I have a API Post method that takes is a string which represents a Bae64 string of bytes from a word document that the API converts to PDF. My test client sends multiple documents, each on its own task, to the API to be converted. The problem is with concurrency and writing the files. I end up with a file in use since the calls are parallel. I have tried a lot of different way to block the conversion process until a document is converted but none of it has worked. Everything works fine if it's jsut a single file being converted but as soon as it's 2 or more, the problem happens. Can anyone guide me in the correct direction to solve this issue?
API:
[HttpPost]
public async Task<SimpleResponse> Post([FromBody]string request)
{
var response = new SimpleResponse();
Task t = Task.Factory.StartNew(async () =>
{
try
{
Converter convert = new Converter();
var result = await convert.CovertDocToPDF(request, WebConfigurationManager.AppSettings["tempDocPath"], WebConfigurationManager.AppSettings["tempPdfPath"]);
response.Result = result;
response.Success = true;
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
response.Exception = ex;
response.Success = false;
response.Errors = new List<string>();
response.Errors.Add(string.Format("{0}, {1}", ex.Message, ex.InnerException?.Message ?? ""));
}
});
t.Wait();
return response;
}
Conversion code
public Task<string> CovertDocToPDF(string blob, string tempDocPath, string tempPdfPath)
{
try
{
// Convert blob back to bytes
byte[] bte = Convert.FromBase64String(blob);
// Process and return blob
return Process(bte, tempDocPath, tempPdfPath);
}
catch (Exception Ex)
{
throw Ex;
}
}
private async Task<string> Process(byte[] bytes, string tempDocPath, string tempPdfPath)
{
try
{
string rs = RandomString(16, true);
tempDocPath = tempDocPath + rs + ".docx";
tempPdfPath = tempPdfPath + rs + ".pdf";
// This is where the problem happens with concurrent calls. I added
// the try catch when the file is in use to generate a new
// filename but the error still happens.
try
{
// Create a temp file
File.WriteAllBytes(tempDocPath, bytes);
}
catch (Exception Ex)
{
rs = RandomString(16, true);
tempDocPath = tempDocPath + rs + ".docx";
tempPdfPath = tempPdfPath + rs + ".pdf";
File.WriteAllBytes(tempDocPath, bytes);
}
word.Application app = new word.Application();
word.Document doc = app.Documents.Open(tempDocPath);
doc.SaveAs2(tempPdfPath, word.WdSaveFormat.wdFormatPDF);
doc.Close();
app.Quit(); // Clean up the word instance.
// Need the bytes to return the blob
byte[] pdfFileBytes = File.ReadAllBytes(tempPdfPath);
// Delete temp files
File.Delete(tempDocPath);
File.Delete(tempPdfPath);
// return blob
return Convert.ToBase64String(pdfFileBytes);
}
catch (Exception Ex)
{
throw Ex;
}
}
Client:
public async void btnConvert_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
var response = await StartConvert();
foreach (SimpleResponse sr in response)
{
if (sr.Success)
{
byte[] bte = Convert.FromBase64String(sr.Result.ToString());
string rs = RandomString(16, true);
string pdfFileName = tempPdfPath + rs + ".pdf";
if (File.Exists(pdfFileName))
{
File.Delete(pdfFileName);
}
System.IO.File.WriteAllBytes(pdfFileName, bte);
}
else
{
}
}
}
private async Task<IEnumerable<SimpleResponse>> StartConvert()
{
var tasks = new List<Task<SimpleResponse>>();
foreach (string s in docPaths)
{
byte[] bte = File.ReadAllBytes(s);
tasks.Add(ConvertDocuments(Convert.ToBase64String(bte)));
}
return (await Task.WhenAll(tasks));
}
private async Task<SimpleResponse> ConvertDocuments(string requests)
{
using (var client = new HttpClient(new HttpClientHandler() { UseDefaultCredentials = true }))
{
client.BaseAddress = new Uri(BaseApiUrl);
client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Add("Accept", "application/json");
// Add an Accept header for JSON format.
client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Accept.Add(new MediaTypeWithQualityHeaderValue("application/json"));//application/json
HttpRequestMessage request = new HttpRequestMessage(HttpMethod.Post, BaseApiUrl + ApiUrl);
var data = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(requests);
request.Content = new StringContent(data, Encoding.UTF8, "application/json");
HttpResponseMessage response1 = await client.PostAsync(BaseApiUrl + ApiUrl, request.Content).ConfigureAwait(false);
var response = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<SimpleResponse>(await response1.Content.ReadAsStringAsync());
return response;
}
}
Random String Generator
public string RandomString(int size, bool lowerCase = false)
{
var builder = new StringBuilder(size);
// Unicode/ASCII Letters are divided into two blocks
// (Letters 65–90 / 97–122):
// The first group containing the uppercase letters and
// the second group containing the lowercase.
// char is a single Unicode character
char offset = lowerCase ? 'a' : 'A';
const int lettersOffset = 26; // A...Z or a..z: length = 26
for (var i = 0; i < size; i++)
{
var @char = (char)_random.Next(offset, offset + lettersOffset);
builder.Append(@char);
}
return lowerCase ? builder.ToString().ToLower() : builder.ToString();
}
