null);
return;
}
// el not loaded yet. Attach a wrapper handler that can be removed upon execution.
RoutedEventHandler wrapperHandler = null;
wrapperHandler = delegate
{
el.Loaded -= wrapperHandler;
el.SetValue(View.IsLoadedProperty, true);
handler(el, null);
};
el.Loaded += wrapperHandler;
}
}
}

You probably want to work with the new async/await idioms.
Usually when I need to execute an event handler one-shot like you described, what I really need is something like:
await variableOfSomeSort.SomeMethodAsync();
//small snippet of code here

Why not do use the delegate stack built into the event?
Something like...
private void OnCheckedIn(object sender, Session e)
{
EventHandler<Session> nextInLine = null;
lock (_syncLock)
{
if (SessionCheckedIn != null)
{
nextInLine = (EventHandler<Session>)SessionCheckedIn.GetInvocationList()[0];
SessionCheckedIn -= nextInLine;
}
}
if ( nextInLine != null )
{
nextInLine(this, e);
}
}

Super-simple example of C# observer/observable with delegates

I recently started digging into C# but I can't by my life figure out how delegates work when implementing the observer/observable pattern in the language.
Could someone give me a super-simple example of how it is done? I have googled this, but all of the examples I found were either too problem-specific or too "bloated".

The observer pattern is usually implemented with events.
Here's an example:
using System;
class Observable
{
public event EventHandler SomethingHappened;
public void DoSomething() =>
SomethingHappened?.Invoke(this, EventArgs.Empty);
}
class Observer
{
public void HandleEvent(object sender, EventArgs args)
{
Console.WriteLine("Something happened to " + sender);
}
}
class Test
{
static void Main()
{
Observable observable = new Observable();
Observer observer = new Observer();
observable.SomethingHappened += observer.HandleEvent;
observable.DoSomething();
}
}
See the linked article for a lot more detail.
Note that the above example uses C# 6 null-conditional operator to implement DoSomething safely to handle cases where SomethingHappened has not been subscribed to, and is therefore null. If you're using an older version of C#, you'd need code like this:
public void DoSomething()
{
var handler = SomethingHappened;
if (handler != null)
{
handler(this, EventArgs.Empty);
}
}

In this model, you have publishers who will do some logic and publish an "event."
Publishers will then send out their event only to subscribers who have subscribed to receive the specific event.
In C#, any object can publish a set of events to which other applications can subscribe.
When the publishing class raises an event, all the subscribed applications are notified.
The following figure shows this mechanism.
Simplest Example possible on Events and Delegates in C#:
code is self explanatory, Also I've added the comments to clear out the code.
using System;
public class Publisher //main publisher class which will invoke methods of all subscriber classes
{
public delegate void TickHandler(Publisher m, EventArgs e); //declaring a delegate
public TickHandler Tick; //creating an object of delegate
public EventArgs e = null; //set 2nd paramter empty
public void Start() //starting point of thread
{
while (true)
{
System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(300);
if (Tick != null) //check if delegate object points to any listener classes method
{
Tick(this, e); //if it points i.e. not null then invoke that method!
}
}
}
}
public class Subscriber1 //1st subscriber class
{
public void Subscribe(Publisher m) //get the object of pubisher class
{
m.Tick += HeardIt; //attach listener class method to publisher class delegate object
}
private void HeardIt(Publisher m, EventArgs e) //subscriber class method
{
System.Console.WriteLine("Heard It by Listener");
}
}
public class Subscriber2 //2nd subscriber class
{
public void Subscribe2(Publisher m) //get the object of pubisher class
{
m.Tick += HeardIt; //attach listener class method to publisher class delegate object
}
private void HeardIt(Publisher m, EventArgs e) //subscriber class method
{
System.Console.WriteLine("Heard It by Listener2");
}
}
class Test
{
static void Main()
{
Publisher m = new Publisher(); //create an object of publisher class which will later be passed on subscriber classes
Subscriber1 l = new Subscriber1(); //create object of 1st subscriber class
Subscriber2 l2 = new Subscriber2(); //create object of 2nd subscriber class
l.Subscribe(m); //we pass object of publisher class to access delegate of publisher class
l2.Subscribe2(m); //we pass object of publisher class to access delegate of publisher class
m.Start(); //starting point of publisher class
}
}
Output:
Heard It by Listener
Heard It by Listener2
Heard It by Listener
Heard It by Listener2
Heard It by Listener
.
.
.
(infinite times)

Here's a simple example:
public class ObservableClass
{
private Int32 _Value;
public Int32 Value
{
get { return _Value; }
set
{
if (_Value != value)
{
_Value = value;
OnValueChanged();
}
}
}
public event EventHandler ValueChanged;
protected void OnValueChanged()
{
if (ValueChanged != null)
ValueChanged(this, EventArgs.Empty);
}
}
public class ObserverClass
{
public ObserverClass(ObservableClass observable)
{
observable.ValueChanged += TheValueChanged;
}
private void TheValueChanged(Object sender, EventArgs e)
{
Console.Out.WriteLine("Value changed to " +
((ObservableClass)sender).Value);
}
}
public class Program
{
public static void Main()
{
ObservableClass observable = new ObservableClass();
ObserverClass observer = new ObserverClass(observable);
observable.Value = 10;
}
}
Note:
This violates a rule in that I don't unhook the observer from the observable, this is perhaps good enough for this simple example, but make sure you don't keep observers hanging off of your events like that. A way to handle this would be to make ObserverClass IDisposable, and let the .Dispose method do the opposite of the code in the constructor
No error-checking performed, at least a null-check should be done in the constructor of the ObserverClass

I've tied together a couple of the great examples above (thank you as always to Mr. Skeet and Mr. Karlsen) to include a couple of different Observables and utilized an interface to keep track of them in the Observer and allowed the Observer to to "observe" any number of Observables via an internal list:
namespace ObservablePattern
{
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
internal static class Program
{
private static void Main()
{
var observable = new Observable();
var anotherObservable = new AnotherObservable();
using (IObserver observer = new Observer(observable))
{
observable.DoSomething();
observer.Add(anotherObservable);
anotherObservable.DoSomething();
}
Console.ReadLine();
}
}
internal interface IObservable
{
event EventHandler SomethingHappened;
}
internal sealed class Observable : IObservable
{
public event EventHandler SomethingHappened;
public void DoSomething()
{
var handler = this.SomethingHappened;
Console.WriteLine("About to do something.");
if (handler != null)
{
handler(this, EventArgs.Empty);
}
}
}
internal sealed class AnotherObservable : IObservable
{
public event EventHandler SomethingHappened;
public void DoSomething()
{
var handler = this.SomethingHappened;
Console.WriteLine("About to do something different.");
if (handler != null)
{
handler(this, EventArgs.Empty);
}
}
}
internal interface IObserver : IDisposable
{
void Add(IObservable observable);
void Remove(IObservable observable);
}
internal sealed class Observer : IObserver
{
private readonly Lazy<IList<IObservable>> observables =
new Lazy<IList<IObservable>>(() => new List<IObservable>());
public Observer()
{
}
public Observer(IObservable observable) : this()
{
this.Add(observable);
}
public void Add(IObservable observable)
{
if (observable == null)
{
return;
}
lock (this.observables)
{
this.observables.Value.Add(observable);
observable.SomethingHappened += HandleEvent;
}
}
public void Remove(IObservable observable)
{
if (observable == null)
{
return;
}
lock (this.observables)
{
observable.SomethingHappened -= HandleEvent;
this.observables.Value.Remove(observable);
}
}
public void Dispose()
{
for (var i = this.observables.Value.Count - 1; i >= 0; i--)
{
this.Remove(this.observables.Value[i]);
}
}
private static void HandleEvent(object sender, EventArgs args)
{
Console.WriteLine("Something happened to " + sender);
}
}
}

Applying the Observer Pattern with delegates and events in c# is named "Event Pattern" according to MSDN which is a slight variation.
In this Article you will find well structured examples of how to apply the pattern in c# both the classic way and using delegates and events.
Exploring the Observer Design Pattern
public class Stock
{
//declare a delegate for the event
public delegate void AskPriceChangedHandler(object sender,
AskPriceChangedEventArgs e);
//declare the event using the delegate
public event AskPriceChangedHandler AskPriceChanged;
//instance variable for ask price
object _askPrice;
//property for ask price
public object AskPrice
{
set
{
//set the instance variable
_askPrice = value;
//fire the event
OnAskPriceChanged();
}
}//AskPrice property
//method to fire event delegate with proper name
protected void OnAskPriceChanged()
{
AskPriceChanged(this, new AskPriceChangedEventArgs(_askPrice));
}//AskPriceChanged
}//Stock class
//specialized event class for the askpricechanged event
public class AskPriceChangedEventArgs : EventArgs
{
//instance variable to store the ask price
private object _askPrice;
//constructor that sets askprice
public AskPriceChangedEventArgs(object askPrice) { _askPrice = askPrice; }
//public property for the ask price
public object AskPrice { get { return _askPrice; } }
}//AskPriceChangedEventArgs

/**********************Simple Example ***********************/
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
Parent p = new Parent();
}
}
////////////////////////////////////////////
public delegate void DelegateName(string data);
class Child
{
public event DelegateName delegateName;
public void call()
{
delegateName("Narottam");
}
}
///////////////////////////////////////////
class Parent
{
public Parent()
{
Child c = new Child();
c.delegateName += new DelegateName(print);
//or like this
//c.delegateName += print;
c.call();
}
public void print(string name)
{
Console.WriteLine("yes we got the name : " + name);
}
}

I did't want to change my source code to add additional observer , so I have written following simple example:
//EVENT DRIVEN OBSERVER PATTERN
public class Publisher
{
public Publisher()
{
var observable = new Observable();
observable.PublishData("Hello World!");
}
}
//Server will send data to this class's PublishData method
public class Observable
{
public event Receive OnReceive;
public void PublishData(string data)
{
//Add all the observer below
//1st observer
IObserver iObserver = new Observer1();
this.OnReceive += iObserver.ReceiveData;
//2nd observer
IObserver iObserver2 = new Observer2();
this.OnReceive += iObserver2.ReceiveData;
//publish data
var handler = OnReceive;
if (handler != null)
{
handler(data);
}
}
}
public interface IObserver
{
void ReceiveData(string data);
}
//Observer example
public class Observer1 : IObserver
{
public void ReceiveData(string data)
{
//sample observers does nothing with data :)
}
}
public class Observer2 : IObserver
{
public void ReceiveData(string data)
{
//sample observers does nothing with data :)
}
}

Something like this:
// interface implementation publisher
public delegate void eiSubjectEventHandler(eiSubject subject);
public interface eiSubject
{
event eiSubjectEventHandler OnUpdate;
void GenereteEventUpdate();
}
// class implementation publisher
class ecSubject : eiSubject
{
private event eiSubjectEventHandler _OnUpdate = null;
public event eiSubjectEventHandler OnUpdate
{
add
{
lock (this)
{
_OnUpdate -= value;
_OnUpdate += value;
}
}
remove { lock (this) { _OnUpdate -= value; } }
}
public void GenereteEventUpdate()
{
eiSubjectEventHandler handler = _OnUpdate;
if (handler != null)
{
handler(this);
}
}
}
// interface implementation subscriber
public interface eiObserver
{
void DoOnUpdate(eiSubject subject);
}
// class implementation subscriber
class ecObserver : eiObserver
{
public virtual void DoOnUpdate(eiSubject subject)
{
}
}
.
observer pattern C# with event
.
link to the repository

Unsubscribe anonymous method in C#

Is it possible to unsubscribe an anonymous method from an event?
If I subscribe to an event like this:
void MyMethod()
{
Console.WriteLine("I did it!");
}
MyEvent += MyMethod;
I can un-subscribe like this:
MyEvent -= MyMethod;
But if I subscribe using an anonymous method:
MyEvent += delegate(){Console.WriteLine("I did it!");};
is it possible to unsubscribe this anonymous method? If so, how?

Action myDelegate = delegate(){Console.WriteLine("I did it!");};
MyEvent += myDelegate;
// .... later
MyEvent -= myDelegate;
Just keep a reference to the delegate around.

One technique is to declare a variable to hold the anonymous method which would then be available inside the anonymous method itself. This worked for me because the desired behavior was to unsubscribe after the event was handled.
Example:
MyEventHandler foo = null;
foo = delegate(object s, MyEventArgs ev)
{
Console.WriteLine("I did it!");
MyEvent -= foo;
};
MyEvent += foo;

Since C# 7.0 local functions feature has been released, the approach suggested by J c becomes really neat.
void foo(object s, MyEventArgs ev)
{
Console.WriteLine("I did it!");
MyEvent -= foo;
};
MyEvent += foo;
So, honestly, you do not have an anonymous function as a variable here. But I suppose the motivation to use it in your case can be applied to local functions.

From memory, the specification explicitly doesn't guarantee the behaviour either way when it comes to equivalence of delegates created with anonymous methods.
If you need to unsubscribe, you should either use a "normal" method or retain the delegate somewhere else so you can unsubscribe with exactly the same delegate you used to subscribe.

In 3.0 can be shortened to:
MyHandler myDelegate = ()=>Console.WriteLine("I did it!");
MyEvent += myDelegate;
...
MyEvent -= myDelegate;

Instead of keeping a reference to any delegate you can instrument your class in order to give the event's invocation list back to the caller. Basically you can write something like this (assuming that MyEvent is declared inside MyClass):
public class MyClass
{
public event EventHandler MyEvent;
public IEnumerable<EventHandler> GetMyEventHandlers()
{
return from d in MyEvent.GetInvocationList()
select (EventHandler)d;
}
}
So you can access the whole invocation list from outside MyClass and unsubscribe any handler you want. For instance:
myClass.MyEvent -= myClass.GetMyEventHandlers().Last();
I've written a full post about this tecnique here.

Kind of lame approach:
public class SomeClass
{
private readonly IList<Action> _eventList = new List<Action>();
...
public event Action OnDoSomething
{
add {
_eventList.Add(value);
}
remove {
_eventList.Remove(value);
}
}
}
Override the event add/remove methods.
Keep a list of those event handlers.
When needed, clear them all and re-add the others.
This may not work or be the most efficient method, but should get the job done.

If you want to be able to control unsubscription then you need to go the route indicated in your accepted answer. However, if you are just concerned about clearing up references when your subscribing class goes out of scope, then there is another (slightly convoluted) solution which involves using weak references. I've just posted a question and answer on this topic.

One simple solution:
just pass the eventhandle variable as parameter to itself.
Event if you have the case that you cannot access the original created variable because of multithreading, you can use this:
MyEventHandler foo = null;
foo = (s, ev, mehi) => MyMethod(s, ev, foo);
MyEvent += foo;
void MyMethod(object s, MyEventArgs ev, MyEventHandler myEventHandlerInstance)
{
MyEvent -= myEventHandlerInstance;
Console.WriteLine("I did it!");
}

If the best way is to keep a reference on the subscribed eventHandler, this can be achieved using a Dictionary.
In this example, I have to use a anonymous method to include the mergeColumn parameter for a set of DataGridViews.
Using the MergeColumn method with the enable parameter set to true enables the event while using it with false disables it.
static Dictionary<DataGridView, PaintEventHandler> subscriptions = new Dictionary<DataGridView, PaintEventHandler>();
public static void MergeColumns(this DataGridView dg, bool enable, params ColumnGroup[] mergedColumns) {
if(enable) {
subscriptions[dg] = (s, e) => Dg_Paint(s, e, mergedColumns);
dg.Paint += subscriptions[dg];
}
else {
if(subscriptions.ContainsKey(dg)) {
dg.Paint -= subscriptions[dg];
subscriptions.Remove(dg);
}
}
}

if you want refer to some object with this delegate, may be you can use Delegate.CreateDelegate(Type, Object target, MethodInfo methodInfo)
.net consider the delegate equals by target and methodInfo

There is a way to solve this by implementing the closure yourself instead of a lambda expression.
Assume that the class to be used as a capture variable is as follows.
public class A
{
public void DoSomething()
{
...
}
}
public class B
{
public void DoSomething()
{
...
}
}
public class C
{
public void DoSomething()
{
...
}
}
These classes will be used as capture variables, so we instantiate them.
A a = new A();
B b = new B();
C c = new C();
Implement the closure class as shown below.
private class EventHandlerClosure
{
public A a;
public B b;
public C c;
public event EventHandler Finished;
public void MyMethod(object, MyEventArgs args)
{
a.DoSomething();
b.DoSomething();
c.DoSomething();
Console.WriteLine("I did it!");
Finished?.Invoke(this, EventArgs.Empty);
}
}
Instantiate the closure class, create a handler, then subscribe to the event and subscribe to the lambda expression that unsubscribes from the closure class's Finished event.
var closure = new EventHandlerClosure
{
a = a,
b = b,
c = c
};
var handler = new MyEventHandler(closure.MyMethod);
MyEvent += handler;
closure.Finished += (s, e)
{
MyEvent -= handler;
}

I discovered this quite old thread recently for a C# project and found all the answers very useful. However, there was one aspect that didn't work well for my particular use case - they all put the burden of unsubscribing from an event on the subscriber. I understand that one could make the argument that it's the subscribers job to handle this, however that isn't realistic for my project.
My primary use case for events is for listening to timers to sequence animations (it's a game). In this scenario, I use a lot of anonymous delegates to chain together sequences. Storing a reference to these isn't very practical.
In order to solve this, I've created a wrapper class around an event that lets you subscribe for a single invocation.
internal class EventWrapper<TEventArgs> {
private event EventHandler<TEventArgs> Event;
private readonly HashSet<EventHandler<TEventArgs>> _subscribeOnces;
internal EventWrapper() {
_subscribeOnces = new HashSet<EventHandler<TEventArgs>>();
}
internal void Subscribe(EventHandler<TEventArgs> eventHandler) {
Event += eventHandler;
}
internal void SubscribeOnce(EventHandler<TEventArgs> eventHandler) {
_subscribeOnces.Add(eventHandler);
Event += eventHandler;
}
internal void Unsubscribe(EventHandler<TEventArgs> eventHandler) {
Event -= eventHandler;
}
internal void UnsubscribeAll() {
foreach (EventHandler<TEventArgs> eventHandler in Event?.GetInvocationList()) {
Event -= eventHandler;
}
}
internal void Invoke(Object sender, TEventArgs e) {
Event?.Invoke(sender, e);
if(_subscribeOnces.Count > 0) {
foreach (EventHandler<TEventArgs> eventHandler in _subscribeOnces) {
Event -= eventHandler;
}
_subscribeOnces.Clear();
}
}
internal void Remove() {
UnsubscribeAll();
_subscribeOnces.Clear();
}
}
The side benefit of having this in a class is that you can make it private and expose only the functionality you want. For example, only expose the SubscribeOnce (and not the Subscribe) method.
public class MyClass {
private EventWrapper<MyEventEventArgs> myEvent = new EventWrapper<MyEventEventArgs>();
public void FireMyEvent() {
myEvent.Invoke(this, new MyEventEventArgs(1000, DateTime.Now));
}
public void SubscribeOnce(EventHandler<MyEventEventArgs> eventHandler) {
myEvent.SubscribeOnce(eventHandler);
}
public class MyEventEventArgs : EventArgs {
public int MyInt;
public DateTime MyDateTime;
public MyEventEventArgs(int myInt, DateTime myDateTime) {
MyInt = myInt;
MyDateTime = myDateTime;
}
}
}
The tradeoff here is more overhead for having an instance of this for each event, however in my scenario - this is an acceptable tradeoff to ensure that garbage gets collected efficiently and the code is more maintainable on the subscriber side. Full example here.

Here is a simple solution, which removes all assigned methods from an event. Also anonymous methods.
Use this code and adjust the names.
if (MyEvent != null)
foreach (Delegate del in MyEvent.GetInvocationList())
MyEvent -= (EventHandler<MyEventHandlerType>)del;
Example usage
public class SomeClass
{
public event EventHandler<NiceEventArgs> NiceEvent;
public void RemoveHandlers()
{
if (NiceEvent != null)
foreach (Delegate del in NiceEvent.GetInvocationList())
NiceEvent -= (EventHandler<NiceEventArgs>)del;
}
}
Thanks to hemme's answer, which I used as inspiration.