Question

The method below should return true for the first call, and false for any other call.

Is there any problem with it? Is it safe to use the reset event for locking?

private ManualResetEvent _resetEvent = new ManualResetEvent(false);

public bool AmIFirst()
{
    lock (_resetEvent)
    {
        bool first = !_resetEvent.WaitOne(0);
        if (first)
            _resetEvent.Set();

        return first;
    }
}

---

Edit: I made some changes after reviewing you’re remarks. I was stuck on ManualResetEvent due to former design idea. I actually don’t need it at all.

class ActionSynchronizer
{
    private Timer _expirationTimer;
    private object _locker = new object();
    private bool _executionRequired = true;

    private SomeDelegate _onExpired = delegate { };

    public ActionSynchronizer(SomeDelegate onExpired)
    {
        _onExpired = onExpired;
        expirationTimer = new Timer(OnExpired, null, 30000, Timeout.Infinite);
    }

    public bool IsExecutionRequired()
    {
        if (!_executionRequired)
            return false;

        lock (_locker)
        {
            if (_executionRequired)
            {
                _executionRequired = false;
                return true;
            }

            return false;
        }
    }

    private void OnExpired(object state)
    {
        if (_executionRequired)
        {
            lock (_locker)
            {
                if (_executionRequired)
                {
                    _executionRequired = false;
                    // http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1712741/why-does-asynchronous-delegate-method-require-calling-endinvoke/1712747#1712747
                    _onExpired.BeginInvoke(_originalAction, EndInvoke, null);
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

// ...
{
    if (_action.Sync.IsExecutionRequired())
        _action.Invoke();
}

Answer 1

I would go a different route here…

private int counter;
...
if(Interlocked.Increment(ref counter) == 1)
{
     // yes, I'm first
}

Thread safe, no locks. Or if you are worried about wrapping around Int32:

if(Interlocked.CompareExchange(ref counter, 1, 0) == 0)
{
     // yes, I'm first
}