Thread.ApartmentState Thread.ApartmentState Thread.ApartmentState Property

Definition

Namespace:
System.Threading System.Threading System.Threading
Assemblies:
mscorlib.dll, netstandard.dll, System.Threading.Thread.dll

Warning

This API is now obsolete.

Gets or sets the apartment state of this thread.

public:
 property System::Threading::ApartmentState ApartmentState { System::Threading::ApartmentState get(); void set(System::Threading::ApartmentState value); };
[System.Obsolete("Deprecated in favor of GetApartmentState, SetApartmentState and TrySetApartmentState.")]
public System.Threading.ApartmentState ApartmentState { get; set; }
Public Property ApartmentState As ApartmentState
Property Value
ApartmentState ApartmentState ApartmentState

One of the ApartmentState values. The initial value is Unknown.

Exceptions
ArgumentException ArgumentException ArgumentException

An attempt is made to set this property to a state that is not a valid apartment state (a state other than single-threaded apartment (STA) or multithreaded apartment (MTA)).

Examples

The following code example demonstrates how to set the apartment state of a thread. 

using namespace System;
using namespace System::Threading;
ref class ApartmentTest
{
public:
   static void ThreadMethod()
   {
      Thread::Sleep( 1000 );
   }

};

int main()
{
   Thread^ newThread = gcnew Thread( gcnew ThreadStart( &ApartmentTest::ThreadMethod ) );
   newThread->SetApartmentState(ApartmentState::MTA);
   
   Console::WriteLine( "ThreadState: {0}, ApartmentState: {1}", newThread->ThreadState.ToString(), newThread->GetApartmentState().ToString() );
   newThread->Start();
   
   // Wait for newThread to start and go to sleep.
   Thread::Sleep( 300 );
   try
   {
      
      // This causes an exception since newThread is sleeping.
      newThread->SetApartmentState(ApartmentState::STA);
   }
   catch ( ThreadStateException^ stateException ) 
   {
      Console::WriteLine( "\n{0} caught:\n"
      "Thread is not in the Unstarted or Running state.", stateException->GetType()->Name );
      Console::WriteLine( "ThreadState: {0}, ApartmentState: {1}", newThread->ThreadState.ToString(), newThread->GetApartmentState().ToString() );
   }

}


using System;
using System.Threading;

class ApartmentTest
{
    static void Main()
    {
        Thread newThread = 
            new Thread(new ThreadStart(ThreadMethod));
        newThread.SetApartmentState(ApartmentState.MTA);

        Console.WriteLine("ThreadState: {0}, ApartmentState: {1}", 
            newThread.ThreadState, newThread.ApartmentState);

        newThread.Start();

        // Wait for newThread to start and go to sleep.
        Thread.Sleep(300);
        try
        {
            // This causes an exception since newThread is sleeping.
            newThread.SetApartmentState(ApartmentState.STA);
        }
        catch(ThreadStateException stateException)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("\n{0} caught:\n" +
                "Thread is not in the Unstarted or Running state.", 
                stateException.GetType().Name);
            Console.WriteLine("ThreadState: {0}, ApartmentState: {1}",
                newThread.ThreadState, newThread.GetApartmentState());
        }
    }

    static void ThreadMethod()
    {
        Thread.Sleep(1000);
    }
}

Imports System.Threading

Public Class ApartmentTest

    <MTAThread> _
    Shared Sub Main()
    
        Dim newThread As Thread = New Thread(AddressOf ThreadMethod)
        newThread.SetApartmentState(ApartmentState.MTA)

        Console.WriteLine("ThreadState: {0}, ApartmentState: {1}", _
            newThread.ThreadState, newThread.GetApartmentState())

        newThread.Start()

        ' Wait for newThread to start and go to sleep.
        Thread.Sleep(300)
        Try
            ' This causes an exception since newThread is sleeping.
            newThread.SetApartmentState(ApartmentState.STA)
        Catch stateException As ThreadStateException
            Console.WriteLine(vbCrLf & "{0} caught:" & vbCrLf & _
                "Thread is not In the Unstarted or Running state.", _
                stateException.GetType().Name)
            Console.WriteLine("ThreadState: {0}, ApartmentState: " & _
                "{1}", newThread.ThreadState, newThread.GetApartmentState())
        End Try

    End Sub

    Shared Sub ThreadMethod()
        Thread.Sleep(1000)
    End Sub

End Class

Remarks

The ApartmentState property is obsolete. The non-obsolete alternatives are the GetApartmentState method to retrieve the apartment state and the SetApartmentState method to set the apartment state.

In the .NET Framework versions 1.0 and 1.1, the ApartmentState property marks a thread to indicate that it will execute in a single-threaded or multithreaded apartment. This property can be set when the thread is in the Unstarted or Running thread state; however, it can be set only once for a thread. If the property has not been set, it returns Unknown.

An attempt to use the ApartmentState property to set the apartment state of a thread whose apartment state has already been set is ignored. However, the SetApartmentState method throws a InvalidOperationException in this case.

Important

In the .NET Framework version 2.0, new threads are initialized as ApartmentState.MTA if their apartment state has not been set before they are started. The main application thread is initialized to ApartmentState.MTA by default. You can no longer set the main application thread to ApartmentState.STA by setting the System.Threading.ApartmentState property on the first line of code. Use the STAThreadAttribute instead.

In the .NET Framework version 2.0, you can specify the COM threading model for a C++ application using the /CLRTHREADATTRIBUTE (Set CLR Thread Attribute) linker option.

Applies to

See Also