How to: Implement an Asynchronous Service Operation
In Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) applications, a service operation can be implemented asynchronously or synchronously without dictating to the client how to call it. For example, asynchronous service operations can be calling synchronously, and synchronous service operations can be called asynchronously. For an example that shows how to call an operation asynchronously in a client application, see How to: Call WCF Service Operations Asynchronously. For more information about synchronous and asynchronous operations, see Designing Service Contracts and Synchronous and Asynchronous Operations.
Implement a service operation asynchronously
In your service contract, declare an asynchronous method pair according to the .NET asynchronous design guidelines. The Begin method takes a parameter, a callback object, and a state object, and returns a System.IAsyncResult and a matching End method that takes a System.IAsyncResult and returns the return value. For more information about asynchronous calls, see Asynchronous Programming Design Patterns.
Mark the Begin method of the asynchronous method pair with the System.ServiceModel.OperationContractAttribute attribute and set the System.ServiceModel.OperationContractAttribute.AsyncPattern property to true. For example, the following code performs steps 1 and 2.
<OperationContractAttribute(AsyncPattern:=True)> _ Function BeginServiceAsyncMethod(ByVal msg As String, ByVal callback As AsyncCallback, ByVal asyncState As Object) As IAsyncResult ' Note: There is no OperationContractAttribute for the end method. Function EndServiceAsyncMethod(ByVal result As IAsyncResult) As String End Interface
[OperationContractAttribute(AsyncPattern=true)] IAsyncResult BeginServiceAsyncMethod(string msg, AsyncCallback callback, object asyncState); // Note: There is no OperationContractAttribute for the end method. string EndServiceAsyncMethod(IAsyncResult result); }
Implement the Begin/End method pair in your service class according to the asynchronous design guidelines. For example, the following code example shows an implementation in which a string is written to the console in both the Begin and End portions of the asynchronous service operation, and the return value of the End operation is returned to the client. For the complete code example, see the Example section.
Example
The following code examples show:
A service contract interface with:
A synchronous
SampleMethod
operation.An asynchronous
BeginSampleMethod
operation.An asynchronous
BeginServiceAsyncMethod
/EndServiceAsyncMethod
operation pair.
A service implementation using a System.IAsyncResult object.
Imports System
Imports System.Collections.Generic
Imports System.ServiceModel
Imports System.Text
Imports System.Threading
Namespace Microsoft.WCF.Documentation
<ServiceContractAttribute(Namespace:="http://microsoft.wcf.documentation")> _
Public Interface ISampleService
<OperationContractAttribute> _
Function SampleMethod(ByVal msg As String) As String
<OperationContractAttribute(AsyncPattern := True)> _
Function BeginSampleMethod(ByVal msg As String, ByVal callback As AsyncCallback, ByVal asyncState As Object) As IAsyncResult
'Note: There is no OperationContractAttribute for the end method.
Function EndSampleMethod(ByVal result As IAsyncResult) As String
<OperationContractAttribute(AsyncPattern:=True)> _
Function BeginServiceAsyncMethod(ByVal msg As String, ByVal callback As AsyncCallback, ByVal asyncState As Object) As IAsyncResult
' Note: There is no OperationContractAttribute for the end method.
Function EndServiceAsyncMethod(ByVal result As IAsyncResult) As String
End Interface
Public Class SampleService
Implements ISampleService
#Region "ISampleService Members"
Public Function SampleMethod(ByVal msg As String) As String Implements ISampleService.SampleMethod
Console.WriteLine("Called synchronous sample method with ""{0}""", msg)
Return "The sychronous service greets you: " & msg
End Function
' This asynchronously implemented operation is never called because
' there is a synchronous version of the same method.
Public Function BeginSampleMethod(ByVal msg As String, ByVal callback As AsyncCallback, ByVal asyncState As Object) As IAsyncResult Implements ISampleService.BeginSampleMethod
Console.WriteLine("BeginSampleMethod called with: " & msg)
Return New CompletedAsyncResult(Of String)(msg)
End Function
Public Function EndSampleMethod(ByVal r As IAsyncResult) As String Implements ISampleService.EndSampleMethod
Dim result As CompletedAsyncResult(Of String) = TryCast(r, CompletedAsyncResult(Of String))
Console.WriteLine("EndSampleMethod called with: " & result.Data)
Return result.Data
End Function
Public Function BeginServiceAsyncMethod(ByVal msg As String, ByVal callback As AsyncCallback, ByVal asyncState As Object) As IAsyncResult Implements ISampleService.BeginServiceAsyncMethod
Console.WriteLine("BeginServiceAsyncMethod called with: ""{0}""", msg)
Return New CompletedAsyncResult(Of String)(msg)
End Function
Public Function EndServiceAsyncMethod(ByVal r As IAsyncResult) As String Implements ISampleService.EndServiceAsyncMethod
Dim result As CompletedAsyncResult(Of String) = TryCast(r, CompletedAsyncResult(Of String))
Console.WriteLine("EndServiceAsyncMethod called with: ""{0}""", result.Data)
Return result.Data
End Function
#End Region
End Class
' Simple async result implementation.
Friend Class CompletedAsyncResult(Of T)
Implements IAsyncResult
Private data_Renamed As T
Public Sub New(ByVal data As T)
Me.data_Renamed = data
End Sub
Public ReadOnly Property Data() As T
Get
Return data_Renamed
End Get
End Property
#Region "IAsyncResult Members"
Public ReadOnly Property AsyncState() As Object Implements IAsyncResult.AsyncState
Get
Return CObj(data_Renamed)
End Get
End Property
Public ReadOnly Property AsyncWaitHandle() As WaitHandle Implements IAsyncResult.AsyncWaitHandle
Get
Throw New Exception("The method or operation is not implemented.")
End Get
End Property
Public ReadOnly Property CompletedSynchronously() As Boolean Implements IAsyncResult.CompletedSynchronously
Get
Return True
End Get
End Property
Public ReadOnly Property IsCompleted() As Boolean Implements IAsyncResult.IsCompleted
Get
Return True
End Get
End Property
#End Region
End Class
End Namespace
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ServiceModel;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading;
namespace Microsoft.WCF.Documentation
{
[ServiceContractAttribute(Namespace="http://microsoft.wcf.documentation")]
public interface ISampleService{
[OperationContractAttribute]
string SampleMethod(string msg);
[OperationContractAttribute(AsyncPattern = true)]
IAsyncResult BeginSampleMethod(string msg, AsyncCallback callback, object asyncState);
//Note: There is no OperationContractAttribute for the end method.
string EndSampleMethod(IAsyncResult result);
[OperationContractAttribute(AsyncPattern=true)]
IAsyncResult BeginServiceAsyncMethod(string msg, AsyncCallback callback, object asyncState);
// Note: There is no OperationContractAttribute for the end method.
string EndServiceAsyncMethod(IAsyncResult result);
}
public class SampleService : ISampleService
{
#region ISampleService Members
public string SampleMethod(string msg)
{
Console.WriteLine("Called synchronous sample method with \"{0}\"", msg);
return "The sychronous service greets you: " + msg;
}
// This asynchronously implemented operation is never called because
// there is a synchronous version of the same method.
public IAsyncResult BeginSampleMethod(string msg, AsyncCallback callback, object asyncState)
{
Console.WriteLine("BeginSampleMethod called with: " + msg);
return new CompletedAsyncResult<string>(msg);
}
public string EndSampleMethod(IAsyncResult r)
{
CompletedAsyncResult<string> result = r as CompletedAsyncResult<string>;
Console.WriteLine("EndSampleMethod called with: " + result.Data);
return result.Data;
}
public IAsyncResult BeginServiceAsyncMethod(string msg, AsyncCallback callback, object asyncState)
{
Console.WriteLine("BeginServiceAsyncMethod called with: \"{0}\"", msg);
return new CompletedAsyncResult<string>(msg);
}
public string EndServiceAsyncMethod(IAsyncResult r)
{
CompletedAsyncResult<string> result = r as CompletedAsyncResult<string>;
Console.WriteLine("EndServiceAsyncMethod called with: \"{0}\"", result.Data);
return result.Data;
}
#endregion
}
// Simple async result implementation.
class CompletedAsyncResult<T> : IAsyncResult
{
T data;
public CompletedAsyncResult(T data)
{ this.data = data; }
public T Data
{ get { return data; } }
#region IAsyncResult Members
public object AsyncState
{ get { return (object)data; } }
public WaitHandle AsyncWaitHandle
{ get { throw new Exception("The method or operation is not implemented."); } }
public bool CompletedSynchronously
{ get { return true; } }
public bool IsCompleted
{ get { return true; } }
#endregion
}
}
See Also
Concepts
Designing Service Contracts
Synchronous and Asynchronous Operations
© 2007 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Last Published: 2010-03-21