Action<T1,T2> Delegate

Definition

Namespace:

System

Assembly:

System.Runtime.dll

Encapsulates a method that has two parameters and does not return a value.

generic <typename T1, typename T2>
public delegate void Action(T1 arg1, T2 arg2);

public delegate void Action<in T1,in T2>(T1 arg1, T2 arg2);

type Action<'T1, 'T2> = delegate of 'T1 * 'T2 -> unit

Public Delegate Sub Action(Of In T1, In T2)(arg1 As T1, arg2 As T2)

Type Parameters

T1

The type of the first parameter of the method that this delegate encapsulates.

This type parameter is contravariant. That is, you can use either the type you specified or any type that is less derived. For more information about covariance and contravariance, see Covariance and Contravariance in Generics.

T2

The type of the second parameter of the method that this delegate encapsulates.

This type parameter is contravariant. That is, you can use either the type you specified or any type that is less derived. For more information about covariance and contravariance, see Covariance and Contravariance in Generics.

Parameters

arg1

T1

The first parameter of the method that this delegate encapsulates.

arg2

T2

The second parameter of the method that this delegate encapsulates.

Remarks

You can use the Action<T1,T2> delegate to pass a method as a parameter without explicitly declaring a custom delegate. The encapsulated method must correspond to the method signature that is defined by this delegate. This means that the encapsulated method must have two parameters that are both passed to it by value, and it must not return a value. (In C#, the method must return void. In F#, the method or function must return unit. In Visual Basic, it must be defined by the Sub…End Sub construct. It can also be a method that returns a value that is ignored.) Typically, such a method is used to perform an operation.

Note

To reference a method that has two parameters and returns a value, use the generic Func<T1,T2,TResult> delegate instead.

When you use the Action<T1,T2> delegate, you do not have to explicitly define a delegate that encapsulates a method with two parameters. For example, the following code explicitly declares a delegate named ConcatStrings. It then assigns a reference to either of two methods to its delegate instance. One method writes two strings to the console; the second writes two strings to a file.

using System;
using System.IO;

delegate void ConcatStrings(string string1, string string2);

public class TestDelegate
{
   public static void Main()
   {
      string message1 = "The first line of a message.";
      string message2 = "The second line of a message.";
      ConcatStrings concat;

      if (Environment.GetCommandLineArgs().Length > 1)
         concat = WriteToFile;
      else
         concat = WriteToConsole;

      concat(message1, message2);
   }

   private static void WriteToConsole(string string1, string string2)
   {
      Console.WriteLine("{0}\n{1}", string1, string2);
   }

   private static void WriteToFile(string string1, string string2)
   {
      StreamWriter writer = null;
      try
      {
         writer = new StreamWriter(Environment.GetCommandLineArgs()[1], false);
         writer.WriteLine("{0}\n{1}", string1, string2);
      }
      catch
      {
         Console.WriteLine("File write operation failed...");
      }
      finally
      {
         if (writer != null) writer.Close();
      }
   }
}

open System
open System.IO

type ConcatStrings = delegate of string1: string * string1: string -> unit

let message1 = "The first line of a message"
let message2 = "The second line of a message"

let writeToConsole string1 string2 = 
    printfn $"{string1}\n{string2}"

let writeToFile string1 string2 =
    use writer = new StreamWriter(Environment.GetCommandLineArgs().[1], false)
    writer.WriteLine $"{string1}\n{string2}"

let concat =
    ConcatStrings(fun string1 string2 ->
        if Environment.GetCommandLineArgs().Length > 1 then
            writeToFile string1 string2
        else
            writeToConsole string1 string2
    )

concat.Invoke(message1, message2)

Imports System.IO

Delegate Sub ConcatStrings(string1 As String, string2 As String)

Module TestDelegate
   Public Sub Main()
      
      Dim message1 As String = "The first line of a message."
      Dim message2 As String = "The second line of a message."
      Dim concat As ConcatStrings
      
      If Environment.GetCommandLineArgs().Length > 1 Then
         concat = AddressOf WriteToFile
      Else
         concat = AddressOf WriteToConsole
      End If   
      concat(message1, message2)         
   End Sub
   
   Private Sub WriteToConsole(string1 As String, string2 As String)
      Console.WriteLine("{0}{1}{2}", string1, vbCrLf, string2)
   End Sub
   
   Private Sub WriteToFile(string1 As String, string2 As String)
      Dim writer As StreamWriter = Nothing  
      Try
         writer = New StreamWriter(Environment.GetCommandLineArgs(1), False)
         writer.WriteLine("{0}{1}{2}", string1, vbCrLf, string2)
      Catch
         Console.WriteLine("File write operation failed...")
      Finally
         If writer IsNot Nothing Then writer.Close
      End Try      
   End Sub
End Module

The following example simplifies this code by instantiating the Action<T1,T2> delegate instead of explicitly defining a new delegate and assigning a named method to it.

using System;
using System.IO;

public class TestAction2
{
   public static void Main()
   {
      string message1 = "The first line of a message.";
      string message2 = "The second line of a message.";
      Action<string, string> concat;

      if (Environment.GetCommandLineArgs().Length > 1)
         concat = WriteToFile;
      else
         concat = WriteToConsole;

      concat(message1, message2);
   }

   private static void WriteToConsole(string string1, string string2)
   {
      Console.WriteLine("{0}\n{1}", string1, string2);
   }

   private static void WriteToFile(string string1, string string2)
   {
      StreamWriter writer = null;
      try
      {
         writer = new StreamWriter(Environment.GetCommandLineArgs()[1], false);
         writer.WriteLine("{0}\n{1}", string1, string2);
      }
      catch
      {
         Console.WriteLine("File write operation failed...");
      }
      finally
      {
         if (writer != null) writer.Close();
      }
   }
}

open System
open System.IO

let message1 = "The first line of a message"
let message2 = "The second line of a message"

let writeToConsole string1 string2 = 
    printfn $"{string1}\n{string2}"

let writeToFile string1 string2 =
    use writer = new StreamWriter(Environment.GetCommandLineArgs().[1], false)
    writer.WriteLine $"{string1}\n{string2}"

let concat =
    Action<string, string>(fun string1 string2 ->
        if Environment.GetCommandLineArgs().Length > 1 then
            writeToFile string1 string2
        else
            writeToConsole string1 string2
    )

concat.Invoke(message1, message2)

Imports System.IO

Module TestAction2
   Public Sub Main()
      
      Dim message1 As String = "The first line of a message."
      Dim message2 As String = "The second line of a message."
      Dim concat As Action(Of String, String)
      
      If Environment.GetCommandLineArgs().Length > 1 Then
         concat = AddressOf WriteToFile
      Else
         concat = AddressOf WriteToConsole
      End If   
      concat(message1, message2)         
   End Sub
   
   Private Sub WriteToConsole(string1 As String, string2 As String)
      Console.WriteLine("{0}{1}{2}", string1, vbCrLf, string2)
   End Sub
   
   Private Sub WriteToFile(string1 As String, string2 As String)
      Dim writer As StreamWriter = Nothing  
      Try
         writer = New StreamWriter(Environment.GetCommandLineArgs(1), False)
         writer.WriteLine("{0}{1}{2}", string1, vbCrLf, string2)
      Catch
         Console.WriteLine("File write operation failed...")
      Finally
         If writer IsNot Nothing Then writer.Close
      End Try      
   End Sub
End Module

You can also use the Action<T1,T2> delegate with anonymous methods in C#, as the following example illustrates. (For an introduction to anonymous methods, see Anonymous Methods.)

using System;
using System.IO;

public class TestAnonymousMethod
{
   public static void Main()
   {
      string message1 = "The first line of a message.";
      string message2 = "The second line of a message.";
      Action<string, string> concat;

      if (Environment.GetCommandLineArgs().Length > 1)
         concat = delegate(string s1, string s2) { WriteToFile(s1, s2); };
      else
         concat = delegate(string s1, string s2) { WriteToConsole(s1, s2);} ;

      concat(message1, message2);
   }

   private static void WriteToConsole(string string1, string string2)
   {
      Console.WriteLine("{0}\n{1}", string1, string2);
   }

   private static void WriteToFile(string string1, string string2)
   {
      StreamWriter writer = null;
      try
      {
         writer = new StreamWriter(Environment.GetCommandLineArgs()[1], false);
         writer.WriteLine("{0}\n{1}", string1, string2);
      }
      catch
      {
         Console.WriteLine("File write operation failed...");
      }
      finally
      {
         if (writer != null) writer.Close();
      }
   }
}

You can also assign a lambda expression to an Action<T1,T2> delegate instance, as the following example illustrates. (For an introduction to lambda expressions, see Lambda Expressions (C#), or Lambda Expressions (F#).)

using System;
using System.IO;

public class TestLambdaExpression
{
   public static void Main()
   {
      string message1 = "The first line of a message.";
      string message2 = "The second line of a message.";
      Action<string, string> concat;

      if (Environment.GetCommandLineArgs().Length > 1)
         concat = (s1, s2) => WriteToFile(s1, s2);
      else
         concat = (s1, s2) => WriteToConsole(s1, s2);

      concat(message1, message2);
   }

   private static void WriteToConsole(string string1, string string2)
   {
      Console.WriteLine("{0}\n{1}", string1, string2);
   }

   private static void WriteToFile(string string1, string string2)
   {
      StreamWriter writer = null;
      try
      {
         writer = new StreamWriter(Environment.GetCommandLineArgs()[1], false);
         writer.WriteLine("{0}\n{1}", string1, string2);
      }
      catch
      {
         Console.WriteLine("File write operation failed...");
      }
      finally
      {
         if (writer != null) writer.Close();
      }
   }
}

open System
open System.IO

let message1 = "The first line of a message"
let message2 = "The second line of a message"

let writeToConsole string1 string2 = 
    printfn $"{string1}\n{string2}"

let writeToFile string1 string2 =
    use writer = new StreamWriter(Environment.GetCommandLineArgs().[1], false)
    writer.WriteLine $"{string1}\n{string2}"

let concat =
    Action<string,string>(
        if Environment.GetCommandLineArgs().Length > 1 then
            fun s1 s2 -> writeToFile s1 s2
        else
            fun s1 s2 -> writeToConsole s1 s2
    )

concat.Invoke(message1, message2)

Imports System.IO

Public Module TestLambdaExpression

   Public Sub Main()
      Dim message1 As String = "The first line of a message."
      Dim message2 As String = "The second line of a message."
      Dim concat As Action(Of String, String)
      
      If Environment.GetCommandLineArgs().Length > 1 Then
         concat = Sub(s1, s2) WriteToFile(s1, s2)
      Else
         concat = Sub(s1, s2) WriteToConsole(s1, s2)
      End If
         
      concat(message1, message2)
   End Sub
  
   Private Function WriteToConsole(string1 As String, string2 As String) As Integer
      Dim message As String = String.Format("{0}{1}{2}", string1, vbCrLf, string2)
      Console.WriteLine(message)
      Return message.Length
   End Function

   Private Function WriteToFile(string1 As String, string2 As String) As Integer
      Dim writer As StreamWriter = Nothing  
      Dim message As String = String.Format("{0}{1}{2}", string1, vbCrLf, string2)
      Dim charsWritten As Integer
      Try
         writer = New StreamWriter(Environment.GetCommandLineArgs()(1), False)
         writer.WriteLine(message)
      Catch
         Console.WriteLine("File write operation failed...")
      Finally
         If writer IsNot Nothing Then 
            writer.Close()
            charsWritten = message.Length
         Else
            charsWritten = 0
         End If
      End Try      
      Return charsWritten
   End Function
End Module

Extension Methods

GetMethodInfo(Delegate)

Gets an object that represents the method represented by the specified delegate.

See also

• Func<T1,T2,TResult>