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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.

C#
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;
    }
}

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.

C#
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; }
    }
}

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.

C#
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);
}

See also