Why does this asynchronous code sometimes fail and only when not observed?

Question

This is the original code that worked for several weeks. In the test I just did, it was not able to complete 0 out of 100 attempts.

using (var httpClient = new HttpClient())
{
    var tasks = new List<Task>();

    tasks.Add(httpClient.GetAsync(new Uri("..."))
        .ContinueWith(request =>
        {
            request.Result.Content.ReadAsAsync<IEnumerable<Foo>>()
                .ContinueWith(response =>
                {
                    foos = response.Result;
                });
        }));

    tasks.Add(httpClient.GetAsync(new Uri("..."))
        .ContinueWith(request =>
        {
            request.Result.Content.ReadAsAsync<Bar>()
                .ContinueWith(response =>
                {
                    bar = response.Result;
                });
        }));

    await Task.WhenAll(tasks);
}

This code failed 9 out of 100 attempts, where one or both tuple values null.

var APIresponses = await HttpClientHelper.GetAsync
    <
        IEnumerable<Foo>,
        Bar
    >
    (
        new Uri("..."),
        new Uri("...")
    );

foos = APIresponses.Item1;
bar = APIresponses.Item2;

private static Task GetAsync<T>(HttpClient httpClient, Uri URI, Action<Task<T>> continuationAction)
{
    return httpClient.GetAsync(URI)
        .ContinueWith(request =>
        {
            request.Result.EnsureSuccessStatusCode();

            request.Result.Content.ReadAsAsync<T>()
                .ContinueWith(continuationAction);
        });
}

public static async Task<Tuple<T1, T2>> GetAsync<T1, T2>(Uri URI1, Uri URI2)
{
    T1 item1 = default(T1);
    T2 item2 = default(T2);

    var httpClient = new HttpClient();
    var tasks = new List<Task>()
    {
        GetAsync<T1>(httpClient, URI1, response =>
        {
            item1 = response.Result;
        }),
        GetAsync<T2>(httpClient, URI2, response =>
        {
            item2 = response.Result;
        })
    };

    await Task.WhenAll(tasks);

    return Tuple.Create(item1, item2);
}

Change the code so that it looks like this and it again completes an unsuccessful attempt of 100 attempts.

    await Task.WhenAll(tasks);
    System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("tasks complete");
    System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine(item1);
    System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine(item2);

    return Tuple.Create(item1, item2);
}

I looked at this for more than half an hour, but I do not see where the error is. Does anyone see this?

Answer 1

, async/await ContinueWith. "fork" async lambdas, , :

using (var httpClient = new HttpClient())
{
    Func<Task<IEnumerable<Foo>>> doTask1Async = async () =>
    {
        var request = await httpClient.GetAsync(new Uri("..."));
        return response.Content.ReadAsAsync<IEnumerable<Foo>>();
    };

    Func<Task<IEnumerable<Bar>>> doTask2Async = async () =>
    {
        var request = await httpClient.GetAsync(new Uri("..."));
        return response.Content.ReadAsAsync<IEnumerable<Bar>>();
    };

    var task1 = doTask1Async();
    var task2 = doTask2Async();

    await Task.WhenAll(task1, task2);

    var result1 = task1.Result;
    var result2 = task2.Result;

    // ...
}

Answer 2

:

        request.Result.Content.ReadAsAsync<T>()
            .ContinueWith(continuationAction);

, ( ). , Task.WhenAll.

.

, , , ( ) Tuple. , , , , , .

Answer 3

: , . catch: ContinueWith SynchronizationContext

---

@jbl @MattSmith, .

The problem was that it was Task.WhenAllnot waiting for a sequel. The solution is to install TaskContinuationOptions.AttachedToParent.

So this is

private static Task GetAsync<T>(HttpClient httpClient, Uri URI, Action<Task<T>> continuationAction)
{
    return httpClient.GetAsync(URI)
        .ContinueWith(request =>
        {
            request.Result.EnsureSuccessStatusCode();

            request.Result.Content.ReadAsAsync<T>()
                .ContinueWith(continuationAction);
        });
}

becomes this

private static Task GetAsync<T>(HttpClient httpClient, Uri URI, Action<Task<T>> continuationAction)
{
    return httpClient.GetAsync(URI)
        .ContinueWith(request =>
        {
            request.Result.EnsureSuccessStatusCode();

            request.Result.Content.ReadAsAsync<T>()
                .ContinueWith(continuationAction, TaskContinuationOptions.AttachedToParent);
        }, TaskContinuationOptions.AttachedToParent);
}

Additional information is available on MSDN: nested tasks and tasks for children.