Async/await problem with result

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Hi. I have a problem with async/await, as the result is not the same every time.

The problem is the files are always the same, but results are different. Sometimes shows me a result, sometimes other result.
What I'm doing wrong?

What I have tried:

I have a method in my form which returns the count of some specific elements from an xml.

C#

private int GetNumberOfMissingElements(string filePath)
{
    int i = 0;
    XDocument xml = XDocument.Load(filePath);
    foreach (XElement xe in xml.Descendants("someElement"))
    {
        if (xe.Descendants("someSpecificChild").Count() == 0)
        {
            i++;
        }
    }
    return i;
}

This method I want to use it in a click event of a button, in async way on multiple files. As long as I return an integer value from this method I want to increment a property on my form, which will be displayed in a text box on my form.

C#

private async void CountTotalMissingElements(DataTable files)
{
    foreach(DataRow r in files.Rows)
    {
        string filePath = r["FilePath"].ToString();
        var result = await Task.Run(() => GetNumberOfMissingElements(filePath));
        TotalMissingElements += result;
    }
}

And my TotalMissingElements property is:

C#

private int totalMissingElements;
public int TotalMissingElements
{
    get => totalMissingElements;
    set
    {
        totalMissingElements = value;
        if(txtTME.InvokeRequired)
        {
            txtTME.BeginInvoke((MethodInvoker)delegate () 
            {
                txtTME.Text = totalMissingElements.ToString();
            }
        }
        else
        {
            txtTME.Text = totalMissingElements.ToString();
        }
    }
}

Regards,
Vali

Posted 25-Sep-20 7:00am

MVSoftVM

Updated 28-Sep-20 2:30am

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Comments

[no name] 25-Sep-20 13:13pm

Output each "result" to confirm whether parsing or adding is the problem. Maybe you need to "interlock" shared variables.

MVSoftVM 25-Sep-20 14:02pm

Ok. I made this test. The console text I've copied to a csv and imported, sorted and compared in OpenOffice SCalc. Seems data is ok, but the result was different. Practically, `TotalMissingElements += result;` is not doing what it should! Why?
What I have to do in this case?
BTW: What means "interlock shared variables"? :)

MVSoftVM 25-Sep-20 15:25pm

Ok. That "interlock" made my day :D I made some research (I'm not so experimented programmer in C#) and I learned how to use Interlock.Add()!

Thank you Gerry!

[no name] 26-Sep-20 13:52pm

You're welcome! Glad you understood the "interlock" reference; the docs are more interesting than me.

Tobynate 25-Sep-20 23:16pm

Probably not the solution, but you should return type async Task when using await commant

1 solution

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This content, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)

Richard Deeming · Answer 1 · 2020-09-28T02:30:00

A BackgroundWorker[^] would probably be a better fit for this type of problem.

C#

private readonly BackgroundWorker _missingElementsWorker;
private int _totalMissingElements;

public Form1()
{
    InitializeComponent();
    
    _missingElementsWorker = new BackgroundWorker
    {
        WorkerReportsProgress = true,
        WorkerSupportsCancellation = true,
    };
    
    _missingElementsWorker.ProgressChanged += MissingElementsProgressChanged;
    _missingElementsWorker.DoWork += CountMissingElements;
    _missingElementsWorker.RunWorkerCompleted += MissingElementsCounted;
}

public int TotalMissingElements
{
    get { return _totalMissingElements; }
    set
    {
        _totalMissingElements = value;
        txtTME.Text = totalMissingElements.ToString();
    }
}

private void CountTotalMissingElements(DataTable files)
{
    TotalMissingElements = 0;
    _missingElementsWorker.RunWorkerAsync(files);
}

private void CountMissingElements(object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)
{
    BackgroundWorker worker = (BackgroundWorker)sender;
    DataTable files = (DataTable)e.Argument;
    int result = 0;
    
    foreach (DataRow r in files.Rows)
    {
        if (worker.CancellationPending)
        {
            e.Cancel = true;
            return;
        }
        
        string filePath = r["FilePath"].ToString();
        result += GetNumberOfMissingElements(filePath);
        worker.ReportProgress(result);
    }
    
    e.Result = result;
}

private void MissingElementsProgressChanged(object sender, ProgressChangedEventArgs e)
{
    TotalMissingElements = e.ProgressPercentage;
}

private void MissingElementsCounted(object sender, RunWorkerCompletedEventArgs e)
{
    if (e.Cancelled)
    {
        // The count was cancelled...
    }
    else if (e.Error != null)
    {
        // An exception was thrown...
    }
    else
    {
        int totalMissingElements = (int)e.Result;
        Debug.Assert(totalMissingElements == TotalMissingElements);
    }
}

Async/await problem with result

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Async/await problem with result

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