Catching exception throwing by tasks - c#

TaskScheduler ts= TaskScheduler.FromCurrentSynchronizationContext();
try
{
Task<T> task1 = ...
task1.ContinueWith(t =>
{
...
Task<T> task2 = ...
task2.ContinueWith(u =>
{
...
Task<T> task3 = ...
task3.ContinueWith(w =>
{
...
}, new CancellationToken(), TaskContinuationOptions.OnlyOnRanToCompletion, ts);
}, new CancellationToken(), TaskContinuationOptions.OnlyOnRanToCompletion, ts);
}, new CancellationToken(), TaskContinuationOptions.OnlyOnRanToCompletion, ts);
}
catch(Exception)
{
MessageBox.Show("...");
}
Hi. I have some code (as above). This doesn't work for me. I have three tasks which are working server-side but modifying UI, so all of them should result make in UI thread. What is more: 3rd task cannot run if 2nd complete with failure, and 2nd cannot run unless 1st is successfully completed. So if 1st one ends with a failure my tasks tree should throw exception and break rest of operations. How to achieve that in the simplest way?
UPDATE
now my code looks like
private async void SomeMethod()
{
...
try
{
var r1 = await Method1(...);
var r2 = await Method2(...);
var r3 = await Method3(...);
}
catch
{
MessageBox.Show("...");
}
}
private Task<...> Method1(...)
{
Task<...> task = Task<...>.Factory.StartNew(() =>
{
...
try
{
// Result is null (but that's ok) so 'index out of range exception' is thrown
// It calls my method MyException with this exception (but I don't know in
// which thread and how to catch this (shouldn't be catch by async SomeMethod?)
result = ....Results[0];
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
MyException(ex);
}
return result;
});
return task;
}
public void MyException(Exception ex)
{
throw ex;
}
But I still cannot catch exception.
EDIT
Solved. I don't catch exceptions (just ignore in Method1) and:
var r1 = await Method1(...);
if(r1!=null)
{
var r2 = await Method2(...);
var r3 = await Method3(...);
}
else
{
...do sth instead of catching ex
}

The easiest option is to use await here, as it will provide the error handling semantics you want with very little effort; allowing you to write code as if it were regular synchronous code:
try
{
var firstResult = await SomethingAsync();
var secondResult = await SomethingElseAsync(firstResult);
var finalResult = await AnotherThingAsync(secondResult);
}
catch
{
//handle an exception thrown by any of the above async operations.
}
If you can't do that (due to being on .NET 4.0), then you can use the Then method described here to also get the semantics you want:
var finalTask = SomethingAsync()
.Then(firstResult => SomethingElseAsync(firstResult))
.Then(secondResult => AnotherThingAsync(secondResult));
finalTask.ContinueWith(t => HandleError(t.Exception),
TaskContinuationOptions.OnlyOnFaulted);
Then is essentially a call to ContinueWith, but with different error handling semantics. If the tasks being continued threw an exception then Then just propagates that exception, rather than running the continuation. ContinueWith just runs the continuation and swallows the exception.

Related

Imitation of OperationCanceledException scenario with unit-test fails

I use Moq 4.18.2 framework for my tests.
The RtspClient might throw an OperationCanceledException from ConnectAsync. So, I try to test this scenario. My test below throws an exception System.OperationCanceledException: The operation was canceled. and the catch (OperationCanceledException) never gets executed. What am I doing wrong here?
RTSP
public interface IRtspClient : IDisposable
{
event EventHandler<RawFrame> FrameReceived;
Task ConnectAsync(CancellationToken token);
Task ReceiveAsync(CancellationToken token);
}
Method that uses IRtspClient
public async Task ConnectAsync(CancellationToken token = default)
{
try
{
await _rtspClient.ConnectAsync(token).ConfigureAwait(false);
OnConnected();
}
catch (OperationCanceledException ex)
{
OnConnectAttemptCanceled(ex);
throw;
}
catch(Exception ex)
{
OnFailedToConnect(ex);
throw;
}
}
Test
[TestMethod]
public async Task ConnectAsync_Canceled()
{
var expectedCanceledTaskStatus = true;
var tcs = new CancellationTokenSource();
tcs.Cancel();
var rtspClient = new Mock<IRtspClient>();
rtspClient
.Setup(_ => _.ConnectAsync(It.IsAny<CancellationToken>()))
.Returns(Task.FromException<OperationCanceledException>(new OperationCanceledException()))
var actualCanceledTaskStatus = false;
var camera = new MyCamera(rtspClient.Object);
camera.FailedToConnect += () => actualCanceledTaskStatus = true;
await camera.ConnectAsync(tcs.Token);
Assert.AreEqual(expectedCanceledTaskStatus, actualCanceledTaskStatus);
}
UPDATE
Added missing await as suggested by #Dai, but my test still fails. Can anyone take a look at the test code?
You need to await the returned Task inside the try{} block - otherwise
synchronous control will immediately leave the try{} block.
Exceptions thrown inside an anonymous function (or local function, or lambda method, or ye olde school delegate() local) will not be caught by the catch.
Also, CancellationTokenSource is IDisposable, so you should change your ConnectAsync_Canceled test to wrap it in a using() block.
Also, don't swallow exceptions - so my code below captures both exceptions for possible investigation and re-throws them with throw; (don't use throw ex;: it resets the recorded stack-trace; instead just do throw; by itself).
With OperationCanceledException and/or TaskCanceledException specifically, the exception needs to be re-thrown right back to the original caller (i.e. the owner of the CancellationTokenSource); whereas if a TaskCanceledException is caught and handled without the corresponding Task "seeing" then the caller will assume the operation succeeded despite the cancelation request.
Change your code to this:
public async Task ConnectAsync( CancellationToken cancellationToken = default )
{
try
{
await this.rtspClient.ConnectAsync(cancellationToken ).ConfigureAwait(false);
this.OnConnected();
}
catch( OperationCanceledException cEx )
{
this.OnConnectAttemptCanceled( cEx );
throw; // Re-throw so the `Task` representing *this method* (`ConnectAsync`) will report as Cancelled rather than Succeeded.
}
catch( Exception ex )
{
this.OnFailedToConnect( ex );
throw; // Re-throw so the `Task` representing *this method* (`ConnectAsync`) will report as Failed rather than Succeeded.
}
}
I found my mistake (in addition to what #Dai noticed). I should have either put await camera.ConnectAsync from my test in try-catch or used Assert.ThrowsExceptionAsync. I chose the latter. Here is the working test:
[TestMethod]
public async Task ConnectAsync_Canceled()
{
var expectedTaskCanceledStatus = true;
var rtspClient = new Mock<IRtspClient>();
rtspClient
.Setup(_ => _.ConnectAsync(default(CancellationToken)))
.Returns(Task.FromException(new OperationCanceledException()));
var actualTaskCanceledStatus = false;
var camera = new MyCamera(rtspClient.Object);
camera.ConnectAttemptCanceled += () => actualTaskCanceledStatus = true;
await Assert.ThrowsExceptionAsync<OperationCanceledException>(async () => await camera.ConnectAsync());
Assert.AreEqual(expectedTaskCanceledStatus, actualTaskCanceledStatus);
}

Exception from PLinq AsParallel async crashes the app

My question is about capturing exceptions in ForAll method under Plinq
I was trying to run tasks concurently with setting max number of threads.
Using
enumerable
.AsParallel()
.WithDegreeOfParallelism(100)
.ForAll(async item => await AsyncTask())
It works, but if AsyncTask throws exception the app crashes.
I have done the following test:
try
{
IEnumerable<string> enumerable = new List<string> { "st", "st" };
enumerable.AsParallel()
.ForAll(async f =>
{
try
{
throw new Exception(); // Or await AsyncTask that throws this
}
catch (Exception e)
{
e.ToString(); **// This Exception is captured**
throw e;
}
});
}
catch (Exception e) **// THIS IS NOT CAPTURED AND THE APP CRASHES**
{
e.ToString();
}
And I would like to understand the reasons for this
And other options to implement
enumerable.AsParallel().ForAll() executes the given action for each element of your enumeration in parallel. Since your given action is async by itself, ForAll() does not wait until all actions completed. In this case the executed code leaves the try..catch block before your AsyncTask() method throws the exception. This may lead to an unhandled exception, which crashes your app.
It does not matter, that you try to await the AsyncTask(), because ForAll() gets a plain Action and does not await the result of your AsyncTask().
A possible solution could be to start your AsyncTasks for each element without AsParallel().ForEach() and await the results later inside your try..catch.
When storing the
Task or Task<T>
result in a list you can check if any task was throwing an exception using the task.Exception property.
You can do something like this:
private async Task DoSomethingAsync()
{
try
{
IEnumerable<string> enumerable = new List<string> { "st", "st" };
// start all tasks and store them in an array
var tasks = enumerable.Select(TaskAsync).ToArray();
// do something more without waiting until all tasks above completed
// ...
// await all tasks
var completionTask = Task.WhenAll(tasks);
await completionTask;
// handle task exception if any exists
if (completionTask.Status == TaskStatus.Faulted)
{
foreach (var task in tasks)
{
if (task.Exception != null)
{
// throw an exception or handle the exception, e.g. log the exceptions to file / database
}
}
}
}
catch (Exception e)
{
// handle your exception, e.g. write a log to file / database
}
}
private Task TaskAsync(string item)
{
// Task.Delay() is just a placeholder
// do some async stuff here, e.g. access web services or a database
return Task.Delay(10000);
}

Gracefully handeling exceptions when dealing with WhenAll

I'm playing with a piece of code I wrote a while back. That piece of code deals with making a few requests in an async manner.
var client = new HttpClient();
var searchPromises = searchTerms
.Select(GetSearchUrl)
.Select(client.GetStringAsync);
var searchPages = await Task.WhenAll(searchPromises);
What happens is I create a new HttpClient. Using some search terch terms I compose search engine urls. Then I use those urls as inputs to get tasks representing the async requests for a page with the results. And last, I await those responses using Task.WhenAll to group them together.
The problem is if just one of those requests gets a 404, a 500 or anything like that my code throws an AggregateException.
Is there a way of specifying what should happen in the case of an error in one of those threads, so that I get a result from everything else?
I've looked at ContinueWith, but it doesn't seem to fit the bill, that is, it doesn't know how to deal with all the errors, just the aggregate one.
What happens is I create a new HttpClient. Using some search terch terms I compose search engine urls. Then I use those urls as inputs to get tasks representing the async requests for a page with the results. And last, I await those responses using Task.WhenAll to group them together.
Is there a way of specifying what should happen in the case of an error in one of those threads, so that I get a result from everything else?
IMO, the easiest solution is to change how you think about the problem. Right now, you're thinking "perform a download on each url" and then "what for them all to complete and handle errors on a per-item basis". Just change your operation ("download") to include anything you want to do per-item. In other words, what you want to do is "perform a download on each url and handle errors" and then "wait for them all to complete":
var client = new HttpClient();
var searchPromises = searchTerms
.Select(GetSearchUrl)
.Select(url => DownloadAsync(client, url));
var searchPages = await Task.WhenAll(searchPromises);
var successfulSearchPages = searchPages.Where(x => x != null);
...
private static async Task<string> DownloadAsync(HttpClient client, string url)
{
try
{
return await client.GetStringAsync(url);
}
catch (HttpRequestException ex)
{
// TODO: Perform appropriate error handling
return null;
}
}
Task.WhenAll will return a task that is completed when all the tasks passed as argument are completed.
If any of the tasks passed as argument ends in a Faulted state (an exception was thrown), the returned task will also end in a Faulted state and its Exception property will contain the aggregation of all exceptions thrown by the tasks passed as argument.
Because the code generated by the compiler picks the first exceptin on the list, only the excpetion thrown by the first exception that throws (not the first exception thrwing) will be rethrown.
But the tasks passed as argument still exist and can still be queried for result.
This code snippet shows this working:
var tasks = new Task[] {
((Func<Task>)(async () =>
{
await Task.Delay(10);
await Task.Delay(10);
await Task.Delay(10);
throw new Exception("First");
}))(),
((Func<Task>)(async () =>
{
await Task.Delay(10);
throw new Exception("Second");
}))(),
((Func<Task>)(async () =>
{
await Task.Delay(10);
}))()
};
var allTasks = Task.WhenAll(tasks);
try
{
await allTasks;
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
Console.WriteLine("Overall failed: {0}", ex.Message);
}
for(var i = 0; i < tasks.Length; i++)
{
try
{
await tasks[i];
Console.WriteLine("Taks {0} succeeded!", i);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
Console.WriteLine("Taks {0} failed!", i);
}
}
/*
Overall failed: First
Taks 0 failed!
Taks 1 failed!
Taks 2 succeeded!
*/
You can create your own version of Task.WhenAll that returns just the results disregarding any exception using Task.WhenAny:
public static async Task<IEnumerable<TResult>> WhenAllSwallowExceptions<TResult>(IEnumerable<Task<TResult>> tasks)
{
var tasklist = tasks.ToList();
var results = new List<TResult>();
while (tasklist.Any())
{
var completedTask = await Task.WhenAny(tasklist);
try
{
results.Add(await completedTask);
}
catch (Exception e)
{
// handle
}
tasklist.Remove(completedTask);
}
return results;
}
Usage:
var searchPages = await WhenAllSwallowExceptions(searchPromises);
This waits for tasks one at a time (with Task.WhenAny) and aggregates all the results (if there are any).
I've found a way to do this, after many iterations. Tasks are starting to look like things that you need a library to abstract.
Anyway, here's the code:
var client = new HttpClient();
var exceptions = new ConcurrentBag<Exception>();
var searchPromises = searchTerms
.Select(GetSearchUrl)
.Select(client.GetStringAsync)
.Select(t=>t.Catch(e=>exceptions.Add(e)));
var searchPages = (await Task.WhenAll(searchPromises))
.Where(r => r != null);
And the implementation for Catch:
public static Task<TResult> Catch<TResult>(this Task<TResult> self, Action<Exception> exceptionHandlerTask)
{
return self.ContinueWith(s =>
{
if (!s.IsFaulted)
{
return s.Result;
}
exceptionHandlerTask(s.Exception);
return default(TResult);
},
CancellationToken.None,
TaskContinuationOptions.ExecuteSynchronously |
TaskContinuationOptions.DenyChildAttach,
TaskScheduler.Default);
}
What happens now is that it gives you a way to append a failure state function to the Task<T> promise. This allows me to still have chainability. It is a shame that c# doesn't have robust support for functional pattern matching to make this easier.
Edit: added minimal code for error logging.
Edit: separated the code for logging errors to be more generic/reusable.
Edit: separated the code for saving the errors from the Catch function.

Good pattern for exception handling when using async calls

I want to consume an Web API and I see many people recommending System.Net.Http.HttpClient.
That's fine... but I have only VS-2010, so I cannot use async/await just yet. Instead, I guess I could use Task<TResult> in combination to ContinueWith. So I tried this piece of code:
var client = new HttpClient();
client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Accept.Add(
new MediaTypeWithQualityHeaderValue("application/json"));
client.GetStringAsync(STR_URL_SERVER_API_USERS).ContinueWith(task =>
{
var usersResultString = task.Result;
lbUsers.DataSource = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<List<string>>(usersResultString);
});
My first observation was to realize that it doesn't generate any error if URL is not available, but maybe there will be more errors like this...
So I am trying to find a way to handle exceptions for such async calls (particularly for HttpClient). I noticed that "Task" has IsFaulted property and an AggregateException which maybe could be used, but I am not sure yet how.
Another observation was that GetStringAsync returns Task<string>, but GetAsync returns Task<HttpResponseMessage>. The latter could be maybe more useful, since it presents a StatusCode.
Could you share a pattern on how to use the async calls correctly and handle exceptions in a good way? Basic explanation would be appreciated as well.
I would not use a separate ContinueWith continuation for successful and faulted scenarios. I'd rather handle both cases in a single place, using try/catch:
task.ContinueWith(t =>
{
try
{
// this would re-throw an exception from task, if any
var result = t.Result;
// process result
lbUsers.DataSource = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<List<string>>(result);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);
lbUsers.Clear();
lbUsers.Items.Add("Error loading users!");
}
},
CancellationToken.None,
TaskContinuationOptions.None,
TaskScheduler.FromCurrentSynchronizationContext()
);
If t is a non-generic Task (rather than a Task<TResult>), you can do t.GetAwaiter().GetResult() to re-throw the original exception inside the ContinueWith lambda; t.Wait() would work too. Be prepared to handle AggregatedException, you can get to the inner exception with something like this:
catch (Exception ex)
{
while (ex is AggregatedException && ex.InnerException != null)
ex = ex.InnerException;
MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);
}
If you're dealing with a series of ContinueWith, usually you don't have to handle exceptions inside each ContinueWith. Do it once for the outermost resulting task, e.g.:
void GetThreePagesV1()
{
var httpClient = new HttpClient();
var finalTask = httpClient.GetStringAsync("http://example.com")
.ContinueWith((task1) =>
{
var page1 = task1.Result;
return httpClient.GetStringAsync("http://example.net")
.ContinueWith((task2) =>
{
var page2 = task2.Result;
return httpClient.GetStringAsync("http://example.org")
.ContinueWith((task3) =>
{
var page3 = task3.Result;
return page1 + page2 + page3;
}, TaskContinuationOptions.ExecuteSynchronously);
}, TaskContinuationOptions.ExecuteSynchronously).Unwrap();
}, TaskContinuationOptions.ExecuteSynchronously).Unwrap()
.ContinueWith((resultTask) =>
{
httpClient.Dispose();
string result = resultTask.Result;
try
{
MessageBox.Show(result);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);
}
},
CancellationToken.None,
TaskContinuationOptions.None,
TaskScheduler.FromCurrentSynchronizationContext());
}
Any exceptions thrown inside inner tasks will propagate to the outermost ContinueWith lambda as you're accessing the results of the inner tasks (taskN.Result).
This code is functional, but it's also ugly and non-readable. JavaScript developers call it The Callback Pyramid of Doom. They have Promises to deal with it. C# developers have async/await, which you're unfortunately not able to use because of the VS2010 restrain.
IMO, the closest thing to the JavaScript Promises in TPL is Stephen Toub's Then pattern. And the closest thing to async/await in C# 4.0 is his Iterate pattern from the same blog post, which uses the C# yield feature.
Using the Iterate pattern, the above code could be rewritten in a more readable way. Note that inside GetThreePagesHelper you can use all the familiar synchronous code statements like using, for, while, try/catch etc. It is however important to understand the asynchronous code flow of this pattern:
void GetThreePagesV2()
{
Iterate(GetThreePagesHelper()).ContinueWith((iteratorTask) =>
{
try
{
var lastTask = (Task<string>)iteratorTask.Result;
var result = lastTask.Result;
MessageBox.Show(result);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);
throw;
}
},
CancellationToken.None,
TaskContinuationOptions.None,
TaskScheduler.FromCurrentSynchronizationContext());
}
IEnumerable<Task> GetThreePagesHelper()
{
// now you can use "foreach", "using" etc
using (var httpClient = new HttpClient())
{
var task1 = httpClient.GetStringAsync("http://example.com");
yield return task1;
var page1 = task1.Result;
var task2 = httpClient.GetStringAsync("http://example.net");
yield return task2;
var page2 = task2.Result;
var task3 = httpClient.GetStringAsync("http://example.org");
yield return task3;
var page3 = task3.Result;
yield return Task.Delay(1000);
var resultTcs = new TaskCompletionSource<string>();
resultTcs.SetResult(page1 + page1 + page3);
yield return resultTcs.Task;
}
}
/// <summary>
/// A slightly modified version of Iterate from
/// http://blogs.msdn.com/b/pfxteam/archive/2010/11/21/10094564.aspx
/// </summary>
public static Task<Task> Iterate(IEnumerable<Task> asyncIterator)
{
if (asyncIterator == null)
throw new ArgumentNullException("asyncIterator");
var enumerator = asyncIterator.GetEnumerator();
if (enumerator == null)
throw new InvalidOperationException("asyncIterator.GetEnumerator");
var tcs = new TaskCompletionSource<Task>();
Action<Task> nextStep = null;
nextStep = (previousTask) =>
{
if (previousTask != null && previousTask.Exception != null)
tcs.SetException(previousTask.Exception);
if (enumerator.MoveNext())
{
enumerator.Current.ContinueWith(nextStep,
TaskContinuationOptions.ExecuteSynchronously);
}
else
{
tcs.SetResult(previousTask);
}
};
nextStep(null);
return tcs.Task;
}

Handle exception thrown by a task

I have a task running a long time operation in WPF:
Task t = Task.Factory.StartNew(() =>
{
try
{
process(cancelTokenSource.Token, CompressionMethod, OpInfo);
}
catch (OperationCanceledException)
{
logger.Info("Operation cancelled by the user");
}
}, cancelTokenSource.Token);
try
{
t.Wait();
}
catch (AggregateException ae)
{
int i = 0;
}
private void process(CancellationToken token, CompressionLevel level, OperationInfo info)
{
// check hash
if (ComputeHash)
{
logger.Info("HASH CHECKING NOT IMPLEMENTED YET!");
MessageBox.Show(this,"HASH CHECKING NOT IMPLEMENTED YET!", "WARNING", MessageBoxButton.OK, MessageBoxImage.Warning);
}
token.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
UserMsgPhase = "Operation finished";
return info;
}
Problem is "MessageBox.Show" throws an exception and it is not captured within "catch (AggregateException ae)". I've been reading about TPL exception handling but I don't understand why it is not catched. Please, could you help me?
Once the task is complete you can check its Exception property. You also have Status and IsCompleted properties which may be useful to you...
Check Task.Exception.
If your task is typed (returning a result), then accessing myTask.Result will throw this exception.
Moreover, if you are running .Net 4.5, you could use async/await.
As an example:
public async void MyButton_OnClick(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
try
{
Task t = ...your task...;
var myResult = await t; // do whatever you like with your task's result (if any)
}catch
{
// whatever you need
}
}
as you would do with synchronous code (but this is not an actual synchronous call)
I believe that the question's process method is a Task, so it looks like it could be implement in a different manner:
You can make the process to be implemented as Task and then you will have a task-child within task-parent.
Then you can make use of the TaskCreationOptions.AttachedToParent option.
According to Stephen Toub, using AttachedToParent will help notify children-task exception to the parent-task catch:
any exceptions from faulted children will propagate up to the parent
Task (unless the parent Task observes those exceptions before it
completes).
Example:
I've omitted the cancellation token parts in order for it to be more simple.
Task t = Task.Factory.StartNew(() =>
{
var process = new Task(() =>
{
//Copy here the process logic.
}, TaskCreationOptions.AttachedToParent);
//*Private failure handler*.
process.start();
});
try
{
t.Wait();
}
catch (AggregateException ae)
{
//handle exceptions from process.
}
In addition, you may add a private failure handler like:
//*Private failure handler*.
var failHandler = child.ContinueWith(t =>
{
//Oops, something went wrong...
}, TaskContinuationOptions.AttachedToParent|TaskContinuationOptions.OnlyOnFaulted);

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