Proper way of cancel execution of a method [duplicate]

Question

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Closed 9 years ago.

Possible Duplicate:
How do I abort/cancel TPL Tasks?

I have a method that takes some time to execute therefore I return the result as a callback. My method looks like:

public static void DoWork( Action<object> onCompleteCallBack)
{
  Task.Factory.StartNew( () => {
    // Do work
    onCompleteCallBack(someResult);
  });
}

Now I will like to be able to stop executing that method in case the user does not want to wait. As a result this is what I have worked out:

static void Main ( string[] args )
{            
  var cancelMethod = DoWork( x =>
  {                
    // method completed
    Console.Write( x.ToString() );
  });
  Thread.Sleep( 5000 ); // some time passes 

  // then user decides to abort method
  cancelMethod();
  Console.Read();
}

static Action DoWork ( Action<object> onCompleteCallBack )
{
  bool stopExecuting = false;
  Task.Factory.StartNew( () =>
  {
    for ( var i = 0 ; i < 100000 ; i++ ) 
    {
      Thread.Sleep( 1 );
      if ( stopExecuting )
      {
        onCompleteCallBack( "Method aborted!" );
        return;
      }
    }         
    onCompleteCallBack( "Method completed successfully" );
  } );
  return () => { stopExecuting = true; };
}

What will be a more appropriate way of aborting the execution of a method?

Edit

Thanks for your answers. I remember now about the cancellation token thing. The token thing is hard to remember. I think I will use this approach:

    static void Main ( string[ ] args )
    {
        Action abortTask;

        DoWork( methodCompleted, out abortTask );

        Thread.Sleep( 5000 ); // some time passes then user decides to abort method

        // cancel execution of method
        abortTask( );

        Console.Read( );
    }

    static void methodCompleted ( object msg )
    {            
        Console.Write( msg.ToString( ) );  
    }

    static void DoWork ( Action<object> onCompleteCallBack, out Action abortThisTask )
    {
        bool stopExecuting = false;

        abortThisTask = ( ) => { stopExecuting = true; };

        Task.Factory.StartNew( ( ) =>
        {
            for ( var i = 0 ; i < 100000 ; i++ ) 
            {
                Thread.Sleep( 1 );

                if ( stopExecuting )
                {
                    onCompleteCallBack( "Method aborted!" );
                    return;
                }
            }

            onCompleteCallBack( "Method completed successfully" );
        } );            
    }

    // Overloaded method
    static void DoWork ( Action<object> onCompleteCallBack )
    {
        Action abortTask;
        DoWork( onCompleteCallBack ,out abortTask );
    }

Will it be better to use the approaches you guys suggested on the answers to this question vs. This approach. I like this approach better. I think it is easier to read than the cancellation token one.

PS. My Visual Studio places a lot of spaces. Feel free to format the code :)

Answer 1

try using cancellation token by specifying it your function in task http://blogs.msdn.com/b/csharpfaq/archive/2010/07/19/parallel-programming-task-cancellation.aspx

CancellationTokenSource tokenSource = new CancellationTokenSource();
 Task.Factory.StartNew( () => {
    // Do work
    onCompleteCallBack(someResult);
  }, tokenSource.Token);

private void cancel_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
    tokenSource.Cancel();

}

Answer 2

Look at the CancellationToken and Albahari's guide to cancelling thread safely

Answer 3

There is an overload of the StartNew() method that accepts a CancellationToken. Here's an example: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd997396.aspx. The basics are that you create and then pass in this token to your method (or refer to it from the parent thread; it's thread-safe). Your parallel method then must, at convenient times (like within a loop), check to see if the token indicates the task has been cancelled. If so, it gracefully exits.

Answer 4

Tasks allow you to pass in a CancellationToken. You can call ct.Cancel() in order to set the flag for cancellation. Within your actual execution logic, you can add in checks at certain "checkpoints" which test for if (ct.IsCancellationRequested) and return the method from there or alternatively call ct.ThrowIfCancellationRequested().

Answer 5

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd537607(v=vs.100).aspx would probably be a good place to start. Depending on what you're going for.