Should I use MethodInvoker or Action

Question

Possible Duplicate:
MethodInvoker vs Action for Control.BeginInvoke

    ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem(x =>
        {
            //get dataset from web service

            BeginInvoke(new Action(() => { 
                //fill grid
            }));

            BeginInvoke(new MethodInvoker(() => {
                //fill grid
            }));
        });

In C# 2.0 I was using allot the MethodInvoker to update the UI from a background thread, will it be wise to switch to Action when using under BeginInvoke? Is it faster or safer to use Action?

I'm kind of baffled by the people suggesting that he use neither. Are they using a different C# compiler than me? Mine makes me pass something deriving from `System.Delegate`. See http://stackoverflow.com/questions/253138/anonymous-method-in-invoke-call/253150#253150 — mqp, Nov 11 '10 at 16:13
A similar question was already asked and answered here on stackoverflow http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1167771/methodinvoker-vs-action-for-control-begininvoke — Sam, Nov 11 '10 at 16:07

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 11 '10 at 16:08

It really doesn't make a difference, as both are simply delegate types which take no parameters and don't return a value. However, in terms of naming semantics, MethodInvoker is specific to WinForms and should therefore be limited to that scope. Action is all-purpose and can be used in any area of the framework.

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 11 '10 at 16:07

They are both delegates, and identical to each other in definition (grabbed from MSDN):

public delegate void MethodInvoker()
public delegate void Action()

So at the IL level they should be pretty much identical. So I doubt it matters much which one you use. Action is more universal and more likely to be understood by more developers, but MethodInvoker does have a more descriptive name. Go with whichever one feels better to you.

But as davidsoa points out, you can skip them both and just use a lambda directly.

Should I use MethodInvoker or Action

2 Answers2