Task.Factory Property

Definition

Provides access to factory methods for creating and configuring Task and Task<TResult> instances.

public:
 static property System::Threading::Tasks::TaskFactory ^ Factory { System::Threading::Tasks::TaskFactory ^ get(); };
public static System.Threading.Tasks.TaskFactory Factory { get; }
static member Factory : System.Threading.Tasks.TaskFactory
Public Shared ReadOnly Property Factory As TaskFactory

Property Value

A factory object that can create a variety of Task and Task<TResult> objects.

Remarks

This property returns a default instance of the TaskFactory class that is identical to the one created by calling the parameterless TaskFactory.TaskFactory() constructor. It has the following property values:

Property Value
TaskFactory.CancellationToken CancellationToken.None
TaskFactory.ContinuationOptions TaskContinuationOptions.None
TaskFactory.CreationOptions TaskCreationOptions.None
TaskFactory.Scheduler null, or TaskScheduler.Current

The most common use of this property is to create and start a new task in a single call to the TaskFactory.StartNew method.

Note

Starting with the .NET Framework 4.5, the Task.Run method provides the easiest way to create a Task object with default configuration values.

The following example uses the static Factory property to make two calls to the TaskFactory.StartNew method. The first populates an array with the names of files in the user's MyDocuments directory, while the second populates an array with the names of subdirectories of the user's MyDocuments directory. It then calls the TaskFactory.ContinueWhenAll(Task[], Action<Task[]>) method, which displays information about the number of files and directories in the two arrays after the first two tasks have completed execution.

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

public class Example
{
   public static void Main()
   {
      Task[] tasks = new Task[2];
      String[] files = null;
      String[] dirs = null;
      String docsDirectory = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.MyDocuments);

      tasks[0] = Task.Factory.StartNew( () => files = Directory.GetFiles(docsDirectory));
      tasks[1] = Task.Factory.StartNew( () => dirs = Directory.GetDirectories(docsDirectory));

      Task.Factory.ContinueWhenAll(tasks, completedTasks => {
                                             Console.WriteLine("{0} contains: ", docsDirectory);
                                             Console.WriteLine("   {0} subdirectories", dirs.Length);
                                             Console.WriteLine("   {0} files", files.Length);
                                          } );
   }
}
// The example displays output like the following:
//       C:\Users\<username>\Documents contains:
//          24 subdirectories
//          16 files
open System
open System.IO
open System.Threading.Tasks

let mutable files = Unchecked.defaultof<string[]>
let mutable dirs = Unchecked.defaultof<string[]>
let docsDirectory = Environment.GetFolderPath Environment.SpecialFolder.MyDocuments

let tasks =
    [| Task.Factory.StartNew(fun () -> files <- Directory.GetFiles docsDirectory)
       Task.Factory.StartNew(fun () -> dirs <- Directory.GetDirectories docsDirectory) |]

Task.Factory.ContinueWhenAll(
    tasks,
    fun completedTasks ->
        printfn $"{docsDirectory} contains: "
        printfn $"   {dirs.Length} subdirectories"
        printfn $"   {files.Length} files"
)
|> ignore

// The example displays output like the following:
//       C:\Users\<username>\Documents contains:
//          24 subdirectories
//          16 files
Imports System.IO
Imports System.Threading.Tasks

Module Example
   Public Sub Main()
      Dim tasks(1) As Task
      Dim files() As String = Nothing
      Dim dirs() As String = Nothing
      Dim docsDirectory As String = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.MyDocuments)
      
      tasks(0) = Task.Factory.StartNew( Sub()
                                           files = Directory.GetFiles(docsDirectory)
                                        End Sub )
      tasks(1) = Task.Factory.StartNew( Sub()
                                           dirs = Directory.GetDirectories(docsDirectory)
                                        End Sub )
      Task.Factory.ContinueWhenAll(tasks, Sub(completedTasks)
                                             Console.WriteLine("{0} contains: ", docsDirectory)
                                             Console.WriteLine("   {0} subdirectories", dirs.Length)
                                             Console.WriteLine("   {0} files", files.Length)
                                          End Sub)
   End Sub
End Module
' The example displays output like the following:
'       C:\Users\<username>\Documents contains:
'          24 subdirectories
'          16 files

Applies to

See also