Delayed function calls

Question

Is there a nice simple method of delaying a function call whilst letting the thread continue executing?

e.g.

public void foo()
{
    // Do stuff!

           


        

Answer 1

It sounds like the control of the creation of both these objects and their interdependence needs to controlled externally, rather than between the classes themselves.

Answer 2

It's indeed a very bad design, let alone singleton by itself is bad design.

However, if you really do need to delay execution, here's what you may do:

BackgroundWorker barInvoker = new BackgroundWorker();
barInvoker.DoWork += delegate
    {
        Thread.Sleep(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1));
        bar();
    };
barInvoker.RunWorkerAsync();

This will, however, invoke bar() on a separate thread. If you need to call bar() in the original thread you might need to move bar() invocation to RunWorkerCompleted handler or do a bit of hacking with SynchronizationContext.

Answer 3

Thanks to modern C# 5/6 :)

public void foo()
{
    Task.Delay(1000).ContinueWith(t=> bar());
}

public void bar()
{
    // do stuff
}

Answer 4

There is no standard way to delay a call to a function other than to use a timer and events.

This sounds like the GUI anti pattern of delaying a call to a method so that you can be sure the form has finished laying out. Not a good idea.

Answer 5

public static class DelayedDelegate
{

    static Timer runDelegates;
    static Dictionary<MethodInvoker, DateTime> delayedDelegates = new Dictionary<MethodInvoker, DateTime>();

    static DelayedDelegate()
    {

        runDelegates = new Timer();
        runDelegates.Interval = 250;
        runDelegates.Tick += RunDelegates;
        runDelegates.Enabled = true;

    }

    public static void Add(MethodInvoker method, int delay)
    {

        delayedDelegates.Add(method, DateTime.Now + TimeSpan.FromSeconds(delay));

    }

    static void RunDelegates(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {

        List<MethodInvoker> removeDelegates = new List<MethodInvoker>();

        foreach (MethodInvoker method in delayedDelegates.Keys)
        {

            if (DateTime.Now >= delayedDelegates[method])
            {
                method();
                removeDelegates.Add(method);
            }

        }

        foreach (MethodInvoker method in removeDelegates)
        {

            delayedDelegates.Remove(method);

        }


    }

}

Usage:

DelayedDelegate.Add(MyMethod,5);

void MyMethod()
{
     MessageBox.Show("5 Seconds Later!");
}

Answer 6

This will work either on older versions of .NET
Cons: will execute in its own thread

class CancelableDelay
    {
        Thread delayTh;
        Action action;
        int ms;

        public static CancelableDelay StartAfter(int milliseconds, Action action)
        {
            CancelableDelay result = new CancelableDelay() { ms = milliseconds };
            result.action = action;
            result.delayTh = new Thread(result.Delay);
            result.delayTh.Start();
            return result;
        }

        private CancelableDelay() { }

        void Delay()
        {
            try
            {
                Thread.Sleep(ms);
                action.Invoke();
            }
            catch (ThreadAbortException)
            { }
        }

        public void Cancel() => delayTh.Abort();

    }

Usage:

var job = CancelableDelay.StartAfter(1000, () => { WorkAfter1sec(); });  
job.Cancel(); //to cancel the delayed job