How to: Cancel a Task and Its Children
This example shows how to perform the following tasks:
- Create and start a cancelable task.
- Pass a cancellation token to your user delegate and optionally to the task instance.
- Notice and respond to the cancellation request in your user delegate.
- Optionally notice on the calling thread that the task was canceled.
The calling thread does not forcibly end the task; it only signals that cancellation is requested. If the task is already running, it is up to the user delegate to notice the request and respond appropriately. If cancellation is requested before the task runs, then the user delegate is never executed and the task object transitions into the Canceled state.
Example
This example shows how to terminate a Task and its children in response to a cancellation request. It also shows that when a user delegate terminates by throwing a TaskCanceledException, the calling thread can optionally use the Wait method or WaitAll method to wait for the tasks to finish. In this case, you must use a try/catch block to handle the exceptions on the calling thread.
using System;
using System.Collections.Concurrent;
using System.Threading;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
public class Example
{
public static async Task Main()
{
// Cancellation token source for cancellation. Make sure to dispose after use (which is done here through the using expression).
using var tokenSource = new CancellationTokenSource();
// The cancellation token will be used to communicate cancellation to tasks
var token = tokenSource.Token;
Console.WriteLine("Main: Press any key to begin tasks...");
Console.ReadKey(true);
Console.WriteLine("Main: To terminate the example, press 'c' to cancel and exit...");
Console.WriteLine();
// Store references to the tasks so that we can wait on them and
// observe their status after cancellation.
var tasks = new ConcurrentBag<Task>();
// Pass the token to the user delegate so it can cancel during execution,
// and also to the task so it can cancel before execution starts.
var cancellableTask = Task.Run(() => {
DoSomeWork(token);
Console.WriteLine("Cancellable: Task {0} ran to completion", Task.CurrentId);
}, token);
Console.WriteLine("Main: Cancellable Task {0} created", cancellableTask.Id);
tasks.Add(cancellableTask);
var parentTask = Task.Run(() =>
{
for (int i = 0; i <= 7; i++)
{
// If cancellation was requested we don't need to start any more
// child tasks (that would immediately cancel) => break out of loop
if (token.IsCancellationRequested) break;
// For each child task, pass the same token
// to each user delegate and to Task.Run.
var childTask = Task.Run(() => {
DoSomeWork(token);
Console.WriteLine("Child: Task {0} ran to completion", Task.CurrentId);
}, token);
Console.WriteLine("Parent: Task {0} created", childTask.Id);
tasks.Add(childTask);
DoSomeWork(token, maxIterations: 1);
}
Console.WriteLine("Parent: Task {0} ran to completion", Task.CurrentId);
}, token);
Console.WriteLine("Main: Parent Task {0} created", parentTask.Id);
tasks.Add(parentTask);
// Request cancellation from the UI thread.
char ch = Console.ReadKey().KeyChar;
if (ch == 'c' || ch == 'C')
{
tokenSource.Cancel();
Console.WriteLine("\nMain: Task cancellation requested.");
// Optional: Observe the change in the Status property on the task.
// It is not necessary to wait on tasks that have canceled. However,
// if you do wait, you must enclose the call in a try-catch block to
// catch the OperationCanceledExceptions that are thrown. If you do
// not wait, no exception is thrown if the token that was passed to the
// Task.Run method is the same token that requested the cancellation.
}
try
{
// Wait for all tasks before disposing the cancellation token source
await Task.WhenAll(tasks);
}
catch (OperationCanceledException)
{
Console.WriteLine($"\nMain: {nameof(OperationCanceledException)} thrown\n");
}
// Display status of all tasks.
foreach (var task in tasks)
{
Console.WriteLine("Main: Task {0} status is now {1}", task.Id, task.Status);
}
}
static void DoSomeWork(CancellationToken ct, int maxIterations = 10)
{
// Was cancellation already requested?
if (ct.IsCancellationRequested)
{
Console.WriteLine("Task {0} was cancelled before it got started.", Task.CurrentId);
ct.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
}
// NOTE!!! A "TaskCanceledException was unhandled
// by user code" error will be raised here if "Just My Code"
// is enabled on your computer. On Express editions JMC is
// enabled and cannot be disabled. The exception is benign.
// Just press F5 to continue executing your code.
for (int i = 0; i <= maxIterations; i++)
{
// Do a bit of work. Not too much.
var sw = new SpinWait();
for (int j = 0; j <= 100; j++)
sw.SpinOnce();
if (ct.IsCancellationRequested)
{
Console.WriteLine("Task {0} work cancelled", Task.CurrentId);
ct.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
}
}
}
}
// The example displays output like the following:
// Main: Press any key to begin tasks...
// Main: To terminate the example, press 'c' to cancel and exit...
//
// Main: Cancellable Task 13 created
// Main: Parent Task 14 created
// Parent: Task 15 created
// Parent: Task 16 created
// Parent: Task 17 created
// Parent: Task 18 created
// Parent: Task 19 created
// Parent: Task 20 created
// Cancellable: Task 13 ran to completion
// Child: Task 15 ran to completion
// Parent: Task 21 created
// Child: Task 16 ran to completion
// Parent: Task 22 created
// Child: Task 17 ran to completion
// c
// Main: Task cancellation requested.
// Task 20 work cancelled
// Task 21 work cancelled
// Task 22 work cancelled
// Task 18 work cancelled
// Task 14 work cancelled
// Task 19 work cancelled
//
// Main: OperationCanceledException thrown
//
// Main: Task 22 status is now Canceled
// Main: Task 21 status is now Canceled
// Main: Task 20 status is now Canceled
// Main: Task 19 status is now Canceled
// Main: Task 18 status is now Canceled
// Main: Task 17 status is now RanToCompletion
// Main: Task 16 status is now RanToCompletion
// Main: Task 15 status is now RanToCompletion
// Main: Task 14 status is now Canceled
// Main: Task 13 status is now RanToCompletion
Imports System.Collections.Concurrent
Imports System.Threading
Imports System.Threading.Tasks
Module Example
Sub Main()
Dim tokenSource As New CancellationTokenSource()
Dim token As CancellationToken = tokenSource.Token
' Store references to the tasks so that we can wait on them and
' observe their status after cancellation.
Dim t As Task
Dim tasks As New ConcurrentBag(Of Task)()
Console.WriteLine("Press any key to begin tasks...")
Console.ReadKey(True)
Console.WriteLine("To terminate the example, press 'c' to cancel and exit...")
Console.WriteLine()
' Request cancellation of a single task when the token source is canceled.
' Pass the token to the user delegate, and also to the task so it can
' handle the exception correctly.
t = Task.Factory.StartNew(Sub() DoSomeWork(token), token)
Console.WriteLine("Task {0} executing", t.Id)
tasks.Add(t)
' Request cancellation of a task and its children. Note the token is passed
' to (1) the user delegate and (2) as the second argument to StartNew, so
' that the task instance can correctly handle the OperationCanceledException.
t = Task.Factory.StartNew(Sub()
' Create some cancelable child tasks.
Dim tc As Task
For i As Integer = 3 To 10
' For each child task, pass the same token
' to each user delegate and to StartNew.
tc = Task.Factory.StartNew(Sub(iteration) DoSomeWork(token), i, token)
Console.WriteLine("Task {0} executing", tc.Id)
tasks.Add(tc)
' Pass the same token again to do work on the parent task.
' All will be signaled by the call to tokenSource.Cancel below.
DoSomeWork(token)
Next
End Sub,
token)
Console.WriteLine("Task {0} executing", t.Id)
tasks.Add(t)
' Request cancellation from the UI thread.
Dim ch As Char = Console.ReadKey().KeyChar
If ch = "c"c Or ch = "C"c Then
tokenSource.Cancel()
Console.WriteLine(vbCrLf + "Task cancellation requested.")
' Optional: Observe the change in the Status property on the task.
' It is not necessary to wait on tasks that have canceled. However,
' if you do wait, you must enclose the call in a try-catch block to
' catch the OperationCanceledExceptions that are thrown. If you do
' not wait, no exception is thrown if the token that was passed to the
' StartNew method is the same token that requested the cancellation.
End If
Try
Task.WaitAll(tasks.ToArray())
Catch e As AggregateException
Console.WriteLine()
Console.WriteLine("AggregateException thrown with the following inner exceptions:")
' Display information about each exception.
For Each v In e.InnerExceptions
If TypeOf v Is OperationCanceledException Then
Console.WriteLine(" The operation was canceled.")
Else
Console.WriteLine(" Exception: {0}", v.GetType().Name)
End If
Next
Console.WriteLine()
Finally
tokenSource.Dispose()
End Try
' Display status of all tasks.
For Each t In tasks
Console.WriteLine("Task {0} status is now {1}", t.Id, t.Status)
Next
End Sub
Sub DoSomeWork(ByVal ct As CancellationToken)
' Was cancellation already requested?
If ct.IsCancellationRequested = True Then
Console.WriteLine("Task {0} was cancelled before it got started.",
Task.CurrentId)
ct.ThrowIfCancellationRequested()
End If
Dim maxIterations As Integer = 100
' NOTE!!! A "TaskCanceledException was unhandled
' by user code" error will be raised here if "Just My Code"
' is enabled on your computer. On Express editions JMC is
' enabled and cannot be disabled. The exception is benign.
' Just press F5 to continue executing your code.
For i As Integer = 0 To maxIterations
' Do a bit of work. Not too much.
Dim sw As New SpinWait()
For j As Integer = 0 To 100
sw.SpinOnce()
Next
If ct.IsCancellationRequested Then
Console.WriteLine("Task {0} cancelled", Task.CurrentId)
ct.ThrowIfCancellationRequested()
End If
Next
End Sub
End Module
' The example displays output like the following:
' Press any key to begin tasks...
' To terminate the example, press 'c' to cancel and exit...
'
' Task 1 executing
' Task 2 executing
' Task 3 executing
' Task 4 executing
' Task 5 executing
' Task 6 executing
' Task 7 executing
' Task 8 executing
' c
' Task cancellation requested.
' Task 2 cancelled
' Task 7 cancelled
'
' AggregateException thrown with the following inner exceptions:
' TaskCanceledException: Task 2
' TaskCanceledException: Task 8
' TaskCanceledException: Task 7
'
' Task 2 status is now Canceled
' Task 1 status is now RanToCompletion
' Task 8 status is now Canceled
' Task 7 status is now Canceled
' Task 6 status is now RanToCompletion
' Task 5 status is now RanToCompletion
' Task 4 status is now RanToCompletion
' Task 3 status is now RanToCompletion
The System.Threading.Tasks.Task class is fully integrated with the cancellation model that is based on the System.Threading.CancellationTokenSource and System.Threading.CancellationToken types. For more information, see Cancellation in Managed Threads and Task Cancellation.
See also
Collaborate with us on GitHub
The source for this content can be found on GitHub, where you can also create and review issues and pull requests. For more information, see our contributor guide.
