Cancellation token in Task constructor: why?

Question

Certain System.Threading.Tasks.Task constructors take a CancellationToken as a parameter:

CancellationTokenSource source = new CancellationTokenSource();
Task t = new Task (/* method */, source.Token);

What baffles me about this is that there is no way from inside the method body to actually get at the token passed in (e.g., nothing like Task.CurrentTask.CancellationToken). The token has to be provided through some other mechanism, such as the state object or captured in a lambda.

So what purpose does providing the cancellation token in the constructor serve?

user_10927863 · Answer

Here is a code example that demonstrates the two points in the accepted answer by Max Galkin:

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        Console.WriteLine("*********************************************************************");
        Console.WriteLine("* Start canceled task, don't pass token to constructor");
        Console.WriteLine("*********************************************************************");
        StartCanceledTaskTest(false);
        Console.WriteLine();

        Console.WriteLine("*********************************************************************");
        Console.WriteLine("* Start canceled task, pass token to constructor");
        Console.WriteLine("*********************************************************************");
        StartCanceledTaskTest(true);
        Console.WriteLine();

        Console.WriteLine("*********************************************************************");
        Console.WriteLine("* Throw if cancellation requested, don't pass token to constructor");
        Console.WriteLine("*********************************************************************");
        ThrowIfCancellationRequestedTest(false);
        Console.WriteLine();

        Console.WriteLine("*********************************************************************");
        Console.WriteLine("* Throw if cancellation requested, pass token to constructor");
        Console.WriteLine("*********************************************************************");
        ThrowIfCancellationRequestedTest(true);
        Console.WriteLine();

        Console.WriteLine();
        Console.WriteLine("Test Completed!!!");
        Console.ReadKey();
    }

    static void StartCanceledTaskTest(bool passTokenToConstructor)
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Creating task");
        CancellationTokenSource tokenSource = new CancellationTokenSource();
        Task task = null;
        if (passTokenToConstructor)
        {
            task = new Task(() => TaskWork(tokenSource.Token, false), tokenSource.Token);

        }
        else
        {
            task = new Task(() => TaskWork(tokenSource.Token, false));
        }

        Console.WriteLine("Canceling task");
        tokenSource.Cancel();

        try
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Starting task");
            task.Start();
            task.Wait();
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Exception: {0}", ex.Message);
            if (ex.InnerException != null)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("InnerException: {0}", ex.InnerException.Message);
            }
        }

        Console.WriteLine("Task.Status: {0}", task.Status);
    }

    static void ThrowIfCancellationRequestedTest(bool passTokenToConstructor)
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Creating task");
        CancellationTokenSource tokenSource = new CancellationTokenSource();
        Task task = null;
        if (passTokenToConstructor)
        {
            task = new Task(() => TaskWork(tokenSource.Token, true), tokenSource.Token);

        }
        else
        {
            task = new Task(() => TaskWork(tokenSource.Token, true));
        }

        try
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Starting task");
            task.Start();
            Thread.Sleep(100);

            Console.WriteLine("Canceling task");
            tokenSource.Cancel();
            task.Wait();
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Exception: {0}", ex.Message);
            if (ex.InnerException != null)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("InnerException: {0}", ex.InnerException.Message);
            }
        }

        Console.WriteLine("Task.Status: {0}", task.Status);
    }

    static void TaskWork(CancellationToken token, bool throwException)
    {
        int loopCount = 0;

        while (true)
        {
            loopCount++;
            Console.WriteLine("Task: loop count {0}", loopCount);

            token.WaitHandle.WaitOne(50);
            if (token.IsCancellationRequested)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("Task: cancellation requested");
                if (throwException)
                {
                    token.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
                }

                break;
            }
        }
    }
}

Output:

*********************************************************************
* Start canceled task, don't pass token to constructor
*********************************************************************
Creating task
Canceling task
Starting task
Task: loop count 1
Task: cancellation requested
Task.Status: RanToCompletion

*********************************************************************
* Start canceled task, pass token to constructor
*********************************************************************
Creating task
Canceling task
Starting task
Exception: Start may not be called on a task that has completed.
Task.Status: Canceled

*********************************************************************
* Throw if cancellation requested, don't pass token to constructor
*********************************************************************
Creating task
Starting task
Task: loop count 1
Task: loop count 2
Canceling task
Task: cancellation requested
Exception: One or more errors occurred.
InnerException: The operation was canceled.
Task.Status: Faulted

*********************************************************************
* Throw if cancellation requested, pass token to constructor
*********************************************************************
Creating task
Starting task
Task: loop count 1
Task: loop count 2
Canceling task
Task: cancellation requested
Exception: One or more errors occurred.
InnerException: A task was canceled.
Task.Status: Canceled


Test Completed!!!

Cancellation token in Task constructor: why?

4 Answers