I have the following code:
var task = Task.Factory.StartNew(CheckFiles, cancelCheckFile.Token, TaskCreationOptions.LongRunning, TaskScheduler.Default);
private void CheckFiles()
{
//Do stuff
}
I now want to amend CheckFiles to accept and integer and a BlockingCollection reference
private void CheckFiles(int InputID, BlockingCollection<string> BlockingDataCollection)
{
//Do stuff
}
I can't seem to find a way to Start this task as I did above.
Can you help?
Thanks
The best option is probably to use a lambda expression that closes over the variables you want to display.
However, be careful in this case, especially if you're calling this in a loop. (I mention this since your variable is an "ID", and this is common in this situation.) If you close over the variable in the wrong scope, you can get a bug. For details, see Eric Lippert's post on the subject. This typically requires making a temporary:
foreach(int id in myIdsToCheck)
{
int tempId = id; // Make a temporary here!
Task.Factory.StartNew( () => CheckFiles(tempId, theBlockingCollection),
cancelCheckFile.Token,
TaskCreationOptions.LongRunning,
TaskScheduler.Default);
}
Also, if your code is like the above, you should be careful with using the LongRunning
hint - with the default scheduler, this causes each task to get its own dedicated thread instead of using the ThreadPool. If you're creating many tasks, this is likely to have a negative impact as you won't get the advantages of the ThreadPool. It's typically geared for a single, long running task (hence its name), not something that would be implemented to work on an item of a collection, etc.
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
Task.Factory.StartNew(() => MyMethod("param value"));
}
private static void MyMethod(string p)
{
Console.WriteLine(p);
}
}
For passing a single integer I agree with Reed Copsey's answer. If in the future you are going to pass more complicated constucts I personally like to pass all my variables as an Anonymous Type. It will look something like this:
foreach(int id in myIdsToCheck)
{
Task.Factory.StartNew( (Object obj) =>
{
var data = (dynamic)obj;
CheckFiles(data.id, theBlockingCollection,
cancelCheckFile.Token,
TaskCreationOptions.LongRunning,
TaskScheduler.Default);
}, new { id = id }); // Parameter value
}
You can learn more about it in my blog
Construct the first parameter as an instance of Action
, e.g.
var inputID = 123;
var col = new BlockingDataCollection();
var task = Task.Factory.StartNew(
() => CheckFiles(inputID, col),
cancelCheckFile.Token,
TaskCreationOptions.LongRunning,
TaskScheduler.Default);