Create an extension method to do periodic work
async-await, c#, c#-5.0, extension-methods
Solution
Is the "periodic work" code accessing any of the `someInstruction` public members? If not, it does not make much sense to use an extension method in the first place.
if it does, and assuming that `someInstruction` is an instance of `SomeClass`, you could do something like the following:
public static class SomeClassExtensions
{
public static async Task DoPeriodicWorkAsync(
this SomeClass someInstruction,
TimeSpan dueTime,
TimeSpan interval,
CancellationToken token)
{
//Create and return the task here
}
}
Of course you must pass `someInstruction` to the `Task` constructor as a parameter (there is a constructor overload that allows you to do that).
UPDATE based on comment by OP:
If you just want to have a reusable method for executing arbitrary code periodically, then an extension method is not what you need, but rather a simple utility class. Adapting the code from the link you provided, it would be something like this:
public static class PeriodicRunner
{
public static async Task DoPeriodicWorkAsync(
Action workToPerform,
TimeSpan dueTime,
TimeSpan interval,
CancellationToken token)
{
// Initial wait time before we begin the periodic loop.
if(dueTime > TimeSpan.Zero)
await Task.Delay(dueTime, token);
// Repeat this loop until cancelled.
while(!token.IsCancellationRequested)
{
workToPerform();
// Wait to repeat again.
if(interval > TimeSpan.Zero)
await Task.Delay(interval, token);
}
}
}
Then you use it like this:
PeriodicRunner.DoPeriodicWorkAsync(MethodToRun, dueTime, interval, token);
void MethodToRun()
{
//Code to run goes here
}
or with a simple lambda expression:
PeriodicRunner.DoPeriodicWorkAsync(() => { /*Put the code to run here */},
dueTime, interval, token);
Problem
I found a great way on how to do periodic work using the async/await pattern over here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/14297203/899260 Now what I'd like to do is to create an extension method so that I can do ``` someInstruction.DoPeriodic(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(5)); ``` Is that possible at all, and if, how would you do it? EDIT: So far, I refactored the code from the URL above into an extension method, but I don't know how to proceed from there ``` public static class ExtensionMethods { public static async Task<T> DoPeriodic<T>(this Task<T> task, CancellationToken token, TimeSpan dueTime, TimeSpan interval) { // Initial wait time before we begin the periodic loop. if (dueTime > TimeSpan.Zero) await Task.Delay(dueTime, token); // Repeat this loop until cancelled. while (!token.IsCancellationRequested) { // Wait to repeat again. if (interval > TimeSpan.Zero) await Task.Delay(interval, token); } } } ```