Monitors
Monitor objects expose the ability to synchronize access to a region of code by taking and releasing a lock on a particular object using the Monitor.Enter, Monitor.TryEnter, and Monitor.Exit methods. Once you have a lock on a code region, you can use the Monitor.Wait, Monitor.Pulse, and Monitor.PulseAll methods. Wait releases the lock if it is held and waits to be notified. When Wait is notified, it returns and obtains the lock again. Both Pulse and PulseAll signal for the next thread in the wait queue to proceed.
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 with the message "Object synchronization method was called from an unsynchronized block of code." The following example illustrates these problems.
Private x As Integer
' The next line creates a generic object containing the value of
' x each time the code is executed, so that Enter never blocks.
Monitor.Enter(x)
Try
' Code that needs to be protected by the monitor.
Finally
' Always use Finally to ensure that you exit the Monitor.
' The following line creates another object containing
' the value of x, and throws SynchronizationLockException
' because the two objects do not match.
Monitor.Exit(x)
End Try
private int x;
// The next line creates a generic object containing the value of
// x each time the code is executed, so that Enter never blocks.
Monitor.Enter(x);
try {
// Code that needs to be protected by the monitor.
}
finally {
// Always use Finally to ensure that you exit the Monitor.
// The following line creates another object containing
// the value of x, and throws SynchronizationLockException
// because the two objects do not match.
Monitor.Exit(x);
}
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 variable are not reflected in the boxed copy, and there is no way to change the value of the boxed copy.
Private o As Object = x
private Object o = x;
It is important to note the distinction between use of Monitor and WaitHandle objects. Monitor objects are 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.
The following code example demonstrates the combined use of the Monitor class (implemented with the compiler keyword) and the Interlocked class.
Imports System
Imports System.Threading
Imports Microsoft.VisualBasic
' Note: The class whose internal public member is the synchronizing method
' is not public; none of the client code takes a lock on the Resource object.
' The member of the nonpublic class takes the lock on itself. Written this
' way, malicious code cannot take a lock on a public object.
Class SyncResource
Public Sub Access(threadNum As Int32)
' Uses Monitor class to enforce synchronization.
SyncLock Me
' Synchronized: Despite the next conditional, each thread
' waits on its predecessor.
If threadNum Mod 2 = 0 Then
Thread.Sleep(2000)
End If
Console.WriteLine("Start Synched Resource access (Thread={0})", threadNum)
Thread.Sleep(200)
Console.WriteLine("Stop Synched Resource access (Thread={0})", threadNum)
End SyncLock
End Sub 'Access
End Class 'SyncResource
' Without the lock, the method is called in the order in which
' threads reach it.
Class UnSyncResource
Public Sub Access(threadNum As Int32)
' Does not use Monitor class to enforce synchronization.
' The next call throws the thread order.
If threadNum Mod 2 = 0 Then
Thread.Sleep(2000)
End If
Console.WriteLine("Start UnSynched Resource access (Thread={0})", threadNum)
Thread.Sleep(200)
Console.WriteLine("Stop UnSynched Resource access (Thread={0})", threadNum)
End Sub 'Access
End Class 'UnSyncResource
Public Class App
Private Shared numAsyncOps As Int32 = 5
Private Shared asyncOpsAreDone As New AutoResetEvent(False)
Private Shared SyncRes As New SyncResource()
Private Shared UnSyncRes As New UnSyncResource()
Private Shared threadNum As Int32
Public Shared Sub Main()
For threadNum = 0 To 4
ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem(AddressOf SyncUpdateResource, threadNum)
Next threadNum
' Wait until this WaitHandle is signaled.
asyncOpsAreDone.WaitOne()
Console.WriteLine(ControlChars.Tab + ControlChars.Lf + "All synchronized operations have completed." + ControlChars.Lf)
' Reset the thread count for unsynchronized calls.
numAsyncOps = 5
For threadNum = 0 To 4
ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem(AddressOf UnSyncUpdateResource, threadNum)
Next threadNum
' Wait until this WaitHandle is signaled.
asyncOpsAreDone.WaitOne()
Console.WriteLine(ControlChars.Tab + ControlChars.Cr + "All unsynchronized thread operations have completed.")
End Sub 'Main
' The callback method's signature MUST match that of
' a System.Threading.TimerCallback delegate
' (it takes an Object parameter and returns void).
Shared Sub SyncUpdateResource(state As Object)
' This calls the internal synchronized method, passing
' a thread number.
SyncRes.Access(CType(state, Int32))
' Count down the number of methods that the threads have called.
' This must be synchronized, however; you cannot know which thread
' will access the value **before** another thread's incremented
' value has been stored into the variable.
If Interlocked.Decrement(numAsyncOps) = 0 Then
asyncOpsAreDone.Set()
' Announce to Main that in fact all thread calls are done.
End If
End Sub 'SyncUpdateResource
' The callback method's signature MUST match that of
' a System.Threading.TimerCallback delegate
' (it takes an Object parameter and returns void).
Shared Sub UnSyncUpdateResource(state As [Object])
' This calls the unsynchronized method, passing
' a thread number.
UnSyncRes.Access(CType(state, Int32))
' Count down the number of methods that the threads have called.
' This must be synchronized, however; you cannot know which thread
' will access the value **before** another thread's incremented
' value has been stored into the variable.
If Interlocked.Decrement(numAsyncOps) = 0 Then
asyncOpsAreDone.Set()
' Announce to Main that in fact all thread calls are done.
End If
End Sub 'UnSyncUpdateResource
End Class 'App
using System;
using System.Threading;
// Note: The class whose internal public member is the synchronizing
// method is not public; none of the client code takes a lock on the
// Resource object.The member of the nonpublic class takes the lock on
// itself. Written this way, malicious code cannot take a lock on
// a public object.
class SyncResource {
public void Access(Int32 threadNum) {
// Uses Monitor class to enforce synchronization.
lock (this) {
// Synchronized: Despite the next conditional, each thread
// waits on its predecessor.
if (threadNum % 2 == 0)
Thread.Sleep(2000);
Console.WriteLine("Start Synched Resource access (Thread={0})", threadNum);
Thread.Sleep(200);
Console.WriteLine("Stop Synched Resource access (Thread={0})", threadNum);
}
}
}
// Without the lock, the method is called in the order in which threads reach it.
class UnSyncResource {
public void Access(Int32 threadNum) {
// Does not use Monitor class to enforce synchronization.
// The next call throws the thread order.
if (threadNum % 2 == 0)
Thread.Sleep(2000);
Console.WriteLine("Start UnSynched Resource access (Thread={0})", threadNum);
Thread.Sleep(200);
Console.WriteLine("Stop UnSynched Resource access (Thread={0})", threadNum);
}
}
public class App {
static Int32 numAsyncOps = 5;
static AutoResetEvent asyncOpsAreDone = new AutoResetEvent(false);
static SyncResource SyncRes = new SyncResource();
static UnSyncResource UnSyncRes = new UnSyncResource();
public static void Main() {
for (Int32 threadNum = 0; threadNum < 5; threadNum++) {
ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem(new WaitCallback(SyncUpdateResource), threadNum);
}
// Wait until this WaitHandle is signaled.
asyncOpsAreDone.WaitOne();
Console.WriteLine("\t\nAll synchronized operations have completed.\t\n");
// Reset the thread count for unsynchronized calls.
numAsyncOps = 5;
for (Int32 threadNum = 0; threadNum < 5; threadNum++) {
ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem(new WaitCallback(UnSyncUpdateResource), threadNum);
}
// Wait until this WaitHandle is signaled.
asyncOpsAreDone.WaitOne();
Console.WriteLine("\t\nAll unsynchronized thread operations have completed.");
}
// The callback method's signature MUST match that of a
// System.Threading.TimerCallback delegate (it takes an Object
// parameter and returns void).
static void SyncUpdateResource(Object state) {
// This calls the internal synchronized method, passing
// a thread number.
SyncRes.Access((Int32) state);
// Count down the number of methods that the threads have called.
// This must be synchronized, however; you cannot know which thread
// will access the value **before** another thread's incremented
// value has been stored into the variable.
if (Interlocked.Decrement(ref numAsyncOps) == 0)
asyncOpsAreDone.Set();
// Announce to Main that in fact all thread calls are done.
}
// The callback method's signature MUST match that of a
// System.Threading.TimerCallback delegate (it takes an Object
// parameter and returns void).
static void UnSyncUpdateResource(Object state) {
// This calls the unsynchronized method, passing a thread number.
UnSyncRes.Access((Int32) state);
// Count down the number of methods that the threads have called.
// This must be synchronized, however; you cannot know which thread
// will access the value **before** another thread's incremented
// value has been stored into the variable.
if (Interlocked.Decrement(ref numAsyncOps) == 0)
asyncOpsAreDone.Set();
// Announce to Main that in fact all thread calls are done.
}
}