Question

I have following code:

class Program
    {
        static AutoResetEvent objAuto = new AutoResetEvent(false);
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem(new WaitCallback(SetState));
            Console.ReadLine();
            objAuto.Set();
        }
        static void SetState(object rsevent)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Starting....");
            bool result = objAuto.WaitOne(10000); // 10 seconds
            Console.WriteLine("Finishing..." + result);
        }
    }

When I run this code and I hit Enter within 10 secs I get the value true in my result variable otherwise false.

What does this bool value indicates in each scenario…
I also need to know the meaning/use of another overload of WaitOne which has a boolean argument like following…

objAuto.WaitOne(10000,false)

The second parameter is exitContext what is this what kind of context does this exit ?

Answer 1

The return value indicates whether the event was signaled within the timeout you specified. If the return value is true, the event was signaled; if it is false, then the timeout expired.

The boolean argument for exitContext indicates whether or not to release the synchronization context in which you invoke this method. See more on MSDN.

The exitContext parameter has no effect unless the WaitOne method is called from inside a nondefault managed context. This can happen if your thread is inside a call to an instance of a class derived from ContextBoundObject. Even if you are currently executing a method on a class that does not derive from ContextBoundObject, like String, you can be in a nondefault context if a ContextBoundObject is on your stack in the current application domain.

When your code is executing in a nondefault context, specifying true for exitContext causes the thread to exit the nondefault managed context (that is, to transition to the default context) before executing the WaitOne method. The thread returns to the original nondefault context after the call to the WaitOne method completes.