7 ways to start a Task in .NET C#
January 1, 2014 39 Comments
New threads can be started using the Task Programming Library in .NET in – at last – 5 different ways.
You’ll first need to add the following using statement:
using System.Threading.Tasks;
The most direct way
Task.Factory.StartNew(() => {Console.WriteLine("Hello Task library!"); });
Using Action
Task task = new Task(new Action(PrintMessage)); task.Start();
…where PrintMessage is a method:
private void PrintMessage()
{
Console.WriteLine("Hello Task library!");
}
Using a delegate
Task task = new Task(delegate { PrintMessage(); });
task.Start();
Lambda and named method
Task task = new Task( () => PrintMessage() ); task.Start();
Lambda and anonymous method
Task task = new Task( () => { PrintMessage(); } );
task.Start();
Using Task.Run in .NET4.5
public async Task DoWork()
{
await Task.Run(() => PrintMessage());
}
Using Task.FromResult in .NET4.5 to return a result from a Task
public async Task DoWork()
{
int res = await Task.FromResult<int>(GetSum(4, 5));
}
private int GetSum(int a, int b)
{
return a + b;
}
You cannot start a task that has already completed. If you need to run the same task you’ll need to initialise it again.
View the list of posts on the Task Parallel Library here.
About Andras Nemes
Exercises in .NET with Andras Nemes 
Don’t forget Task.Run(() => PrintMessage()) or Task.FromResult(42).
Nice Reference:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/jj991977.aspx
As Stefan points out Task.Run and Task.FromResult are the only two alternatives you need to care about except Task.Factory.StartNew. Especially look at figure 9 in Stefan’s link. The Task constructor and Task.Start and patterns that you are recommended to avoid.
All your variants of delegates etc still apply, just don’t push for the task.Start pattern.
Thanks to both of you for the tip.
//Andras
Good to know how to use the Task in 7 ways. Thanks man.
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can you please do one more blog on how async and await are used in asp.net mvc , i am trying to understand but its confusing 😦 . Thanks a lot , i liked this blog a lot.
Hello,
here you are:
Await and async in .NET 4.5 with C#
Async controllers and actions in .NET4.5 MVC4 with C#
Timeout exceptions with async/await in .NET4.5 MVC4 with C#
Exception handling in async methods in .NET4.5 MVC4 with C#
This should be enough for starters.
//Andras
Can you tell me one thing…When we call printmessage() in task.run, will this be called asynchronously or synchronously?
Hello Sameer,
Asynchronously if the caller calls it with await:
public async Task DoRun() { await DoRunAsync(); } public async Task DoRunAsync() { Console.WriteLine(Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId); await Task.Run(() => { PrintMessage(); }); Console.WriteLine(Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId); }The managed thread IDs will most often differ before and after Task.Run.
//Andras
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Reblogged this on 天天学习，好好向上 and commented:
About Task.Start
You have a minor misnomer in your article where you call an expression lambda passing a named method. You could actually make this article “8 ways to start a task” if you add the additional one.
Named method
Task task = new Task( PrintMessage );
task.Start();
Expression lambda
Task task = new Task( () => PrintMessage() );
task.Start();
Statement lambda
Task task = new Task( () => { PrintMessage(); } );
task.Start();
Ok, thanks for your comment. Andras
Thanks
Task.Factory.StartNew()
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Hey Andras.
Easy question: what tool/app do you use to compose these posts? Are you composing them in WP or using another tool, and pasting them into your WP instance?
Just trying to get an idea for a good workflow for my own blog.
Thanks.
Hi Brent, I use WordPress, nothing else. It has an editor which suits all my needs – which are not too complex for that matter. I only need to show text, code and images. If I want to insert a diagram then I first build it in e.g. MS Visio and then insert it as an image into the post. //Andras
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Any resources on how to use these things on windows forms such as updating a text box or something via the ways described here?
Josh, you will need to apply the await-async pattern in your windows application. Tasks alone won’t be enough I think. There are a couple of posts dedicated to await and async on this blog starting here:
…in case you are not familiar with how it works.
//Andras
very nice short explanation !
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Thanks for your notes. I found it useful.
Hello Andras,
Could you please help me understand something. I need to execute a process (run external program) asynchronously (so that the application does not wait for the process to finish and continue). I tried the following:
Task.Factory.StartNew(() => Process.Start( “PrintOrder.exe”, nOrderNumber.ToString()));
But it does not make a different; the application still waits on the above line for almost a minute.
In your answer on Decc 21, 2014 you said “Asynchronously if the caller calls it with await:”
How do I apply the “await” to my syntax above?
Thank you in advance.
Hello, the StartNew() method starts a new task on a different thread and code execution should not wait for it to finish. Do you have a call to Task.Wait somewhere after this? I cannot provide a full response regarding async-await in a comment field. If you are new to asynchronous methods then start here:
You’ll find a number of examples there to get you started.
//Andras
Andras, Thank you very much for replying. I don’t have Task.wait call. And you are right that I am new to the asynchronous methods and I will go to your article and study it.
Again, thank you!
Hi Andras Nemes,
I am using –
Task task = new Task(delegate { GetRecordsForEmailReplies(headingList, partialEntity); });
task.Start();
to run some heavy methods, but the problem is it’s consuming lots of space of CPU on server and some time server gets stuck.
Is there any solution to manage this problem, so please le me know?
Thanks in advance.
Thanks,
Kundan
Hi Kundan, if a process consumes a lot of CPU then I don’t think threading by itself will solve the problem. It sounds more like a code optimisation and /or hardware capacity issue. How many CPU cores does the server have where the code is executed? Can you check the consumption of each CPU during the execution? Is it even or is it just one core taking the entire load? //Andras
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Hi Andras Nemes,
I’ve created as async function that do some heavy computation and the function accept a list that contains millions of data.
My target is after the execution of the task, the list parameter that is being pass to the function must be set to null/empty.
How can i achieve that? any idea?
here is my code:
public async void AsyncCompute(Dictionary<string, List> ListClazz)
{
string ky = string.Empty;
foreach (KeyValuePair<string,List> element in ListClazz)
{
ky = element.Key;
await Task.Run(() => HeavyComputation(element.Value,ky));
}
ListClazz.Clear();
}
Note: I’ve got an error with this because the list got null even all tasks were not yet done.
Parallel.For or Parallel.ForEach methods are just for the purpose you are trying to achieve.
Thanks mate! Good article
Hi Andras,
Thanks for your article.
I am having on strange situation, Please have a look on my code:
foreach (var task in taskList)
{
task.Start();
}
In this taskList, there are 4 tasks, out of 4 , 3 runs properly, but 1 didn’t even started. All four task is having same method to execute.
Could you please suggest, how can I make sure that all the tasks are started properly?
Thanks in advance.
Hi Andras, I have a question about using Tasks in a Windows Service. I want to run a database processing job inside a windows service and repeat it every 10 seconds. The job may take 2 seconds to complete, so ideally, I would wait until the job is done, than add 10 seconds to it and then repeat. What is the best way (conceptually) to handle this, timers or threads? Thank you.