c# - A pattern to pause/resume an async task?

Question

I have a mostly IO-bound continuous task (a background spellchecker talking to a spellcheck server). Sometimes, this task needs to be put on hold and resumed later, depending on the user activity.

While suspend/resume is essentially what async/await does, I've found little information on how to implement the actual pause/play logic for an asynchronous method. Is there a recommended pattern for this?

I've also looked at using Stephen Toub's AsyncManualResetEvent for this, but thought it might be an overkill.

Answer 1

Updated for 2019, I've recently had a chance to revisit this code, below is complete example as a console app (warning: PauseTokenSource needs good unit testing).

Note, in my case, the requirement was that when the consumer-side code (which requested the pause) would continue, the producer-side code should have already reached the paused state. Thus, by the time the UI is ready to reflect the paused state, all background activity is expected to have been already paused.

using System;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Threading;

namespace Console_19613444
{
    class Program
    {
        // PauseTokenSource
        public class PauseTokenSource
        {
            bool _paused = false;
            bool _pauseRequested = false;

            TaskCompletionSource<bool> _resumeRequestTcs;
            TaskCompletionSource<bool> _pauseConfirmationTcs;

            readonly SemaphoreSlim _stateAsyncLock = new SemaphoreSlim(1);
            readonly SemaphoreSlim _pauseRequestAsyncLock = new SemaphoreSlim(1);

            public PauseToken Token { get { return new PauseToken(this); } }

            public async Task<bool> IsPaused(CancellationToken token = default(CancellationToken))
            {
                await _stateAsyncLock.WaitAsync(token);
                try
                {
                    return _paused;
                }
                finally
                {
                    _stateAsyncLock.Release();
                }
            }

            public async Task ResumeAsync(CancellationToken token = default(CancellationToken))
            {
                await _stateAsyncLock.WaitAsync(token);
                try
                {
                    if (!_paused)
                    {
                        return;
                    }

                    await _pauseRequestAsyncLock.WaitAsync(token);
                    try
                    {
                        var resumeRequestTcs = _resumeRequestTcs;
                        _paused = false;
                        _pauseRequested = false;
                        _resumeRequestTcs = null;
                        _pauseConfirmationTcs = null;
                        resumeRequestTcs.TrySetResult(true);
                    }
                    finally
                    {
                        _pauseRequestAsyncLock.Release();
                    }
                }
                finally
                {
                    _stateAsyncLock.Release();
                }
            }

            public async Task PauseAsync(CancellationToken token = default(CancellationToken))
            {
                await _stateAsyncLock.WaitAsync(token);
                try
                {
                    if (_paused)
                    {
                        return;
                    }

                    Task pauseConfirmationTask = null;

                    await _pauseRequestAsyncLock.WaitAsync(token);
                    try
                    {
                        _pauseRequested = true;
                        _resumeRequestTcs = new TaskCompletionSource<bool>(TaskCreationOptions.RunContinuationsAsynchronously);
                        _pauseConfirmationTcs = new TaskCompletionSource<bool>(TaskCreationOptions.RunContinuationsAsynchronously);
                        pauseConfirmationTask = WaitForPauseConfirmationAsync(token);
                    }
                    finally
                    {
                        _pauseRequestAsyncLock.Release();
                    }

                    await pauseConfirmationTask;

                    _paused = true;
                }
                finally
                {
                    _stateAsyncLock.Release();
                }
            }

            private async Task WaitForResumeRequestAsync(CancellationToken token)
            {
                using (token.Register(() => _resumeRequestTcs.TrySetCanceled(), useSynchronizationContext: false))
                {
                    await _resumeRequestTcs.Task;
                }
            }

            private async Task WaitForPauseConfirmationAsync(CancellationToken token)
            {
                using (token.Register(() => _pauseConfirmationTcs.TrySetCanceled(), useSynchronizationContext: false))
                {
                    await _pauseConfirmationTcs.Task;
                }
            }

            internal async Task PauseIfRequestedAsync(CancellationToken token = default(CancellationToken))
            {
                Task resumeRequestTask = null;

                await _pauseRequestAsyncLock.WaitAsync(token);
                try
                {
                    if (!_pauseRequested)
                    {
                        return;
                    }
                    resumeRequestTask = WaitForResumeRequestAsync(token);
                    _pauseConfirmationTcs.TrySetResult(true);
                }
                finally
                {
                    _pauseRequestAsyncLock.Release();
                }

                await resumeRequestTask;
            }
        }

        // PauseToken - consumer side
        public struct PauseToken
        {
            readonly PauseTokenSource _source;

            public PauseToken(PauseTokenSource source) { _source = source; }

            public Task<bool> IsPaused() { return _source.IsPaused(); }

            public Task PauseIfRequestedAsync(CancellationToken token = default(CancellationToken))
            {
                return _source.PauseIfRequestedAsync(token);
            }
        }

        // Basic usage

        public static async Task DoWorkAsync(PauseToken pause, CancellationToken token)
        {
            try
            {
                while (true)
                {
                    token.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();

                    Console.WriteLine("Before await pause.PauseIfRequestedAsync()");
                    await pause.PauseIfRequestedAsync();
                    Console.WriteLine("After await pause.PauseIfRequestedAsync()");

                    await Task.Delay(1000);
                }
            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("Exception: {0}", e);
                throw;
            }
        }

        static async Task Test(CancellationToken token)
        {
            var pts = new PauseTokenSource();
            var task = DoWorkAsync(pts.Token, token);

            while (true)
            {
                token.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();

                Console.WriteLine("Press enter to pause...");
                Console.ReadLine();

                Console.WriteLine("Before pause requested");
                await pts.PauseAsync();
                Console.WriteLine("After pause requested, paused: " + await pts.IsPaused());

                Console.WriteLine("Press enter to resume...");
                Console.ReadLine();

                Console.WriteLine("Before resume");
                await pts.ResumeAsync();
                Console.WriteLine("After resume");
            }
        }

        static async Task Main()
        {
            await Test(CancellationToken.None);
        }
    }
}