simple custom event

Question

I'm trying to learn custom events and I have tried to create one but seems like I have a problem

I have created a Form, static class and custom event. What I'm trying to achieve is when I press button Form will call static class function and then func will from time to time rise an event to report current status. Form1 will listen if the event is raised and if it is, it will change Text of label1

Here is what I have so far

public partial class Form1 : Form
{
    public EventHandler<Progress> progress; 

    public Form1()
    {
        InitializeComponent();
        progress += SetStatus;
    }

    private void SetStatus(object sender, Progress e)
    {
        label1.Text = e.Status;
    }

    private void button1_Click_1(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
         TestClass.Func();
    }

 }

File 2

class TestClass
{
    public static void Func()
    {
        //time consuming code
        Report status 
        // time consuming code
        report status
    }
}

public class Progress : EventArgs
{
    public string Status { get; private set; }

    private Progress() {}

    public Progress(string status)
    {
        Status = status;
    }
}

Now what I don't understand is, how can I rise an event from TestClass so Form1 can handle event and change label.Text

Answer 1

This is an easy way to create custom events and raise them. You create a delegate and an event in the class you are throwing from. Then subscribe to the event from another part of your code. You have already got a custom event argument class so you can build on that to make other event argument classes. N.B: I have not compiled this code.

public partial class Form1 : Form
{
    private TestClass _testClass;
    public Form1()
    {
        InitializeComponent();
        _testClass = new TestClass();
        _testClass.OnUpdateStatus += new TestClass.StatusUpdateHandler(UpdateStatus);
    }

    private void UpdateStatus(object sender, ProgressEventArgs e)
    {
        SetStatus(e.Status);
    }

    private void SetStatus(string status)
    {
        label1.Text = status;
    }

    private void button1_Click_1(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
         TestClass.Func();
    }

}

public class TestClass
{
    public delegate void StatusUpdateHandler(object sender, ProgressEventArgs e);
    public event StatusUpdateHandler OnUpdateStatus;

    public static void Func()
    {
        //time consuming code
        UpdateStatus(status);
        // time consuming code
        UpdateStatus(status);
    }

    private void UpdateStatus(string status)
    {
        // Make sure someone is listening to event
        if (OnUpdateStatus == null) return;

        ProgressEventArgs args = new ProgressEventArgs(status);
        OnUpdateStatus(this, args);
    }
}

public class ProgressEventArgs : EventArgs
{
    public string Status { get; private set; }

    public ProgressEventArgs(string status)
    {
        Status = status;
    }
}

Answer 2

You haven't created an event. To do that write:

public event EventHandler<Progress> Progress;

Then, you can call Progress from within the class where it was declared like normal function or delegate:

Progress(this, new Progress("some status"));

So, if you want to report progress in TestClass, the event should be in there too and it should be also static. You can the subscribe to it from your form like this:

TestClass.Progress += SetStatus;

Also, you should probably rename Progress to ProgressEventArgs, so that it's clear what it is.

Answer 3

Events are pretty easy in C#, but the MSDN docs in my opinion make them pretty confusing. Normally, most documentation you see discusses making a class inherit from the EventArgs base class and there's a reason for that. However, it's not the simplest way to make events, and for someone wanting something quick and easy, and in a time crunch, using the Action type is your ticket.

Creating Events & Subscribing To Them

1. Create your event in your class right after your class declaration.

public event Action<string,string,string,string>MyEvent;

2. Create your event handler class method in your class.

private void MyEventHandler(string s1,string s2,string s3,string s4)
{
  Console.WriteLine("{0} {1} {2} {3}",s1,s2,s3,s4);
}

3. Now when your class is invoked, tell it to connect the event to your new event handler. The reason the += operator is used is because you are appending your particular event handler to the event. You can actually do this with multiple separate event handlers, and when an event is raised, each event handler will operate in the sequence in which you added them.

class Example
{
  public Example() // I'm a C# style class constructor
  {
    MyEvent += new Action<string,string,string,string>(MyEventHandler);
  }
}

4. Now, when you're ready, trigger (aka raise) the event somewhere in your class code like so:

MyEvent("wow","this","is","cool");

The end result when you run this is that the console will emit "wow this is cool". And if you changed "cool" with a date or a sequence, and ran this event trigger multiple times, you'd see the result come out in a FIFO sequence like events should normally operate.

In this example, I passed 4 strings. But you could change those to any kind of acceptable type, or used more or less types, or even remove the <...> out and pass nothing to your event handler.

And, again, if you had multiple custom event handlers, and subscribed them all to your event with the += operator, then your event trigger would have called them all in sequence.

Identifying Event Callers

But what if you want to identify the caller to this event in your event handler? This is useful if you want an event handler that reacts with conditions based on who's raised/triggered the event. There are a few ways to do this. Below are examples that are shown in order by how fast they operate:

Option 1. (Fastest) If you already know it, then pass the name as a literal string to the event handler when you trigger it.

Option 2. (Somewhat Fast) Add this into your class and call it from the calling method, and then pass that string to the event handler when you trigger it:

private static string GetCaller([System.Runtime.CompilerServices.CallerMemberName] string s = null) => s;

Option 3. (Least Fast But Still Fast) In your event handler when you trigger it, get the calling method name string with this:

string callingMethod = new System.Diagnostics.StackTrace().GetFrame(1).GetMethod().ReflectedType.Name.Split('<', '>')[1];

Unsubscribing From Events

You may have a scenario where your custom event has multiple event handlers, but you want to remove one special one out of the list of event handlers. To do so, use the -= operator like so:

MyEvent -= MyEventHandler;

A word of minor caution with this, however. If you do this and that event no longer has any event handlers, and you trigger that event again, it will throw an exception. (Exceptions, of course, you can trap with try/catch blocks.)

Clearing All Events

Okay, let's say you're through with events and you don't want to process any more. Just set it to null like so:

MyEvent = null;

The same caution for Unsubscribing events is here, as well. If your custom event handler no longer has any events, and you trigger it again, your program will throw an exception.

Answer 4

Like has been mentioned already the progress field needs the keyword event

public event EventHandler<Progress> progress;

But I don't think that's where you actually want your event. I think you actually want the event in TestClass. How does the following look? (I've never actually tried setting up static events so I'm not sure if the following will compile or not, but I think this gives you an idea of the pattern you should be aiming for.)

public partial class Form1 : Form
{
    public Form1()
    {
        InitializeComponent();
        TestClass.progress += SetStatus;
    }

    private void SetStatus(object sender, Progress e)
    {
        label1.Text = e.Status;
    }

    private void button1_Click_1(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
         TestClass.Func();
    }

 }

public class TestClass
{
    public static event EventHandler<Progress> progress; 

    public static void Func()
    {
        //time consuming code
        OnProgress(new Progress("current status"));
        // time consuming code
        OnProgress(new Progress("some new status"));            
    }

    private static void OnProgress(EventArgs e) 
    {
       if (progress != null)
          progress(this, e);
    }
}


public class Progress : EventArgs
{
    public string Status { get; private set; }

    private Progress() {}

    public Progress(string status)
    {
        Status = status;
    }
}