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Problem with Socket.BeginReceive and WaitHandles

Hi All,
I am having problems with asynchronous sockets and wait handles. My system consists of a server and client, with the server notifying the client of updates - the system provides live trading data.
Everything works well using the asynchronous BeginXXX/EndXXX methods on the Socket object, however when my client object connects to the server some data must be queried and calculated before the client object is ready for use. These queries are carried out by sending a request to the server object and waiting for a response. However, as this is done asynchronously I need a mechanism to delay the return of the Connect method until all the queries have been run. I originally tried to accomplish this using AutoResetEvents (see code below).
The problem seems to be that the BeginReceive calls are actually running on the main thread rather than on a ThreadPool one, hence calling WaitOne on my AutoResetEvent blocks the thread and my OnDataReceived callback is never called. Of course, one solution would be to run blocking calls to Receive on a separate thread, but this would seem to contradict the purpose of the BeginXXX/EndXXX methods provided?
I have tried various combinations of WaitHandles/Threads etc but I seem to keep coming up against this issue, any advice would be welcome!
Thanks,
Samuele Armondi
public class Client
    {
        private Socket socket;
        private AutoResetEvent autoResetEvent;
        private IPEndPoint serverEndPoint;
        private byte[] buffer;
 
        public bool Connect()
        {
            //connection code
            socket.Connect(serverEndPoint);
            
            //authentication etc
            
            //start listening for data
            socket.BeginReceive(buffer, 0, buffer.Length, SocketFlags.None, new AsyncCallback(OnDataReceived), null);            
            
            //Run queries
            RunQuery();
 
            //wait for the query to be completed
            autoResetEvent.WaitOne();
        }
 
        private void RunQuery()
        {
            //send data to the socket asking for data
        }
 
        //Async method called when data is received.
        private void OnDataReceived(IAsyncResult res)
        {
            //handle data
 
            //assuming this is the query response, set the AutoResetEvent
            autoResetEvent.Set();
            //carry on receiving
            socket.BeginReceive(buffer, 0, buffer.Length, SocketFlags.None, new AsyncCallback(OnDataReceived), null);            
        }
    }

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Avatar of Kelevra
Kelevra

hi,

try that:
//Load 
ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem(new WaitCallback(RunQuery), waitHandles[0]);
                ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem(new WaitCallback(otherfunction), waitHandles[1]);
                WaitHandle.WaitAll(waitHandles);
 
 
 
//Async method called when data is received.
        private void runQuery(Object state)
        { 
            AutoResetEvent are = (AutoResetEvent)state;
            
            //send data to the socket asking for data
            //handle data
            //slepp in needed
            Thread.Sleep(1000);
 
            are.Set();
        }

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Avatar of peddle

ASKER

Thanks for the suggestion - in this instance it won't work as the reset event needs to be set in the OnDataReceived method.
Many thanks,
S Armondi
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
Avatar of Kelevra
Kelevra

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