How wait all thread - c#

I have code, that create 5 threads. I need wait, until all threads finished their work, and after return value. How can I do this?
public static int num=-1;
public int GetValue()
{
Thread t=null;
for (int i = 0; i <=5; i++)
{
t = new Thread(() => PasswdThread(i));
t.Start();
}
//how wait all thread, and than return value?
return num;
}
public void PasswdThread(int i)
{
Thread.Sleep(1000);
Random r=new Random();
int n=r.Next(10);
if (n==5)
{
num=r.Next(1000);
}
}
Of course this is not a real code. The actual code is much more complicated, so I simplified it.
P.S. Look carefully. I am not use Task, so I can't use method Wait() or WaitAll(). Also I can't use Join(), because Join wait one thread. If they start wait thread, which already finished they work, the will wait infinity.

Make an array of thread like below and call WaitAll function
List<Thread> threads = new List<Thread>();
Thread thread = null;
for (int i = 0; i <=5; i++)
{
t = new Thread(() => PasswdThread(i));
t.Start();
threads.add(t);
}
Thread.WaitAll(thread);
//how wait all thread, and than return value?
return num;

create a ManualResetEvent handle for each your thread, and then call WaitHandle.WaitAll(handles) in your main thread.
static WaitHandle[] handles = new WaitHandle[5];
`
public void PasswdThread(int i)
{
handles[i] = new ManualResetEvent(false);
Thread.Sleep(1000);
Random r=new Random();
int n=r.Next(10);
if (n==5)
{
num=r.Next(1000);
}
handles[i].Set();
}
Get more information on http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/z6w25xa6.aspx

I think you can use Thread.WaitAll(thread_array) or in other case you can also use Thread.Sleep(100)
In Thread.sleep, 100 is number of milliseconds. So in this case thread would sleep for 100 milliseconds.
And in Thread.WaitAll - thread_Array is array of threads that you wanna wait.

As this question is effectively a duplicate, please see this answer, (code copied below, all credit to Reed Copsey.
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
int numThreads = 10;
ManualResetEvent resetEvent = new ManualResetEvent(false);
int toProcess = numThreads;
// Start workers.
for (int i = 0; i < numThreads; i++)
{
new Thread(delegate()
{
Console.WriteLine(Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId);
// If we're the last thread, signal
if (Interlocked.Decrement(ref toProcess) == 0)
resetEvent.Set();
}).Start();
}
// Wait for workers.
resetEvent.WaitOne();
Console.WriteLine("Finished.");
}
}
Aside
Also note that your PasswdThread code will not produce random numbers. The Random object should be declared statically, outside of your method, to produce random numbers.
Additionally you never use the int i parameter of that method.

I would use TPL for this, imo it's the most up to date technique for handling this sort of synchronization. Given the real life code is probably more complex, I'll rework the example slightly:
public int GetValue()
{
List<Task<int>> tasks = new List<Task<int>>();
for (int i = 0; i <=5; i++)
{
tasks.Add(PasswdThread(i));
}
Task.WaitAll(tasks);
// You can now query all the tasks:
foreach (int result in tasks.Select(t => t.Result))
{
if (result == 100) // Do something to pick the desired result...
{
return result;
}
}
return -1;
}
public Task<int> PasswdThread(int i)
{
return Task.Factory.StartNew(() => {
Thread.Sleep(1000);
Random r=new Random();
int n=r.Next(10);
if (n==5)
{
return r.Next(1000);
}
return 0;
});
}

Thread t=null;
List<Thread> lst = new List<Thread();
for (int i = 0; i <=5; i++)
{
t = new Thread(() => PasswdThread(i));
lst.Add(t);
t.Start();
}
//how wait all thread, and than return value?
foreach(var item in lst)
{
while(item.IsAlive)
{
Thread.Sleep(5);
}
}
return num;

Related

Pause/resume a thread in C#

I try to pause all my threads when I reach a certain value but I can't do it.
I would like that when I reach this value all threads are paused for 10 seconds and after these 10 seconds all threads start again.
I tried that with : Threads.Sleep(); | Threads.Interrupt(); and Threads.Abort(); but nothing work.
I tried what you can see in the code below.
static void Main(string[] args)
{
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
Threads.Add(new Thread(new ThreadStart(example)));
Threads[i].Start();
}
for (int i = 0; i < Threads.Count; i++)
Threads[i].Join();
}
static void example()
{
while (true)
{
Console.WriteLine(value++);
checkValue();
}
}
public static void checkValue()
{
if (value% 1000 == 0 && value!= 0)
{
for (int i = 0; i < Threads.Count; i++)
Threads[i].Interrupt();
Thread.Sleep(1000);
for (int i = 0; i < Threads.Count; i++)
Threads[i].Resume();
}
}
Here is an example of pausing some threads cooperatively, by using the PauseTokenSource + PauseToken pair from Stephen Cleary's AsyncEx.Coordination package. This example shows also the use of the analogous CancellationTokenSource + CancellationToken pair, that inspired the creation of the aforementioned pausing mechanism.
var pts = new PauseTokenSource() { IsPaused = true };
var cts = new CancellationTokenSource();
int value = 0;
// Create five threads
Thread[] threads = Enumerable.Range(1, 5).Select(i => new Thread(() =>
{
try
{
while (true)
{
cts.Token.ThrowIfCancellationRequested(); // self explanatory
pts.Token.WaitWhilePaused(cts.Token); // ...and don't wait if not paused
int localValue = Interlocked.Increment(ref value);
Console.WriteLine($"Thread #{i}, Value: {localValue}");
}
}
catch (OperationCanceledException) // this exception is expected and benign
{
Console.WriteLine($"Thread #{i} Canceled");
}
})).ToArray();
// Start the threads
foreach (var thread in threads) thread.Start();
// Now lets pause and unpause the threads periodically some times
// We use the main thread (the current thread) as the controller
Thread.Sleep(500);
pts.IsPaused = false;
Thread.Sleep(1000);
pts.IsPaused = true;
Thread.Sleep(1000);
pts.IsPaused = false;
Thread.Sleep(1000);
pts.IsPaused = true;
Thread.Sleep(500);
// Finally cancel the threads and wait them to finish
cts.Cancel();
foreach (var thread in threads) thread.Join();
You may need to read this first, to get a grasp on the model used by the .NET platform for cooperative cancellation. Cooperative "pausation" is very similar.

Best way to let many worker-threads wait for mainthread and vice versa

I'm looking for a fast way to let many worker threads wait for an event to continue and block the main thread until all worker threads are finished. I first used TPL or AutoResetEvent but since my calculation isn't that expensive the overhead was way too much.
I found a pretty interesting article concerning this problem and got great results (using only one worker thread) with the last synchronization solution (Interlocked.CompareExchange). But I don't know how to utilize it for a scenario where many threads wait for one main tread repeatedly.
Here is an example using single thread, CompareExchange, and Barrier:
static void Main(string[] args)
{
int cnt = 1000000;
var stopwatch = new Stopwatch();
stopwatch.Start();
for (int i = 0; i < cnt; i++) { }
Console.WriteLine($"Single thread: {stopwatch.Elapsed.TotalSeconds}s");
var run = true;
Task task;
stopwatch.Restart();
int interlock = 0;
task = Task.Run(() =>
{
while (run)
{
while (Interlocked.CompareExchange(ref interlock, 0, 1) != 1) { Thread.Sleep(0); }
interlock = 2;
}
Console.WriteLine($"CompareExchange synced: {stopwatch.Elapsed.TotalSeconds}s");
});
for (int i = 0; i < cnt; i++)
{
interlock = 1;
while (Interlocked.CompareExchange(ref interlock, 0, 2) != 2) { Thread.Sleep(0); }
}
run = false;
interlock = 1;
task.Wait();
run = true;
var barrier = new Barrier(2);
stopwatch.Restart();
task = Task.Run(() =>
{
while (run) { barrier.SignalAndWait(); }
Console.WriteLine($"Barrier synced: {stopwatch.Elapsed.TotalSeconds}s");
});
for (int i = 0; i < cnt; i++) { barrier.SignalAndWait(); }
Thread.Sleep(0);
run = false;
if (barrier.ParticipantsRemaining == 1) { barrier.SignalAndWait(); }
task.Wait();
Console.ReadKey();
}
Average results (in seconds) are:
Single thread: 0,002
CompareExchange: 0,4
Barrier: 1,7
As you can see Barriers' overhead seems to be arround 4 times higher! If someone can rebuild me the CompareExchange-scenario to work with multiple worker threads this would surely help, too!
Sure, 1 second overhead for a million calculations is pretty less! Actually it just interests me.
Edit:
System.Threading.Barrier seems to be the fastest solution for this scenario. For saving a double blocking (all workers ready for work, all workes finished) I used the following code for the best results:
while(work)
{
while (barrier.ParticipantsRemaining > 1) { Thread.Sleep(0); }
//Set work package
barrier.SignalAndWait()
}
It seems like you might want to use a Barrier to synchronise a number of workers with a main thread.
Here's a compilable example. Have a play with it, paying attention to when the output tells you that you can "Press <Return> to signal the workers to start".
using System;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Threading;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
namespace Demo
{
static class Program
{
static void Main()
{
print("Main thread is starting the workers.");
int numWorkers = 10;
var barrier = new Barrier(numWorkers + 1); // Workers + main (controlling) thread.
for (int i = 0; i < numWorkers; ++i)
{
int n = i; // Prevent modified closure.
Task.Run(() => worker(barrier, n));
}
while (true)
{
print("***************** Press <RETURN> to signal the workers to start");
Console.ReadLine();
print("Main thread is signalling all the workers to start.");
// This will wait for all the workers to issue their call to
// barrier.SignalAndWait() before it returns:
barrier.SignalAndWait();
// At this point, all workers AND the main thread are at the same point.
}
}
static void worker(Barrier barrier, int workerNumber)
{
int iter = 0;
while (true)
{
print($"Worker {workerNumber} on iteration {iter} is waiting for barrier.");
// This will wait for all the other workers AND the main thread
// to issue their call to barrier.SignalAndWait() before it returns:
barrier.SignalAndWait();
// At this point, all workers AND the main thread are at the same point.
int delay = randomDelayMilliseconds();
print($"Worker {workerNumber} got barrier, now sleeping for {delay}");
Thread.Sleep(delay);
print($"Worker {workerNumber} finished work for iteration {iter}.");
}
}
static void print(string message)
{
Console.WriteLine($"[{sw.ElapsedMilliseconds:00000}] {message}");
}
static int randomDelayMilliseconds()
{
lock (rng)
{
return rng.Next(10000) + 5000;
}
}
static Random rng = new Random();
static Stopwatch sw = Stopwatch.StartNew();
}
}

c# lock not working as expected

This class uses lock and Interlocked.
Both increaseCount.with_lock.Run(); and increaseCount.with_interlock.Run(); prints between 96-100.
I am expecting both of them to print always 100. What did I make mistake?
public static class increaseCount {
public static int counter = 0;
public static readonly object myLock = new object();
public static class with_lock {
public static void Run() {
List<Thread> pool = new List<Thread>();
for(int i = 0; i < 100; i++) {
pool.Add(new Thread(f));
}
Parallel.ForEach(pool, x => x.Start());
Console.WriteLine(counter); //should print 100
}
static void f() {
lock(myLock) {
counter++;
}
}
}
public static class with_interlock {
public static void Run() {
List<Thread> pool = new List<Thread>();
for(int i = 0; i < 100; i++) {
pool.Add(new Thread(f));
}
Parallel.ForEach(pool, x => x.Start());
Console.WriteLine(counter);//should print 100
}
static void f() {
Interlocked.Add(ref counter, 1);
}
}
}
In both cases, you start up your threads but you don't wait for them to complete so you don't reach the 100 before you print the result and the app closes.
If after you start all thread you would wait for all these threads to complete with Thread.Join you would always get the correct result:
List<Thread> pool = new List<Thread>();
for (int i = 0; i < 100; i++)
{
pool.Add(new Thread(f));
}
Parallel.ForEach(pool, x => x.Start());
foreach (var thread in pool)
{
thread.Join();
}
Console.WriteLine(counter);
Note: This seems like a test of some kind, but you should know that blocking multiple threads on a single lock is a huge waste of resources.
I believe it's because your Parallel.Foreach call simply calls start on all the threads in pool but they haven't necessarily completed by the time the loops finished and the Console.WriteLine is called. If you were to insert a Thread.Sleep(5000); // 5s sleep or similar before the Console.WriteLine it would likely always print out what you expect.
Your code is fine. The only problem is your expectation. Basically, not all 100 threads get to run untill the counter is displayed. Try putting a Thread.Sleep(1000) before the Console.WriteLine(counter) and you shall see what I mean.
Edit: wrongly posted as a comment the first time.

How to use ThreadPool in c#?

When I run this code then nothing is shown on the console, but when I debug then it displays the output. Please explain why this happen? How I can get info when the Thread completes the task?
public class TestClass
{
static void Main()
{
ThreadPool.SetMaxThreads(5, 5);
for (int x = 0; x < 10; x++)
{
ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem(new WaitCallback(printnum), x);
}
Console.ReadKey();
}
public static void printnum(object n)
{
Console.WriteLine("Call " + n);
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) { Console.WriteLine(i); }
}
}
From the documentation for Console.ReadKey():
The ReadKey method waits, that is, blocks on the thread issuing the
ReadKey method, until a character or function key is pressed.
What it actually does is acquire a lock on Console.InternalSyncObject, which prevents further operations on the console.
The Console.ReadLine() method does not block the thread in this way. You can use it instead.
Reading this article I'm guessing you have .NET 4.5 installed?
The other's are right. If you do not wait for the threads to finish, you need to use Console.ReadLine. But if you do wait - as you asked - you can still use Console.ReadKey. I changed your code accordingly. Also checkout Microsofts example on how to use the ThreadPool.
static void Main(string[] args)
{
const int count = 10;
var waitHandles = new ManualResetEvent[count];
ThreadPool.SetMaxThreads(5, 5);
for (int x = 0; x < count; x++)
{
var handle = new ManualResetEvent(false);
waitHandles[x] = handle;
var worker = new MyWorker(handle, x);
ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem(new WaitCallback(MyWorker.printnum), worker);
}
WaitHandle.WaitAll(waitHandles);
Console.WriteLine("Press any key to finish");
Console.ReadKey();
}
class MyWorker
{
readonly ManualResetEvent handle;
readonly int number;
public MyWorker(ManualResetEvent handle, int number)
{
this.handle = handle;
this.number = number;
}
public static void printnum(object obj)
{
var worker = (MyWorker)obj;
Console.WriteLine("Call " + worker.number);
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) { Console.WriteLine(i); }
// we are done
worker.handle.Set();
}
}
The key is that you have to use WaitHandles. Each thread gets one handle which is set to true when the thread finishes. In your main method you have to wait for all handles to be set to true.

For loop in many threads

How can I run each call for loop in another thread, but continuation of ExternalMethod should wait to ending of last working thread from for loop (and synchronize) ?
ExternalMethod()
{
//some calculations
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
SomeMethod(i);
}
//continuation ExternalMethod
}
One approach would be to use a ManualResetEvent.
Consider the following code (note that this should not be taken as a working example, stuck on OSX so don't have VS nor a C# compiler to hand to check this over):
static ManualResetEvent mre = new ManualResetEvent(false);
static int DoneCount = 0;
static int DoneRequired = 9;
void ExternalMethod() {
mre.Reset();
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
new Thread(new ThreadStart(ThreadVoid)).Start();
}
mre.WaitOne();
}
void ThreadVoid() {
Interlocked.Increment(ref DoneCount);
if (DoneCount == DoneRequired) {
mre.Set();
}
}
IMPORTANT - This possibly isn't the best way to do it, just an example of using ManualResetEvent, and it will suit your needs perfectly fine.
If you're on .NET 4.0 you can use a Parallel.For loop - explained here.
System.Threading.Tasks.Parallel.For(0, 10, (i) => SomeMethod(i));
One approach is to use a CountdownEvent.
ExternalMethod()
{
//some calculations
var finished = new CountdownEvent(1);
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
int capture = i; // This is needed to capture the loop variable correctly.
finished.AddCount();
ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem(
(state) =>
{
try
{
SomeMethod(capture);
}
finally
{
finished.Signal();
}
}, null);
}
finished.Signal();
finished.Wait();
//continuation ExternalMethod
}
If CountdownEvent is not available then here is an alternate approach.
ExternalMethod()
{
//some calculations
var finished = new ManualResetEvent(false);
int pending = 1;
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
int capture = i; // This is needed to capture the loop variable correctly.
Interlocked.Increment(ref pending);
ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem(
(state) =>
{
try
{
SomeMethod(capture);
}
finally
{
if (Interlocked.Decrement(ref pending) == 0) finished.Set();
}
}, null);
}
if (Interlocked.Decrement(ref pending) == 0) finished.Set();
finished.WaitOne();
//continuation ExternalMethod
}
Note that in both examples the for loop itself is treating as a parallel work item (it is on a separate thread from the other work items afterall) to avoid a really subtle race condition that might occur if the first work item signals the event before the next work item is queued.
For .NET 3.5, maybe something like this:
Thread[] threads = new Thread[10];
for (int x = 0; x < 10; x++)
{
threads[x] = new Thread(new ParameterizedThreadStart(ThreadFun));
threads[x].Start(x);
}
foreach (Thread thread in threads) thread.Join();
It may seem counterintuitive to use the Join() method, but since you are effectively doing a WaitAll-type pattern, it doesn't matter what order the joins are executed.

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