Blazor client side refresh component - async-await

I'm trying to figure out how to refresh the client-side component after button click.
Repo Link with example: https://github.com/ovie91/RefreshComponent
Site /test or from nav menu test
So I have OnInitializedAsync method that is retrieving data from API
protected override async Task OnInitializedAsync()
{
result = await (some API Call);
}
Then I have a method connected to the button
private async void ButtonClick()
{
await (some API Call);
result = null;
this.StateHasChanged(); <--- Doesnt work :<
}
I have tried to use this.StateHasChanged(); but there is no reaction.
As a workaround, I can force you to navigate again to the same website but this refresh "Whole" website but not a component.
Any ideas on how to deal with it?
whole code (stripped to minimum):
#page "/test"
#inject HttpClient Http
#if (result == null)
{
<p>Loading...<p>
}
else
{
#result
<button #onclick="(() => ButtonClick())">Click</button>
}
#code {
private APIObject result;
protected override async Task OnInitializedAsync()
{
result = await (some API Call);
}
private async void ButtonClick()
{
await (some API Call);
result = null;
this.StateHasChanged(); <--- Doesnt work :<
}
}
Update
I want to refresh component so OnInitializedAsync would be triggered again and that would mean I don't have to run the same code again after button click. Hope you understand what I mean.

To get the desired output you just have to shuffle the lines a little, from:
private async void ButtonClick()
{
await (some API Call); // UI checks if an update is needed (No)
result = null; // now an update is needed
this.StateHasChanged(); <--- Doesnt work :< // actually: not needed
}
to:
private async Task ButtonClick()
{
result = null; // change the state
//this.StateHasChanged(); // not needed, a request is pending
await (some API Call); // should show '<h3>Loading</h3>' now
}
Note that the UI is updated when an await releases the Thread.
however, from your answer we get
var APICall = await Http.GetAsync("SomeAPI");
Thread.Sleep(2000);
This should work when Http.GetAsync("SomeAPI"); really is an async call and not just some stand-in pseudo code. Because Thread.Sleep(2000); will really freeze things.
If you want to make sure:
private async Task GetData()
{
await Task.Delay(1); // release the thread for rendering
var APICall = await Http.GetAsync("SomeAPI");
Random rnd = new Random();
Thread.Sleep(2000); // Task.Delay() is much preferred
result = "Random Number: " + rnd.Next();
}
Thread.Sleep() is appropriate to simulate some CPU (not I/O) intensive code. So I'm not saying it's wrong but be aware of the difference.
And it is much better to make eventhandlers async Task instead of async void but that is not the direct problem here.

From here:
Blazor uses a synchronization context (SynchronizationContext) to enforce a single logical thread of execution. A component's lifecycle methods and any event callbacks that are raised by Blazor are executed on the synchronization context.
Blazor Server's synchronization context attempts to emulate a single-threaded environment so that it closely matches the WebAssembly model in the browser, which is single threaded. At any given point in time, work is performed on exactly one thread, giving the impression of a single logical thread. No two operations execute concurrently.
So as enet asnwered, you should use async Task signature instead of async void.

I have moved API call to another Method and inside of OnInitializedAsync I called it.
Then when I reset the result variable to see Loading state I'm able to "refresh" component to achieve that you need to add. this.StateHasChanged()
Now I have a responsive component to updates that are happening :)
#page "/test"
#using System.Threading;
#inject HttpClient Http
#if (result == null)
{
<h3>Loading</h3>
}
else
{
#result
<button #onclick="(() => ButtonClick())">Click</button>
}
#code {
private string result;
protected override async Task OnInitializedAsync()
{
await GetData();
}
private async Task GetData()
{
var APICall = await Http.GetAsync("SomeAPI");
Random rnd = new Random();
Thread.Sleep(2000);
result = "Random Number: " + rnd.Next();
}
private async Task ButtonClick()
{
await Http.GetAsync("SomeAPIcall");
result = null; // required to see loading state.
this.StateHasChanged(); // when added model is refreshed and Loading state is visible.
await GetData();
}
}

Related

how to make TCP server in xamarin that does not freeze my app

I have a TCP Server with an start method looking like :
public async Task Start()
{
using (Canceler.Token.Register(() => listener.Stop()))
{
try
{
listener.Start();
var tcpClient = await listener.AcceptTcpClientAsync();
var clientStream = tcpClient.GetStream();
while(!CloseAll)
{
while (!clientStream.DataAvailable)
{
if (CloseAll)
{
break;
}
}
Byte[] bytes = new Byte[tcpClient.Available];
clientStream.Read(bytes, 0, bytes.Length);
String data = Encoding.UTF8.GetString(bytes);
Debug(data);
}
}
catch (Exception exc)
{
Debug(exc.Message);
Canceler.Token.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
throw;
}
}
}
And then the communication class that handles it goes like:
internal async void Init()
{
DebugMessage("initializing gameBrain");
TCP = new TCPController();
TCP.newDebugMessage += Debug;
await TCP.Start();
}
And at the topmost, in the page we have :
public MainPage(GameBrain _brain)
{
InitializeComponent();
Brain = _brain;
Brain.newMessageToUI += NewMessageFromBrain;
Brain.Init();
}
I ran the thing and it works at the beginning. The UI is responsive (I added a button with a displayAlert for testing)
I noticed that the system freezes after the TCP client connects. In the inner while of the Start but ... I thought it was expected!
I thought the Start will run in a different thread while the app get's freed of it. To be honest I was used to backgroundworkers but I'm moving from there to Tasks, and there is clearly somethign I don't get.
How should that be done ?
In C#, async and await are used to allow code to keep executing while some asynchronous process is being done. This does not at all mean that you are starting a parallel process on another thread.
When you call this:
internal async void Init()
{
(..)
await TCP.Start();
}
You are merely saying to the runtime that TCP.Start() will eventually have a point in the execution where some asynchronous process (like an HTTP request to a 3rd party) is started and that it is allowed to execute code after TCP.Start() instead of waiting for TCP.Start() to finish like a normal C# method is being treated.
If you want TCP.Start() to be run in parallel, you should create a new Task in which you call the method like in the following code (I might have flunked on the proper syntax)
internal async void Init()
{
(..)
Task.Run(async () => await TCP.Start());
}
Now the TCP.Start() method will be executed in parallel to the rest of the application.
Read more on async and await here

Button is disabled when binding

I have a IMvxAsyncCommand method in my ViewModel to perform a server call and depending the result navigate to a ViewModel or other. I don't know why but it is disabling the button where the click event is bind.
public IMvxAsyncCommand Register
{
var runner = Task.Run(() => _service.Register());
runner.Wait();
if (runner.Result.Status == SUCCESS)
{
return new MvxAsyncCommand(() => _navigationService.Navigate<NextViewModel>());
}
else
{
return new MvxAsyncCommand(() => _navigationService.Navigate<ErrorViewModel>());
}
}
I tried moving the runner into an async method and set a global variable with the response but I continue to experience this issue. If I comment the service call and leave just the navigationService code then the button is enabled so I guess the problem is the way I am making the service call into this method.
First of all your code snippet does not compile. If it were a Property Getter, it would block until _service.Register() completes, which is probably not what you want. Instead you should put that call into the command and await it:
private IMvxAsyncCommand _register;
public ICommand Register => _register = _register ?? new MvxAsyncCommand(DoRegisterCommand);
private async Task DoRegisterCommand()
{
var result = await _service.Register();
if (result.Status == SUCCESS)
await _navigationService.Navigate<NextViewModel>();
else
await _navigationService.Navigate<ErrorViewModel>();
}

await async code seems to still be running sync

I'm new to async / await, and have been trying to implement it in my 4.6 web api 2 project.
public class MyController : ApiController
{
public async Task<Thing> Search(String searchTerms)
{
myThing = new Thing();
myThing.FirstProperty = await doFirstPropertyAsync(searchTerms);
myThing.SecondProperty = await doSecondPropertyAsync(searchTerms);
return myThing;
}
}
Basically I'm returning a class (Thing) that has two properties that take a few seconds each to populate. I'm actually loading maybe ~10 properties, but it's the same logic for all of them.
public async Task<MyCoolSubObject> doFirstPropertyAsync(string searchTerms)
{
SomeController sController = new SomeController();
Debug.WriteLine("first - starting.");
var x = await Task.Run(()=>sController.Lookup(searchTerms));
Debug.WriteLine("first - finishing.");
return x;
}
public async Task<MyCoolSubObject> doSecondPropertyAsync(string searchTerms)
{
SomeOtherController sController = new SomeOtherController();
Debug.WriteLine("second - starting.");
var x = await Task.Run(()=>sController.Lookup(searchTerms));
Debug.WriteLine("second - finishing.");
return x;
}
What's got my scratching my head:
When I look at the debug outputs, the first property assignment method call starts and finishes before the second completes. Again, I actually have like ten of these and no matter what order I put the property assignments in they complete in a serial fashion (ie: nothing starts until another one finishes).
These property assignments under the hood are basically doing database calls that take a while, hence I wanted them running in parallel if possible. The methods themselves ( SomeController.Lookup(string) ) contain no await/async/task stuff.
Again, I actually have like ten of these and no matter what order I
put the property assignments in they complete in a serial fashion (ie:
nothing starts until another one finishes).
This happens because in your code you use the await keyword as soon as you kickoff the task, by doing that you prevent the method to continue to execute the next statement before the task will be done.
If you want to run your tasks in parallel you should kickoff all of them and only then await all of them using Task.WhenAll:
public async Task<Thing> Search(String searchTerms)
{
myThing = new Thing();
var firstTask = doFirstPropertyAsync(searchTerms);
var secondTask = doSecondPropertyAsync(searchTerms);
await Task.WhenAll(firstTask, secondTask);
myThing.FirstProperty = await firstTask;
myThing.SecondProperty = await secondTask;
return myThing;
}
Note that when we await every task separately after we await Task.WhenAll the tasks have already been done, we do that in order to get the result from the task, although we can use the Result property (it will not block since we know the task has already been done) I prefer to use await for consistency reasons.

Akavache always calling the fetchFunc

I have the following code using Akavache in a Xamarin app and it's not behaving the way I would think it should. Probably my misunderstanding of how it should be but it's driving me crazy.
So in my viewmodel I'm making the call to FetchNewsCategories and specifying a cache of 5 minutes for the item. What I'd expect to happen is that if the cache item is not there, it would make a call to the fetchFunc (ie. FetchNewsCategoriesAsync) but if I call the service any number of times inside the cache timeout of 5 minutes, it should just give me the cached item and not do the server call. In all cases that I've tried, it keeps doing the rest call and never gives me the cached item. I've also tried this with GetAndFetchLatest and if there is a cached item, it doesn't make the rest call but it also doesn't make the call in the subscribe event in the viewmodel.
Any ideas what I'm doing wrong here?
EDIT: I tested this same code on Android (Nexus 5 KitKat API19) and it's working flawlessly. I'm going to reset my IOS emulator and see if something was just out of whack.
NewsService.cs
public static async Task<ServiceResponse<List<ArticleCategoryInfo>>> FetchNewsCategoriesAsync(BlogSourceType blogSource)
{
return await ServiceClient.POST<List<ArticleCategoryInfo>>(Config.ApiUrl + "news/categories", new
{
ModuleId = Int32.Parse(Config.Values[blogSource == BlogSourceType.News ? ConfigKeys.KEY_NEWS_MODULE_ID : ConfigKeys.KEY_BLOG_MODULE_ID])
});
}
public static IObservable<ServiceResponse<List<ArticleCategoryInfo>>> FetchNewsCategories(BlogSourceType blogSource)
{
var cache = BlobCache.LocalMachine;
var cachedCategories = cache.GetOrFetchObject("categories" + blogSource,
async () => await FetchNewsCategoriesAsync(blogSource),
DateTime.Now.AddMinutes(5));
return cachedCategories;
}
NewsViewModel.cs
public async Task LoadCategories()
{
var cachedCategories = NewsService.FetchNewsCategories(blogSource);
cachedCategories.Subscribe((obj) => { Device.BeginInvokeOnMainThread(() => DisplayCategories(obj.Result,"Subscribe"));});
return;
}
private void DisplayCategories(IList<ArticleCategoryInfo> categories, string source)
{
Categories.Clear();
System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("Redisplaying categories from " + source);
foreach (var item in categories)
{
Categories.Add(item);
}
}
Just wanted to add my resolution to the issue I experienced above for reference to others with this problem.
The ServiceResponse object that I was trying to cache had an HttpResponseMessage in it which I suspect was causing a serialization error, probably a cyclical reference, so it never did get cached and ended up calling the endpoint every time. I ended up putting an [IgnoreDataMemberAttribute] on that property so it wasn't serialized and the problems went away.
I ended up handling the subscribe in the following manner to handle errors and to make sure the activity indicator bound to the IsBusy property was updated properly.
public async Task LoadActivities(bool refresh)
{
IsBusy = true;
if (refresh) OlderThanJournalId = int.MaxValue;
var cached = ActivityService.FetchJournalItems(GroupId, OlderThanJournalId, refresh);
cached.Subscribe((result) => { Device.BeginInvokeOnMainThread(() => {
DisplayActivities(result);
}); }, (err) => HandleError(err), () => IsBusy = false);
}
public void HandleError(Exception ex) {
IsBusy = false;
DialogService.ShowErrorToast(AppResources.ErrorMessage, "Unable to load activity stream.");
System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine(ex.Message);
}
private void DisplayActivities(ServiceResponse<List<JournalItem>> response)
{
if (!response.IsConnected) {
DialogService.ShowInfoToast(AppResources.ErrorMessage, AppResources.NotConnected);
return;
}
if (!response.Authorized) {
App.LoginManager.Logout();
}
Activities.Clear();
foreach (var item in response.Result)
{
Activities.Add(item);
}
}
BeginInvokeOnMainThread is used to make sure that the updates to the ObservableCollection in DisplayActivities are seen in the UI.

How to cancel a running async function in xamarin forms

I called async function in my code , which call rest service and populate a data structure. But somehow i need to cancel that function before its completion , how can i achieve this.
getAdDetails(ad.id,ad.campaign_type);
private async void getAdDetails(int campaign_id, string campaign_type) {
// some code here
}
There is something called "CancelationToken" which is supposed to be for such stuff.
Another way to do so is by throwing an exception when you want to cancel the process .
Another way is by having a flag which can be named "ShouldExecute" , and in the method you keep monitoring it.
I also tend to ignore the results which come from the method when they are not needed and let the thread executes in peace but yet ignored when it comes back.
Assuming you have some background logic in your function:
CancellationTokenSource _cancellation;
public void SomeFunctionToStartDataRefresh(){
_cancellation = new CancellationTokenSource();
try{
getAdDetails(id, type, cancellation.Token);
}catch(OperationCanceledException ex){
//Operation is cancelled
}
}
private async Task getAdDetails(ad.id,ad.campaign_type);
private async void getAdDetails(int campaign_id, string campaign_type, CancellationToken token) {
var data = await fetchDatafromServer()
token.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
await DosomethingWithData();
token.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
await DoSomethingElseWithData();
}

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