System.Threading.Monitor class
This article provides supplementary remarks to the reference documentation for this API.
The Monitor class allows you to synchronize access to a region of code by taking and releasing a lock on a particular object by calling the Monitor.Enter, Monitor.TryEnter, and Monitor.Exit methods. Object locks provide the ability to restrict access to a block of code, commonly called a critical section. While a thread owns the lock for an object, no other thread can acquire that lock. You can also use the Monitor class to ensure that no other thread is allowed to access a section of application code being executed by the lock owner, unless the other thread is executing the code using a different locked object. Because the Monitor class has thread affinity, the thread that acquired a lock must release the lock by calling the Monitor.Exit method.
Overview
Monitor has the following features:
- It is associated with an object on demand.
- It is unbound, which means it can be called directly from any context.
- An instance of the Monitor class cannot be created; the methods of the Monitor class are all static. Each method is passed the synchronized object that controls access to the critical section.
Note
Use the Monitor class to lock objects other than strings (that is, reference types other than String), not value types. For details, see the overloads of the Enter method and The lock object section later in this article.
The following table describes the actions that can be taken by threads that access synchronized objects:
| Action | Description |
|---|---|
| Enter, TryEnter | Acquires a lock for an object. This action also marks the beginning of a critical section. No other thread can enter the critical section unless it is executing the instructions in the critical section using a different locked object. |
| Wait | Releases the lock on an object in order to permit other threads to lock and access the object. The calling thread waits while another thread accesses the object. Pulse signals are used to notify waiting threads about changes to an object's state. |
| Pulse (signal), PulseAll | Sends a signal to one or more waiting threads. The signal notifies a waiting thread that the state of the locked object has changed, and the owner of the lock is ready to release the lock. The waiting thread is placed in the object's ready queue so that it might eventually receive the lock for the object. Once the thread has the lock, it can check the new state of the object to see if the required state has been reached. |
| Exit | Releases the lock on an object. This action also marks the end of a critical section protected by the locked object. |
There are two sets of overloads for the Enter and TryEnter methods. One set of overloads has a ref (in C#) or ByRef (in Visual Basic) Boolean parameter that is atomically set to true if the lock is acquired, even if an exception is thrown when acquiring the lock. Use these overloads if it is critical to release the lock in all cases, even when the resources the lock is protecting might not be in a consistent state.
The lock object
The Monitor class consists of static (Shared in Visual Basic) methods that operate on an object that controls access to the critical section. The following information is maintained for each synchronized object:
- A reference to the thread that currently holds the lock.
- A reference to a ready queue, which contains the threads that are ready to obtain the lock.
- A reference to a waiting queue, which contains the threads that are waiting for notification of a change in the state of the locked object.
Monitor locks objects (that is, reference types), not value types. While you can pass a value type to Enter and Exit, it is boxed separately for each call. Since each call creates a separate object, Enter never blocks, and the code it is supposedly protecting is not really synchronized. In addition, the object passed to Exit is different from the object passed to Enter, so Monitor throws SynchronizationLockException exception with the message "Object synchronization method was called from an unsynchronized block of code."
The following example illustrates this problem. It launches ten tasks, each of which just sleeps for 250 milliseconds. Each task then updates a counter variable, nTasks, which is intended to count the number of tasks that actually launched and executed. Because nTasks is a global variable that can be updated by multiple tasks simultaneously, a monitor is used to protect it from simultaneous modification by multiple tasks. However, as the output from the example shows, each of the tasks throws a SynchronizationLockException exception.
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Threading;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
public class Example1
{
public static void Main()
{
int nTasks = 0;
List<Task> tasks = new List<Task>();
try
{
for (int ctr = 0; ctr < 10; ctr++)
tasks.Add(Task.Run(() =>
{ // Instead of doing some work, just sleep.
Thread.Sleep(250);
// Increment the number of tasks.
Monitor.Enter(nTasks);
try
{
nTasks += 1;
}
finally
{
Monitor.Exit(nTasks);
}
}));
Task.WaitAll(tasks.ToArray());
Console.WriteLine("{0} tasks started and executed.", nTasks);
}
catch (AggregateException e)
{
String msg = String.Empty;
foreach (var ie in e.InnerExceptions)
{
Console.WriteLine("{0}", ie.GetType().Name);
if (!msg.Contains(ie.Message))
msg += ie.Message + Environment.NewLine;
}
Console.WriteLine("\nException Message(s):");
Console.WriteLine(msg);
}
}
}
// The example displays the following output:
// SynchronizationLockException
// SynchronizationLockException
// SynchronizationLockException
// SynchronizationLockException
// SynchronizationLockException
// SynchronizationLockException
// SynchronizationLockException
// SynchronizationLockException
// SynchronizationLockException
// SynchronizationLockException
//
// Exception Message(s):
// Object synchronization method was called from an unsynchronized block of code.
Imports System.Collections.Generic
Imports System.Threading
Imports System.Threading.Tasks
Module Example3
Public Sub Main()
Dim nTasks As Integer = 0
Dim tasks As New List(Of Task)()
Try
For ctr As Integer = 0 To 9
tasks.Add(Task.Run(Sub()
' Instead of doing some work, just sleep.
Thread.Sleep(250)
' Increment the number of tasks.
Monitor.Enter(nTasks)
Try
nTasks += 1
Finally
Monitor.Exit(nTasks)
End Try
End Sub))
Next
Task.WaitAll(tasks.ToArray())
Console.WriteLine("{0} tasks started and executed.", nTasks)
Catch e As AggregateException
Dim msg As String = String.Empty
For Each ie In e.InnerExceptions
Console.WriteLine("{0}", ie.GetType().Name)
If Not msg.Contains(ie.Message) Then
msg += ie.Message + Environment.NewLine
End If
Next
Console.WriteLine(vbCrLf + "Exception Message(s):")
Console.WriteLine(msg)
End Try
End Sub
End Module
' The example displays the following output:
' SynchronizationLockException
' SynchronizationLockException
' SynchronizationLockException
' SynchronizationLockException
' SynchronizationLockException
' SynchronizationLockException
' SynchronizationLockException
' SynchronizationLockException
' SynchronizationLockException
' SynchronizationLockException
'
' Exception Message(s):
' Object synchronization method was called from an unsynchronized block of code.
Each task throws a SynchronizationLockException exception because the nTasks variable is boxed before the call to the Monitor.Enter method in each task. In other words, each method call is passed a separate variable that is independent of the others. nTasks is boxed again in the call to the Monitor.Exit method. Once again, this creates ten new boxed variables, which are independent of each other, nTasks, and the ten boxed variables created in the call to the Monitor.Enter method. The exception is thrown, then, because our code is attempting to release a lock on a newly created variable that was not previously locked.
Although you can box a value type variable before calling Enter and Exit, as shown in the following example, and pass the same boxed object to both methods, there is no advantage to doing this. Changes to the unboxed variable are not reflected in the boxed copy, and there is no way to change the value of the boxed copy.
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Threading;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
public class Example
{
public static void Main()
{
int nTasks = 0;
object o = nTasks;
List<Task> tasks = new List<Task>();
try {
for (int ctr = 0; ctr < 10; ctr++)
tasks.Add(Task.Run( () => { // Instead of doing some work, just sleep.
Thread.Sleep(250);
// Increment the number of tasks.
Monitor.Enter(o);
try {
nTasks++;
}
finally {
Monitor.Exit(o);
}
} ));
Task.WaitAll(tasks.ToArray());
Console.WriteLine("{0} tasks started and executed.", nTasks);
}
catch (AggregateException e) {
String msg = String.Empty;
foreach (var ie in e.InnerExceptions) {
Console.WriteLine("{0}", ie.GetType().Name);
if (! msg.Contains(ie.Message))
msg += ie.Message + Environment.NewLine;
}
Console.WriteLine("\nException Message(s):");
Console.WriteLine(msg);
}
}
}
// The example displays the following output:
// 10 tasks started and executed.
Imports System.Collections.Generic
Imports System.Threading
Imports System.Threading.Tasks
Module Example2
Public Sub Main()
Dim nTasks As Integer = 0
Dim o As Object = nTasks
Dim tasks As New List(Of Task)()
Try
For ctr As Integer = 0 To 9
tasks.Add(Task.Run(Sub()
' Instead of doing some work, just sleep.
Thread.Sleep(250)
' Increment the number of tasks.
Monitor.Enter(o)
Try
nTasks += 1
Finally
Monitor.Exit(o)
End Try
End Sub))
Next
Task.WaitAll(tasks.ToArray())
Console.WriteLine("{0} tasks started and executed.", nTasks)
Catch e As AggregateException
Dim msg As String = String.Empty
For Each ie In e.InnerExceptions
Console.WriteLine("{0}", ie.GetType().Name)
If Not msg.Contains(ie.Message) Then
msg += ie.Message + Environment.NewLine
End If
Next
Console.WriteLine(vbCrLf + "Exception Message(s):")
Console.WriteLine(msg)
End Try
End Sub
End Module
' The example displays the following output:
' 10 tasks started and executed.
When selecting an object on which to synchronize, you should lock only on private or internal objects. Locking on external objects might result in deadlocks, because unrelated code could choose the same objects to lock on for different purposes.
Note that you can synchronize on an object in multiple application domains if the object used for the lock derives from MarshalByRefObject.
The critical section
Use the Enter and Exit methods to mark the beginning and end of a critical section.
Note
The functionality provided by the Enter and Exit methods is identical to that provided by the lock statement in C# and the SyncLock statement in Visual Basic, except that the language constructs wrap the Monitor.Enter(Object, Boolean) method overload and the Monitor.Exit method in a try…finally block to ensure that the monitor is released.
If the critical section is a set of contiguous instructions, then the lock acquired by the Enter method guarantees that only a single thread can execute the enclosed code with the locked object. In this case, we recommend that you place that code in a try block and place the call to the Exit method in a finally block. This ensures that the lock is released even if an exception occurs. The following code fragment illustrates this pattern.
// Define the lock object.
var obj = new Object();
// Define the critical section.
Monitor.Enter(obj);
try
{
// Code to execute one thread at a time.
}
// catch blocks go here.
finally
{
Monitor.Exit(obj);
}
' Define the lock object.
Dim obj As New Object()
' Define the critical section.
Monitor.Enter(obj)
Try
' Code to execute one thread at a time.
' catch blocks go here.
Finally
Monitor.Exit(obj)
End Try
This facility is typically used to synchronize access to a static or instance method of a class.
If a critical section spans an entire method, the locking facility can be achieved by placing the System.Runtime.CompilerServices.MethodImplAttribute on the method, and specifying the Synchronized value in the constructor of System.Runtime.CompilerServices.MethodImplAttribute. When you use this attribute, the Enter and Exit method calls are not needed. The following code fragment illustrates this pattern:
[MethodImplAttribute(MethodImplOptions.Synchronized)]
void MethodToLock()
{
// Method implementation.
}
<MethodImplAttribute(MethodImplOptions.Synchronized)>
Sub MethodToLock()
' Method implementation.
End Sub
Note that the attribute causes the current thread to hold the lock until the method returns; if the lock can be released sooner, use the Monitor class, the C# lock statement, or the Visual Basic SyncLock statement inside of the method instead of the attribute.
While it is possible for the Enter and Exit statements that lock and release a given object to cross member or class boundaries or both, this practice is not recommended.
Pulse, PulseAll, and Wait
Once a thread owns the lock and has entered the critical section that the lock protects, it can call the Monitor.Wait, Monitor.Pulse, and Monitor.PulseAll methods.
When the thread that holds the lock calls Wait, the lock is released and the thread is added to the waiting queue of the synchronized object. The first thread in the ready queue, if any, acquires the lock and enters the critical section. The thread that called Wait is moved from the waiting queue to the ready queue when either the Monitor.Pulse or the Monitor.PulseAll method is called by the thread that holds the lock (to be moved, the thread must be at the head of the waiting queue). The Wait method returns when the calling thread reacquires the lock.
When the thread that holds the lock calls Pulse, the thread at the head of the waiting queue is moved to the ready queue. The call to the PulseAll method moves all the threads from the waiting queue to the ready queue.
Monitors and wait handles
It is important to note the distinction between the use of the Monitor class and WaitHandle objects.
- The Monitor class is purely managed, fully portable, and might be more efficient in terms of operating-system resource requirements.
- WaitHandle objects represent operating-system waitable objects, are useful for synchronizing between managed and unmanaged code, and expose some advanced operating-system features like the ability to wait on many objects at once.
Examples
The following example uses the Monitor class to synchronize access to a single instance of a random number generator represented by the Random class. The example creates ten tasks, each of which executes asynchronously on a thread pool thread. Each task generates 10,000 random numbers, calculates their average, and updates two procedure-level variables that maintain a running total of the number of random numbers generated and their sum. After all tasks have executed, these two values are then used to calculate the overall mean.
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Threading;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
public class Example2
{
public static void Main()
{
List<Task> tasks = new List<Task>();
Random rnd = new Random();
long total = 0;
int n = 0;
for (int taskCtr = 0; taskCtr < 10; taskCtr++)
tasks.Add(Task.Run(() =>
{
int[] values = new int[10000];
int taskTotal = 0;
int taskN = 0;
int ctr = 0;
Monitor.Enter(rnd);
// Generate 10,000 random integers
for (ctr = 0; ctr < 10000; ctr++)
values[ctr] = rnd.Next(0, 1001);
Monitor.Exit(rnd);
taskN = ctr;
foreach (var value in values)
taskTotal += value;
Console.WriteLine("Mean for task {0,2}: {1:N2} (N={2:N0})",
Task.CurrentId, (taskTotal * 1.0) / taskN,
taskN);
Interlocked.Add(ref n, taskN);
Interlocked.Add(ref total, taskTotal);
}));
try
{
Task.WaitAll(tasks.ToArray());
Console.WriteLine("\nMean for all tasks: {0:N2} (N={1:N0})",
(total * 1.0) / n, n);
}
catch (AggregateException e)
{
foreach (var ie in e.InnerExceptions)
Console.WriteLine("{0}: {1}", ie.GetType().Name, ie.Message);
}
}
}
// The example displays output like the following:
// Mean for task 1: 499.04 (N=10,000)
// Mean for task 2: 500.42 (N=10,000)
// Mean for task 3: 499.65 (N=10,000)
// Mean for task 8: 502.59 (N=10,000)
// Mean for task 5: 502.75 (N=10,000)
// Mean for task 4: 494.88 (N=10,000)
// Mean for task 7: 499.22 (N=10,000)
// Mean for task 10: 496.45 (N=10,000)
// Mean for task 6: 499.75 (N=10,000)
// Mean for task 9: 502.79 (N=10,000)
//
// Mean for all tasks: 499.75 (N=100,000)
Imports System.Collections.Generic
Imports System.Threading
Imports System.Threading.Tasks
Module Example4
Public Sub Main()
Dim tasks As New List(Of Task)()
Dim rnd As New Random()
Dim total As Long = 0
Dim n As Integer = 0
For taskCtr As Integer = 0 To 9
tasks.Add(Task.Run(Sub()
Dim values(9999) As Integer
Dim taskTotal As Integer = 0
Dim taskN As Integer = 0
Dim ctr As Integer = 0
Monitor.Enter(rnd)
' Generate 10,000 random integers.
For ctr = 0 To 9999
values(ctr) = rnd.Next(0, 1001)
Next
Monitor.Exit(rnd)
taskN = ctr
For Each value In values
taskTotal += value
Next
Console.WriteLine("Mean for task {0,2}: {1:N2} (N={2:N0})",
Task.CurrentId, taskTotal / taskN,
taskN)
Interlocked.Add(n, taskN)
Interlocked.Add(total, taskTotal)
End Sub))
Next
Try
Task.WaitAll(tasks.ToArray())
Console.WriteLine()
Console.WriteLine("Mean for all tasks: {0:N2} (N={1:N0})",
(total * 1.0) / n, n)
Catch e As AggregateException
For Each ie In e.InnerExceptions
Console.WriteLine("{0}: {1}", ie.GetType().Name, ie.Message)
Next
End Try
End Sub
End Module
' The example displays output like the following:
' Mean for task 1: 499.04 (N=10,000)
' Mean for task 2: 500.42 (N=10,000)
' Mean for task 3: 499.65 (N=10,000)
' Mean for task 8: 502.59 (N=10,000)
' Mean for task 5: 502.75 (N=10,000)
' Mean for task 4: 494.88 (N=10,000)
' Mean for task 7: 499.22 (N=10,000)
' Mean for task 10: 496.45 (N=10,000)
' Mean for task 6: 499.75 (N=10,000)
' Mean for task 9: 502.79 (N=10,000)
'
' Mean for all tasks: 499.75 (N=100,000)
Because they can be accessed from any task running on a thread pool thread, access to the variables total and n must also be synchronized. The Interlocked.Add method is used for this purpose.
The following example demonstrates the combined use of the Monitor class (implemented with the lock or SyncLock language construct), the Interlocked class, and the AutoResetEvent class. It defines two internal (in C#) or Friend (in Visual Basic) classes, SyncResource and UnSyncResource, that respectively provide synchronized and unsynchronized access to a resource. To ensure that the example illustrates the difference between the synchronized and unsynchronized access (which could be the case if each method call completes rapidly), the method includes a random delay: for threads whose Thread.ManagedThreadId property is even, the method calls Thread.Sleep to introduce a delay of 2,000 milliseconds. Note that, because the SyncResource class is not public, none of the client code takes a lock on the synchronized resource; the internal class itself takes the lock. This prevents malicious code from taking a lock on a public object.
using System;
using System.Threading;
internal class SyncResource
{
// Use a monitor to enforce synchronization.
public void Access()
{
lock(this) {
Console.WriteLine("Starting synchronized resource access on thread #{0}",
Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId);
if (Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId % 2 == 0)
Thread.Sleep(2000);
Thread.Sleep(200);
Console.WriteLine("Stopping synchronized resource access on thread #{0}",
Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId);
}
}
}
internal class UnSyncResource
{
// Do not enforce synchronization.
public void Access()
{
Console.WriteLine("Starting unsynchronized resource access on Thread #{0}",
Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId);
if (Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId % 2 == 0)
Thread.Sleep(2000);
Thread.Sleep(200);
Console.WriteLine("Stopping unsynchronized resource access on thread #{0}",
Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId);
}
}
public class App
{
private static int numOps;
private static AutoResetEvent opsAreDone = new AutoResetEvent(false);
private static SyncResource SyncRes = new SyncResource();
private static UnSyncResource UnSyncRes = new UnSyncResource();
public static void Main()
{
// Set the number of synchronized calls.
numOps = 5;
for (int ctr = 0; ctr <= 4; ctr++)
ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem(new WaitCallback(SyncUpdateResource));
// Wait until this WaitHandle is signaled.
opsAreDone.WaitOne();
Console.WriteLine("\t\nAll synchronized operations have completed.\n");
// Reset the count for unsynchronized calls.
numOps = 5;
for (int ctr = 0; ctr <= 4; ctr++)
ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem(new WaitCallback(UnSyncUpdateResource));
// Wait until this WaitHandle is signaled.
opsAreDone.WaitOne();
Console.WriteLine("\t\nAll unsynchronized thread operations have completed.\n");
}
static void SyncUpdateResource(Object state)
{
// Call the internal synchronized method.
SyncRes.Access();
// Ensure that only one thread can decrement the counter at a time.
if (Interlocked.Decrement(ref numOps) == 0)
// Announce to Main that in fact all thread calls are done.
opsAreDone.Set();
}
static void UnSyncUpdateResource(Object state)
{
// Call the unsynchronized method.
UnSyncRes.Access();
// Ensure that only one thread can decrement the counter at a time.
if (Interlocked.Decrement(ref numOps) == 0)
// Announce to Main that in fact all thread calls are done.
opsAreDone.Set();
}
}
// The example displays output like the following:
// Starting synchronized resource access on thread #6
// Stopping synchronized resource access on thread #6
// Starting synchronized resource access on thread #7
// Stopping synchronized resource access on thread #7
// Starting synchronized resource access on thread #3
// Stopping synchronized resource access on thread #3
// Starting synchronized resource access on thread #4
// Stopping synchronized resource access on thread #4
// Starting synchronized resource access on thread #5
// Stopping synchronized resource access on thread #5
//
// All synchronized operations have completed.
//
// Starting unsynchronized resource access on Thread #7
// Starting unsynchronized resource access on Thread #9
// Starting unsynchronized resource access on Thread #10
// Starting unsynchronized resource access on Thread #6
// Starting unsynchronized resource access on Thread #3
// Stopping unsynchronized resource access on thread #7
// Stopping unsynchronized resource access on thread #9
// Stopping unsynchronized resource access on thread #3
// Stopping unsynchronized resource access on thread #10
// Stopping unsynchronized resource access on thread #6
//
// All unsynchronized thread operations have completed.
Imports System.Threading
Friend Class SyncResource
' Use a monitor to enforce synchronization.
Public Sub Access()
SyncLock Me
Console.WriteLine("Starting synchronized resource access on thread #{0}",
Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId)
If Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId Mod 2 = 0 Then
Thread.Sleep(2000)
End If
Thread.Sleep(200)
Console.WriteLine("Stopping synchronized resource access on thread #{0}",
Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId)
End SyncLock
End Sub
End Class
Friend Class UnSyncResource
' Do not enforce synchronization.
Public Sub Access()
Console.WriteLine("Starting unsynchronized resource access on Thread #{0}",
Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId)
If Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId Mod 2 = 0 Then
Thread.Sleep(2000)
End If
Thread.Sleep(200)
Console.WriteLine("Stopping unsynchronized resource access on thread #{0}",
Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId)
End Sub
End Class
Public Module App
Private numOps As Integer
Private opsAreDone As New AutoResetEvent(False)
Private SyncRes As New SyncResource()
Private UnSyncRes As New UnSyncResource()
Public Sub Main()
' Set the number of synchronized calls.
numOps = 5
For ctr As Integer = 0 To 4
ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem(New WaitCallback(AddressOf SyncUpdateResource))
Next
' Wait until this WaitHandle is signaled.
opsAreDone.WaitOne()
Console.WriteLine(vbTab + Environment.NewLine + "All synchronized operations have completed.")
Console.WriteLine()
numOps = 5
' Reset the count for unsynchronized calls.
For ctr As Integer = 0 To 4
ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem(New WaitCallback(AddressOf UnSyncUpdateResource))
Next
' Wait until this WaitHandle is signaled.
opsAreDone.WaitOne()
Console.WriteLine(vbTab + Environment.NewLine + "All unsynchronized thread operations have completed.")
End Sub
Sub SyncUpdateResource()
' Call the internal synchronized method.
SyncRes.Access()
' Ensure that only one thread can decrement the counter at a time.
If Interlocked.Decrement(numOps) = 0 Then
' Announce to Main that in fact all thread calls are done.
opsAreDone.Set()
End If
End Sub
Sub UnSyncUpdateResource()
' Call the unsynchronized method.
UnSyncRes.Access()
' Ensure that only one thread can decrement the counter at a time.
If Interlocked.Decrement(numOps) = 0 Then
' Announce to Main that in fact all thread calls are done.
opsAreDone.Set()
End If
End Sub
End Module
' The example displays output like the following:
' Starting synchronized resource access on thread #6
' Stopping synchronized resource access on thread #6
' Starting synchronized resource access on thread #7
' Stopping synchronized resource access on thread #7
' Starting synchronized resource access on thread #3
' Stopping synchronized resource access on thread #3
' Starting synchronized resource access on thread #4
' Stopping synchronized resource access on thread #4
' Starting synchronized resource access on thread #5
' Stopping synchronized resource access on thread #5
'
' All synchronized operations have completed.
'
' Starting unsynchronized resource access on Thread #7
' Starting unsynchronized resource access on Thread #9
' Starting unsynchronized resource access on Thread #10
' Starting unsynchronized resource access on Thread #6
' Starting unsynchronized resource access on Thread #3
' Stopping unsynchronized resource access on thread #7
' Stopping unsynchronized resource access on thread #9
' Stopping unsynchronized resource access on thread #3
' Stopping unsynchronized resource access on thread #10
' Stopping unsynchronized resource access on thread #6
'
' All unsynchronized thread operations have completed.
The example defines a variable, numOps, that defines the number of threads that will attempt to access the resource. The application thread calls the ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem(WaitCallback) method for synchronized and unsynchronized access five times each. The ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem(WaitCallback) method has a single parameter, a delegate that accepts no parameters and returns no value. For synchronized access, it invokes the SyncUpdateResource method; for unsynchronized access, it invokes the UnSyncUpdateResource method. After each set of method calls, the application thread calls the AutoResetEvent.WaitOne method so that it blocks until the AutoResetEvent instance is signaled.
Each call to the SyncUpdateResource method calls the internal SyncResource.Access method and then calls the Interlocked.Decrement method to decrement the numOps counter. The Interlocked.Decrement method Is used to decrement the counter, because otherwise you cannot be certain that a second thread will access the value before a first thread's decremented value has been stored in the variable. When the last synchronized worker thread decrements the counter to zero, indicating that all synchronized threads have completed accessing the resource, the SyncUpdateResource method calls the EventWaitHandle.Set method, which signals the main thread to continue execution.
Each call to the UnSyncUpdateResource method calls the internal UnSyncResource.Access method and then calls the Interlocked.Decrement method to decrement the numOps counter. Once again, the Interlocked.Decrement method Is used to decrement the counter to ensure that a second thread does not access the value before a first thread's decremented value has been assigned to the variable. When the last unsynchronized worker thread decrements the counter to zero, indicating that no more unsynchronized threads need to access the resource, the UnSyncUpdateResource method calls the EventWaitHandle.Set method, which signals the main thread to continue execution.
As the output from the example shows, synchronized access ensures that the calling thread exits the protected resource before another thread can access it; each thread waits on its predecessor. On the other hand, without the lock, the UnSyncResource.Access method is called in the order in which threads reach it.
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