Super-simple example of C# observer/observable wit

Question

I recently started digging into C# but I can't by my life figure out how delegates work when implementing the observer/observable pattern in the language.

Could someone give me a super-simple example of how it is done? I have googled this, but all of the examples I found were either too problem-specific or too "bloated".

Answer 1

Something like this:

// interface implementation publisher
public delegate void eiSubjectEventHandler(eiSubject subject);

public interface eiSubject
{
    event eiSubjectEventHandler OnUpdate;

    void GenereteEventUpdate();

}

// class implementation publisher
class ecSubject : eiSubject
{
    private event eiSubjectEventHandler _OnUpdate = null;
    public event eiSubjectEventHandler OnUpdate
    {
        add
        {
            lock (this)
            {
                _OnUpdate -= value;
                _OnUpdate += value;
            }
        }
        remove { lock (this) { _OnUpdate -= value; } }
    }

    public void GenereteEventUpdate()
    {
        eiSubjectEventHandler handler = _OnUpdate;

        if (handler != null)
        {
            handler(this);
        }
    }

}

// interface implementation subscriber
public interface eiObserver
{
    void DoOnUpdate(eiSubject subject);

}

// class implementation subscriber
class ecObserver : eiObserver
{
    public virtual void DoOnUpdate(eiSubject subject)
    {
    }
}

. observer pattern C# with event . link to the repository

Answer 2

Check this introduction to Rx Framework which uses wonderful IObserver-IObservable non-blocking asyncronous programming model introducing-rx-linq-to-events

Answer 3

Applying the Observer Pattern with delegates and events in c# is named "Event Pattern" according to MSDN which is a slight variation.

In this Article you will find well structured examples of how to apply the pattern in c# both the classic way and using delegates and events.

Exploring the Observer Design Pattern

public class Stock
{

    //declare a delegate for the event
    public delegate void AskPriceChangedHandler(object sender,
          AskPriceChangedEventArgs e);
    //declare the event using the delegate
    public event AskPriceChangedHandler AskPriceChanged;

    //instance variable for ask price
    object _askPrice;

    //property for ask price
    public object AskPrice
    {

        set
        {
            //set the instance variable
            _askPrice = value;

            //fire the event
            OnAskPriceChanged();
        }

    }//AskPrice property

    //method to fire event delegate with proper name
    protected void OnAskPriceChanged()
    {

        AskPriceChanged(this, new AskPriceChangedEventArgs(_askPrice));

    }//AskPriceChanged

}//Stock class

//specialized event class for the askpricechanged event
public class AskPriceChangedEventArgs : EventArgs
{

    //instance variable to store the ask price
    private object _askPrice;

    //constructor that sets askprice
    public AskPriceChangedEventArgs(object askPrice) { _askPrice = askPrice; }

    //public property for the ask price
    public object AskPrice { get { return _askPrice; } }

}//AskPriceChangedEventArgs