How to: Raise and Consume Events

The examples in this article show how to work with events. They include examples of the EventHandler delegate, the EventHandler<TEventArgs> delegate, and a custom delegate to illustrate events with and without data.

The examples use concepts described in the Events article.

Example 1

The first example shows how to raise and consume an event that doesn't have data. It contains a class named Counter that has an event called ThresholdReached. This event is raised when a counter value equals or exceeds a threshold value. The EventHandler delegate is associated with the event because no event data is provided.

using System;

namespace ConsoleApplication1
{
    class ProgramOne
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            Counter c = new Counter(new Random().Next(10));
            c.ThresholdReached += c_ThresholdReached;

            Console.WriteLine("press 'a' key to increase total");
            while (Console.ReadKey(true).KeyChar == 'a')
            {
                Console.WriteLine("adding one");
                c.Add(1);
            }
        }

        static void c_ThresholdReached(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("The threshold was reached.");
            Environment.Exit(0);
        }
    }

    class Counter
    {
        private int threshold;
        private int total;

        public Counter(int passedThreshold)
        {
            threshold = passedThreshold;
        }

        public void Add(int x)
        {
            total += x;
            if (total >= threshold)
            {
                ThresholdReached?.Invoke(this, EventArgs.Empty);
            }
        }

        public event EventHandler ThresholdReached;
    }
}

Module Module1

    Sub Main()
        Dim c As Counter = New Counter(New Random().Next(10))
        AddHandler c.ThresholdReached, AddressOf c_ThresholdReached

        Console.WriteLine("press 'a' key to increase total")
        While Console.ReadKey(True).KeyChar = "a"
            Console.WriteLine("adding one")
            c.Add(1)
        End While
    End Sub

    Sub c_ThresholdReached(sender As Object, e As EventArgs)
        Console.WriteLine("The threshold was reached.")
        Environment.Exit(0)
    End Sub
End Module

Class Counter
    Private threshold As Integer
    Private total As Integer

    Public Sub New(passedThreshold As Integer)
        threshold = passedThreshold
    End Sub

    Public Sub Add(x As Integer)
        total = total + x
        If (total >= threshold) Then
            ThresholdReached?.Invoke(this. EventArgs.Empty)
        End If
    End Sub

    Public Event ThresholdReached As EventHandler
End Class

Example 2

The second example shows how to raise and consume an event that provides data. The EventHandler<TEventArgs> delegate is associated with the event, and an instance of a custom event data object is provided.

using namespace System;

public ref class ThresholdReachedEventArgs : public EventArgs
{
   public:
      property int Threshold;
      property DateTime TimeReached;
};

public ref class Counter
{
   private:
      int threshold;
      int total;

   public:
      Counter() {};

      Counter(int passedThreshold)
      {
         threshold = passedThreshold;
      }

      void Add(int x)
      {
          total += x;
          if (total >= threshold) {
             ThresholdReachedEventArgs^ args = gcnew ThresholdReachedEventArgs();
             args->Threshold = threshold;
             args->TimeReached = DateTime::Now;
             OnThresholdReached(args);
          }
      }

      event EventHandler<ThresholdReachedEventArgs^>^ ThresholdReached;

   protected:
      virtual void OnThresholdReached(ThresholdReachedEventArgs^ e)
      {
         ThresholdReached(this, e);
      }
};

public ref class SampleHandler
{
   public:
      static void c_ThresholdReached(Object^ sender, ThresholdReachedEventArgs^ e)
      {
         Console::WriteLine("The threshold of {0} was reached at {1}.",
                            e->Threshold,  e->TimeReached);
         Environment::Exit(0);
      }
};

void main()
{
   Counter^ c = gcnew Counter((gcnew Random())->Next(10));
   c->ThresholdReached += gcnew EventHandler<ThresholdReachedEventArgs^>(SampleHandler::c_ThresholdReached);

   Console::WriteLine("press 'a' key to increase total");
   while (Console::ReadKey(true).KeyChar == 'a') {
      Console::WriteLine("adding one");
      c->Add(1);
   }
}

using System;

namespace ConsoleApplication3
{
    class ProgramThree
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            Counter c = new Counter(new Random().Next(10));
            c.ThresholdReached += c_ThresholdReached;

            Console.WriteLine("press 'a' key to increase total");
            while (Console.ReadKey(true).KeyChar == 'a')
            {
                Console.WriteLine("adding one");
                c.Add(1);
            }
        }

        static void c_ThresholdReached(object sender, ThresholdReachedEventArgs e)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("The threshold of {0} was reached at {1}.", e.Threshold,  e.TimeReached);
            Environment.Exit(0);
        }
    }

    class Counter
    {
        private int threshold;
        private int total;

        public Counter(int passedThreshold)
        {
            threshold = passedThreshold;
        }

        public void Add(int x)
        {
            total += x;
            if (total >= threshold)
            {
                ThresholdReachedEventArgs args = new ThresholdReachedEventArgs();
                args.Threshold = threshold;
                args.TimeReached = DateTime.Now;
                OnThresholdReached(args);
            }
        }

        protected virtual void OnThresholdReached(ThresholdReachedEventArgs e)
        {
            EventHandler<ThresholdReachedEventArgs> handler = ThresholdReached;
            if (handler != null)
            {
                handler(this, e);
            }
        }

        public event EventHandler<ThresholdReachedEventArgs> ThresholdReached;
    }

    public class ThresholdReachedEventArgs : EventArgs
    {
        public int Threshold { get; set; }
        public DateTime TimeReached { get; set; }
    }
}

Module Module1

    Sub Main()
        Dim c As Counter = New Counter(New Random().Next(10))
        AddHandler c.ThresholdReached, AddressOf c_ThresholdReached

        Console.WriteLine("press 'a' key to increase total")
        While Console.ReadKey(True).KeyChar = "a"
            Console.WriteLine("adding one")
            c.Add(1)
        End While
    End Sub

    Sub c_ThresholdReached(sender As Object, e As ThresholdReachedEventArgs)
        Console.WriteLine("The threshold of {0} was reached at {1}.", e.Threshold, e.TimeReached)
        Environment.Exit(0)
    End Sub
End Module

Class Counter
    Private threshold As Integer
    Private total As Integer

    Public Sub New(passedThreshold As Integer)
        threshold = passedThreshold
    End Sub

    Public Sub Add(x As Integer)
        total = total + x
        If (total >= threshold) Then
            Dim args As ThresholdReachedEventArgs = New ThresholdReachedEventArgs()
            args.Threshold = threshold
            args.TimeReached = DateTime.Now
            OnThresholdReached(args)
        End If
    End Sub

    Protected Overridable Sub OnThresholdReached(e As ThresholdReachedEventArgs)
        RaiseEvent ThresholdReached(Me, e)
    End Sub

    Public Event ThresholdReached As EventHandler(Of ThresholdReachedEventArgs)
End Class

Class ThresholdReachedEventArgs
    Inherits EventArgs

    Public Property Threshold As Integer
    Public Property TimeReached As DateTime
End Class

Example 3

The third example shows how to declare a delegate for an event. The delegate is named ThresholdReachedEventHandler. This example is just an illustration. Typically, you don't have to declare a delegate for an event because you can use either the EventHandler or the EventHandler<TEventArgs> delegate. You should declare a delegate only in rare scenarios, such as making your class available to legacy code that can't use generics.

using System;

namespace ConsoleApplication4
{
    class ProgramFour
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            Counter c = new Counter(new Random().Next(10));
            c.ThresholdReached += c_ThresholdReached;

            Console.WriteLine("press 'a' key to increase total");
            while (Console.ReadKey(true).KeyChar == 'a')
            {
                Console.WriteLine("adding one");
                c.Add(1);
            }
        }

        static void c_ThresholdReached(Object sender, ThresholdReachedEventArgs e)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("The threshold of {0} was reached at {1}.", e.Threshold, e.TimeReached);
            Environment.Exit(0);
        }
    }

    class Counter
    {
        private int threshold;
        private int total;

        public Counter(int passedThreshold)
        {
            threshold = passedThreshold;
        }

        public void Add(int x)
        {
            total += x;
            if (total >= threshold)
            {
                ThresholdReachedEventArgs args = new ThresholdReachedEventArgs();
                args.Threshold = threshold;
                args.TimeReached = DateTime.Now;
                OnThresholdReached(args);
            }
        }

        protected virtual void OnThresholdReached(ThresholdReachedEventArgs e)
        {
            ThresholdReachedEventHandler handler = ThresholdReached;
            if (handler != null)
            {
                handler(this, e);
            }
        }

        public event ThresholdReachedEventHandler ThresholdReached;
    }

    public class ThresholdReachedEventArgs : EventArgs
    {
        public int Threshold { get; set; }
        public DateTime TimeReached { get; set; }
    }

    public delegate void ThresholdReachedEventHandler(Object sender, ThresholdReachedEventArgs e);
}

Module Module1

    Sub Main()
        Dim c As Counter = New Counter(New Random().Next(10))
        AddHandler c.ThresholdReached, AddressOf c_ThresholdReached

        Console.WriteLine("press 'a' key to increase total")
        While Console.ReadKey(True).KeyChar = "a"
            Console.WriteLine("adding one")
            c.Add(1)
        End While
    End Sub

    Sub c_ThresholdReached(sender As Object, e As ThresholdReachedEventArgs)
        Console.WriteLine("The threshold of {0} was reached at {1}.", e.Threshold, e.TimeReached)
        Environment.Exit(0)
    End Sub
End Module

Class Counter
    Private threshold As Integer
    Private total As Integer

    Public Sub New(passedThreshold As Integer)
        threshold = passedThreshold
    End Sub

    Public Sub Add(x As Integer)
        total = total + x
        If (total >= threshold) Then
            Dim args As ThresholdReachedEventArgs = New ThresholdReachedEventArgs()
            args.Threshold = threshold
            args.TimeReached = DateTime.Now
            OnThresholdReached(args)
        End If
    End Sub

    Protected Overridable Sub OnThresholdReached(e As ThresholdReachedEventArgs)
        RaiseEvent ThresholdReached(Me, e)
    End Sub

    Public Event ThresholdReached As ThresholdReachedEventHandler
End Class

Public Class ThresholdReachedEventArgs
    Inherits EventArgs

    Public Property Threshold As Integer
    Public Property TimeReached As DateTime
End Class

Public Delegate Sub ThresholdReachedEventHandler(sender As Object, e As ThresholdReachedEventArgs)

See also

• Events