Thread.Sleep replacement in .NET for Windows Store

Question

Thread.Sleep doesn't seem to be supported in .NET for Windows Store apps.

For example, this

System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(1000);

will compile when targeting any .NET Framework (2.0, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5), but not when targeting .NET for Windows Store apps (or in a portable class library which targets both 4.5 and store).

System.Threading.Thread is still there, it just doesn't have the Sleep method.

I need to delay something for a few seconds in my app, is there a suitable replacement?

EDIT why the delay is needed: My app is a game and the delay is to make it look like the computer opponent is "thinking" about his next move. The method is already called asynchronously (main thread isn't blocked), I just want to slow the response time down.

Answer 1

There is almost NO reason (except for testing purposes) to EVER use Thread.Sleep().

IF (and only if) you have a very good reason to send a thread to sleep, you might want to check Task.Delay() , which you can await to "wait" for a specified time. Though it's never a good idea to have a thread sitting around and do nothing. Bad practise ...

Answer 2

MainPage.xaml.cs

public MainPage()
{
  this.InitializeComponent();
  this.WaitForFiveSeconds();
}

private async void WaitForFiveSeconds()
{
  await System.Threading.Tasks.Task.Delay(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(5));
  // do something after 5 seconds!
}

Answer 3

Windows Store apps embrace asynchrony - and an "asynchronous pause" is provided by Task.Delay. So within an asynchronous method, you'd write:

await Task.Delay(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(30));

... or whatever delay you want. The asynchronous method will continue 30 seconds later, but the thread will not be blocked, just as for all await expressions.

Answer 4

I just had the same problem and found another interesting solution that I wanted to share with you. If you really want to block the thread I would do it like this (thanks @Brannon for the "slim" hint):

// `waitHandle.Set` is never called, so we wait always until the timeout occurs
using (var waitHandle = new ManualResetEventSlim(initialState: false))
{
    waitHandle.Wait(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(5));
}

Answer 5

Hate to state the obvious but in case anybody wanted a single line System.Threading.Tasks.Task.Delay(3000).Wait()