Updated for 2019, I've recently had a chance to revisit this code, below is complete example as a console app (warning: PauseTokenSource needs good unit testing).
Note, in my case, the requirement was that when the consumer-side code (which requested the pause) would continue, the producer-side code should have already reached the paused state. Thus, by the time the UI is ready to reflect the paused state, all background activity is expected to have been already paused.
using System;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Threading;
namespace Console_19613444
{
class Program
{
// PauseTokenSource
public class PauseTokenSource
{
bool _paused = false;
bool _pauseRequested = false;
TaskCompletionSource<bool> _resumeRequestTcs;
TaskCompletionSource<bool> _pauseConfirmationTcs;
readonly SemaphoreSlim _stateAsyncLock = new SemaphoreSlim(1);
readonly SemaphoreSlim _pauseRequestAsyncLock = new SemaphoreSlim(1);
public PauseToken Token { get { return new PauseToken(this); } }
public async Task<bool> IsPaused(CancellationToken token = default(CancellationToken))
{
await _stateAsyncLock.WaitAsync(token);
try
{
return _paused;
}
finally
{
_stateAsyncLock.Release();
}
}
public async Task ResumeAsync(CancellationToken token = default(CancellationToken))
{
await _stateAsyncLock.WaitAsync(token);
try
{
if (!_paused)
{
return;
}
await _pauseRequestAsyncLock.WaitAsync(token);
try
{
var resumeRequestTcs = _resumeRequestTcs;
_paused = false;
_pauseRequested = false;
_resumeRequestTcs = null;
_pauseConfirmationTcs = null;
resumeRequestTcs.TrySetResult(true);
}
finally
{
_pauseRequestAsyncLock.Release();
}
}
finally
{
_stateAsyncLock.Release();
}
}
public async Task PauseAsync(CancellationToken token = default(CancellationToken))
{
await _stateAsyncLock.WaitAsync(token);
try
{
if (_paused)
{
return;
}
Task pauseConfirmationTask = null;
await _pauseRequestAsyncLock.WaitAsync(token);
try
{
_pauseRequested = true;
_resumeRequestTcs = new TaskCompletionSource<bool>(TaskCreationOptions.RunContinuationsAsynchronously);
_pauseConfirmationTcs = new TaskCompletionSource<bool>(TaskCreationOptions.RunContinuationsAsynchronously);
pauseConfirmationTask = WaitForPauseConfirmationAsync(token);
}
finally
{
_pauseRequestAsyncLock.Release();
}
await pauseConfirmationTask;
_paused = true;
}
finally
{
_stateAsyncLock.Release();
}
}
private async Task WaitForResumeRequestAsync(CancellationToken token)
{
using (token.Register(() => _resumeRequestTcs.TrySetCanceled(), useSynchronizationContext: false))
{
await _resumeRequestTcs.Task;
}
}
private async Task WaitForPauseConfirmationAsync(CancellationToken token)
{
using (token.Register(() => _pauseConfirmationTcs.TrySetCanceled(), useSynchronizationContext: false))
{
await _pauseConfirmationTcs.Task;
}
}
internal async Task PauseIfRequestedAsync(CancellationToken token = default(CancellationToken))
{
Task resumeRequestTask = null;
await _pauseRequestAsyncLock.WaitAsync(token);
try
{
if (!_pauseRequested)
{
return;
}
resumeRequestTask = WaitForResumeRequestAsync(token);
_pauseConfirmationTcs.TrySetResult(true);
}
finally
{
_pauseRequestAsyncLock.Release();
}
await resumeRequestTask;
}
}
// PauseToken - consumer side
public struct PauseToken
{
readonly PauseTokenSource _source;
public PauseToken(PauseTokenSource source) { _source = source; }
public Task<bool> IsPaused() { return _source.IsPaused(); }
public Task PauseIfRequestedAsync(CancellationToken token = default(CancellationToken))
{
return _source.PauseIfRequestedAsync(token);
}
}
// Basic usage
public static async Task DoWorkAsync(PauseToken pause, CancellationToken token)
{
try
{
while (true)
{
token.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
Console.WriteLine("Before await pause.PauseIfRequestedAsync()");
await pause.PauseIfRequestedAsync();
Console.WriteLine("After await pause.PauseIfRequestedAsync()");
await Task.Delay(1000);
}
}
catch (Exception e)
{
Console.WriteLine("Exception: {0}", e);
throw;
}
}
static async Task Test(CancellationToken token)
{
var pts = new PauseTokenSource();
var task = DoWorkAsync(pts.Token, token);
while (true)
{
token.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
Console.WriteLine("Press enter to pause...");
Console.ReadLine();
Console.WriteLine("Before pause requested");
await pts.PauseAsync();
Console.WriteLine("After pause requested, paused: " + await pts.IsPaused());
Console.WriteLine("Press enter to resume...");
Console.ReadLine();
Console.WriteLine("Before resume");
await pts.ResumeAsync();
Console.WriteLine("After resume");
}
}
static async Task Main()
{
await Test(CancellationToken.None);
}
}
}
CancellationTokenand then create a new task when you need to restart it.async/await-based model instead of event-based model, most of all because it's simpler to implement. So, there's still an async background task on the higher level, detecting document changes and starting another spellcheck pass. This is how it's implemented, in fact. Thus, the original question remains valid.Spellcheckerobject, with a methodResumeSpellCheckthat creates and starts a new task to run a privateSpellCheckAsyncmethod of the object, and aStopSpellCheckmethod, which cancels the running task, if any. You can use aCancellationTaskstored in a instance field (since at most one spellcheck task is running at any time for anySpellcheckerinstance)await Task.Delay(100, token), like the actual spellcheck pass (which is a computational task done locally viaTask.Run). Then possibly there's a request to the spellcheck server for the words not found locally, or a remote dictionary update. Then there's another task detecting any document changes (also done viaTask.Run). The whole process has its own state. Stopping it is different from pausing. E.g., the misspelled underlined words remain when paused. Makes sense?async/awaitis for, and I just want to take an advantage of it, to avoid chopping my logic into a set of callbacks. Check this out: Pause and Play with Await.