Interlocked.CompareExchange with enum

Question

I'm trying to use Interlocked.CompareExchange with this enum:

public enum State {
    Idle,
    Running,
    //...
}

The following code doesn't compile, but that's what I want do do:

if (Interlocked.CompareExchange(ref state, State.Running, State.Idle) != State.Idle) {
    throw new InvalidOperationException("Unable to run - not idle");
}

Sure I can use a int instead of the enum and use a property:

private int state = (int)State.Idle;
public State { get { return (State)state; } }

Then cast the enums to a int:

if (Interlocked.CompareExchange(ref state, (int)State.Running, (int)State.Idle) !=  (int)State.Idle) {
    throw new InvalidOperationException("Unable to run - not idle");
}

But are there better ways to do this?

Answer 1

To make it simple, no :-)

Sadly C#/.NET consider enums as full type, partially disconnected from their base type. Every time you try to do something "fancy" on an enum you encounter some barrier.

Answer 2

It's possible from IL, and it's possible to create a helper method for this that can be used from C#.

using System;
using System.Reflection;
using System.Reflection.Emit;
using System.Threading;

static class CompareExchangeEnumImpl<T>
{
    public delegate T dImpl(ref T location, T value, T comparand);
    public static readonly dImpl Impl = CreateCompareExchangeImpl();

    static dImpl CreateCompareExchangeImpl()
    {
        var underlyingType = Enum.GetUnderlyingType(typeof(T));
        var dynamicMethod = new DynamicMethod(string.Empty, typeof(T), new[] { typeof(T).MakeByRefType(), typeof(T), typeof(T) });
        var ilGenerator = dynamicMethod.GetILGenerator();
        ilGenerator.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_0);
        ilGenerator.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_1);
        ilGenerator.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_2);
        ilGenerator.Emit(
            OpCodes.Call,
            typeof(Interlocked).GetMethod(
                "CompareExchange",
                BindingFlags.Static | BindingFlags.Public,
                null,
                new[] { underlyingType.MakeByRefType(), underlyingType, underlyingType },
                null));
        ilGenerator.Emit(OpCodes.Ret);
        return (dImpl)dynamicMethod.CreateDelegate(typeof(dImpl));
    }
}

public static class InterlockedEx
{
    public static T CompareExchangeEnum<T>(ref T location, T value, T comparand)
    {
        return CompareExchangeEnumImpl<T>.Impl(ref location, value, comparand);
    }
}

public enum Foo
{
    X,
    Y,
}

static class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        Foo x = Foo.X;
        Foo y = Foo.Y;
        y = InterlockedEx.CompareExchangeEnum(ref x, y, Foo.X);
        Console.WriteLine("x: " + x);
        Console.WriteLine("y: " + y);
    }
}

Output:

x: Y
y: X

This just forwards the arguments to the correct Interlocked.Exchange overload. It fails badly if T isn't really an enum type, or its underlying type doesn't have an Interlocked.Exchange overload.

The generated IL is verifiable, at least according to PEVerify, as can be checked by making this use AssemblyBuilder and saving the result to a file.

Answer 3

Interlocked operations on enum are no problem:

public enum State { Idle, Running }

unsafe State CompareExchange(ref State target, State v, State cmp)
{
    fixed (State* p = &target)
        return (State)Interlocked.CompareExchange(ref *(int*)p, (int)v, (int)cmp);
}

See my full answer and discussion at https://stackoverflow.com/a/5589515/147511

Answer 4

But are there better ways to do this?

I use a class instead of Enum:

public class DataCollectionManagerState
{
    public static readonly DataCollectionManagerState Off = new DataCollectionManagerState() { };
    public static readonly DataCollectionManagerState Starting = new DataCollectionManagerState() { };
    public static readonly DataCollectionManagerState On = new DataCollectionManagerState() { };

    private DataCollectionManagerState() { }

    public override string ToString()
    {
        if (this == Off) return "Off";
        if (this == Starting) return "Starting";
        if (this == On) return "On";

        throw new Exception();
    }
}

public class DataCollectionManager
{
    private static DataCollectionManagerState _state = DataCollectionManagerState.Off;

    public static void StartDataCollectionManager()
    {
        var originalValue = Interlocked.CompareExchange(ref _state, DataCollectionManagerState.Starting, DataCollectionManagerState.Off);
        if (originalValue != DataCollectionManagerState.Off)
        {
            throw new InvalidOperationException(string.Format("StartDataCollectionManager can be called when it's state is Off only. Current state is \"{0}\".", originalValue.ToString()));
        }

        // Start Data Collection Manager ...

        originalValue = Interlocked.CompareExchange(ref _state, DataCollectionManagerState.On, DataCollectionManagerState.Starting);
        if (originalValue != DataCollectionManagerState.Starting)
        {
            // Your code is really messy
            throw new Exception(string.Format("Unexpected error occurred. Current state is \"{0}\".", originalValue.ToString()));
        }
    }
}