How to: Cancel a PLINQ Query
The following examples show two ways to cancel a PLINQ query. The first example shows how to cancel a query that consists mostly of data traversal. The second example shows how to cancel a query that contains a user function that is computationally expensive.
Note
When "Just My Code" is enabled, Visual Studio will break on the line that throws the exception and display an error message that says "exception not handled by user code." This error is benign. You can press F5 to continue from it, and see the exception-handling behavior that is demonstrated in the examples below. To prevent Visual Studio from breaking on the first error, just uncheck the "Just My Code" checkbox under Tools, Options, Debugging, General.
This example is intended to demonstrate usage, and might not run faster than the equivalent sequential LINQ to Objects query. For more information about speedup, see Understanding Speedup in PLINQ.
Example 1
namespace PLINQCancellation_1
{
using System;
using System.Linq;
using System.Threading;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using static System.Console;
class Program
{
static void Main()
{
int[] source = Enumerable.Range(1, 10000000).ToArray();
using CancellationTokenSource cts = new();
// Start a new asynchronous task that will cancel the
// operation from another thread. Typically you would call
// Cancel() in response to a button click or some other
// user interface event.
Task.Factory.StartNew(() =>
{
UserClicksTheCancelButton(cts);
});
int[]? results = null;
try
{
results =
(from num in source.AsParallel().WithCancellation(cts.Token)
where num % 3 == 0
orderby num descending
select num).ToArray();
}
catch (OperationCanceledException e)
{
WriteLine(e.Message);
}
catch (AggregateException ae)
{
if (ae.InnerExceptions != null)
{
foreach (Exception e in ae.InnerExceptions)
{
WriteLine(e.Message);
}
}
}
foreach (var item in results ?? Array.Empty<int>())
{
WriteLine(item);
}
WriteLine();
ReadKey();
}
static void UserClicksTheCancelButton(CancellationTokenSource cts)
{
// Wait between 150 and 500 ms, then cancel.
// Adjust these values if necessary to make
// cancellation fire while query is still executing.
Random rand = new();
Thread.Sleep(rand.Next(150, 500));
cts.Cancel();
}
}
}
Class Program
Private Shared Sub Main(ByVal args As String())
Dim source As Integer() = Enumerable.Range(1, 10000000).ToArray()
Dim cs As New CancellationTokenSource()
' Start a new asynchronous task that will cancel the
' operation from another thread. Typically you would call
' Cancel() in response to a button click or some other
' user interface event.
Task.Factory.StartNew(Sub()
UserClicksTheCancelButton(cs)
End Sub)
Dim results As Integer() = Nothing
Try
results = (From num In source.AsParallel().WithCancellation(cs.Token) _
Where num Mod 3 = 0 _
Order By num Descending _
Select num).ToArray()
Catch e As OperationCanceledException
Console.WriteLine(e.Message)
Catch ae As AggregateException
If ae.InnerExceptions IsNot Nothing Then
For Each e As Exception In ae.InnerExceptions
Console.WriteLine(e.Message)
Next
End If
Finally
cs.Dispose()
End Try
If results IsNot Nothing Then
For Each item In results
Console.WriteLine(item)
Next
End If
Console.WriteLine()
Console.ReadKey()
End Sub
Private Shared Sub UserClicksTheCancelButton(ByVal cs As CancellationTokenSource)
' Wait between 150 and 500 ms, then cancel.
' Adjust these values if necessary to make
' cancellation fire while query is still executing.
Dim rand As New Random()
Thread.Sleep(rand.[Next](150, 350))
cs.Cancel()
End Sub
End Class
The PLINQ framework does not roll a single OperationCanceledException into an System.AggregateException; the OperationCanceledException must be handled in a separate catch block. If one or more user delegates throws an OperationCanceledException(externalCT) (by using an external System.Threading.CancellationToken) but no other exception, and the query was defined as AsParallel().WithCancellation(externalCT), then PLINQ will issue a single OperationCanceledException (externalCT) rather than an System.AggregateException. However, if one user delegate throws an OperationCanceledException, and another delegate throws another exception type, then both exceptions will be rolled into an AggregateException.
The general guidance on cancellation is as follows:
If you perform user-delegate cancellation, you should inform PLINQ about the external CancellationToken and throw an OperationCanceledException(externalCT).
If cancellation occurs and no other exceptions are thrown, then handle an OperationCanceledException rather than an AggregateException.
Example 2
The following example shows how to handle cancellation when you have a computationally expensive function in user code.
namespace PLINQCancellation_2
{
using System;
using System.Linq;
using System.Threading;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using static System.Console;
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
int[] source = Enumerable.Range(1, 10000000).ToArray();
using CancellationTokenSource cts = new();
// Start a new asynchronous task that will cancel the
// operation from another thread. Typically you would call
// Cancel() in response to a button click or some other
// user interface event.
Task.Factory.StartNew(() =>
{
UserClicksTheCancelButton(cts);
});
double[]? results = null;
try
{
results =
(from num in source.AsParallel().WithCancellation(cts.Token)
where num % 3 == 0
select Function(num, cts.Token)).ToArray();
}
catch (OperationCanceledException e)
{
WriteLine(e.Message);
}
catch (AggregateException ae)
{
if (ae.InnerExceptions != null)
{
foreach (Exception e in ae.InnerExceptions)
WriteLine(e.Message);
}
}
foreach (var item in results ?? Array.Empty<double>())
{
WriteLine(item);
}
WriteLine();
ReadKey();
}
// A toy method to simulate work.
static double Function(int n, CancellationToken ct)
{
// If work is expected to take longer than 1 ms
// then try to check cancellation status more
// often within that work.
for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++)
{
// Work hard for approx 1 millisecond.
Thread.SpinWait(50000);
// Check for cancellation request.
ct.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
}
// Anything will do for our purposes.
return Math.Sqrt(n);
}
static void UserClicksTheCancelButton(CancellationTokenSource cts)
{
// Wait between 150 and 500 ms, then cancel.
// Adjust these values if necessary to make
// cancellation fire while query is still executing.
Random rand = new();
Thread.Sleep(rand.Next(150, 500));
WriteLine("Press 'c' to cancel");
if (ReadKey().KeyChar == 'c')
{
cts.Cancel();
}
}
}
}
Class Program2
Private Shared Sub Main(ByVal args As String())
Dim source As Integer() = Enumerable.Range(1, 10000000).ToArray()
Dim cs As New CancellationTokenSource()
' Start a new asynchronous task that will cancel the
' operation from another thread. Typically you would call
' Cancel() in response to a button click or some other
' user interface event.
Task.Factory.StartNew(Sub()
UserClicksTheCancelButton(cs)
End Sub)
Dim results As Double() = Nothing
Try
results = (From num In source.AsParallel().WithCancellation(cs.Token) _
Where num Mod 3 = 0 _
Select [Function](num, cs.Token)).ToArray()
Catch e As OperationCanceledException
Console.WriteLine(e.Message)
Catch ae As AggregateException
If ae.InnerExceptions IsNot Nothing Then
For Each e As Exception In ae.InnerExceptions
Console.WriteLine(e.Message)
Next
End If
Finally
cs.Dispose()
End Try
If results IsNot Nothing Then
For Each item In results
Console.WriteLine(item)
Next
End If
Console.WriteLine()
Console.ReadKey()
End Sub
' A toy method to simulate work.
Private Shared Function [Function](ByVal n As Integer, ByVal ct As CancellationToken) As Double
' If work is expected to take longer than 1 ms
' then try to check cancellation status more
' often within that work.
For i As Integer = 0 To 4
' Work hard for approx 1 millisecond.
Thread.SpinWait(50000)
' Check for cancellation request.
If ct.IsCancellationRequested Then
Throw New OperationCanceledException(ct)
End If
Next
' Anything will do for our purposes.
Return Math.Sqrt(n)
End Function
Private Shared Sub UserClicksTheCancelButton(ByVal cs As CancellationTokenSource)
' Wait between 150 and 500 ms, then cancel.
' Adjust these values if necessary to make
' cancellation fire while query is still executing.
Dim rand As New Random()
Thread.Sleep(rand.[Next](150, 350))
Console.WriteLine("Press 'c' to cancel")
If Console.ReadKey().KeyChar = "c"c Then
cs.Cancel()
End If
End Sub
End Class
When you handle the cancellation in user code, you do not have to use WithCancellation in the query definition. However, we recommend that you do use WithCancellation, because WithCancellation has no effect on query performance and it enables the cancellation to be handled by query operators and your user code.
In order to ensure system responsiveness, we recommend that you check for cancellation around once per millisecond; however, any period up to 10 milliseconds is considered acceptable. This frequency should not have a negative impact on your code's performance.
When an enumerator is disposed, for example when code breaks out of a foreach (For Each in Visual Basic) loop that is iterating over query results, then the query is canceled, but no exception is thrown.
