How to create a thread?

Question

The method below is what I want to be done in that thread:

public void Startup(int port,string path)
{
    Run(path);
    CRCCheck2();
    CRCCheck1();
    InitializeCodeCave((ushort)port);
}

I tried what I could find googling,but nothing worked

public void Test(int port,string path)
{
    Thread t = new Thread(Startup(port,path));
}

public void TestA(int port,string path)
{
    Thread t = new Thread(Startup);
    t.Start (port,path);
}

Both don't compile,how to do that?

Answer 1

The following ways work.

// The old way of using ParameterizedThreadStart. This requires a
// method which takes ONE object as the parameter so you need to
// encapsulate the parameters inside one object.
Thread t = new Thread(new ParameterizedThreadStart(StartupA));
t.Start(new MyThreadParams(path, port));

// You can also use an anonymous delegate to do this.
Thread t2 = new Thread(delegate()
{
    StartupB(port, path);
});
t2.Start();

// Or lambda expressions if you are using C# 3.0
Thread t3 = new Thread(() => StartupB(port, path));
t3.Start();

The Startup methods have following signature for these examples.

public void StartupA(object parameters);

public void StartupB(int port, string path);

Answer 2

Update The currently suggested way to start a Task is simply using Task.Run()

Task.Run(() => foo());

Note that this method is described as the best way to start a task see here

Previous answer

I like the Task Factory from System.Threading.Tasks. You can do something like this:

Task.Factory.StartNew(() => 
{
    // Whatever code you want in your thread
});

Note that the task factory gives you additional convenience options like ContinueWith:

Task.Factory.StartNew(() => {}).ContinueWith((result) => 
{
    // Whatever code should be executed after the newly started thread.
});

Also note that a task is a slightly different concept than threads. They nicely fit with the async/await keywords, see here.

Answer 3

The method that you want to run must be a ThreadStart Delegate. Please consult the Thread documentation on MSDN. Note that you can sort of create your two-parameter start with a closure. Something like:

var t = new Thread(() => Startup(port, path));

Note that you may want to revisit your method accessibility. If I saw a class starting a thread on its own public method in this manner, I'd be a little surprised.

Answer 4

Your example fails because Thread methods take either one or zero arguments. To create a thread without passing arguments, your code looks like this:

void Start()
{
    // do stuff
}

void Test()
{
    new Thread(new ThreadStart(Start)).Start();
}

If you want to pass data to the thread, you need to encapsulate your data into a single object, whether that is a custom class of your own design, or a dictionary object or something else. You then need to use the ParameterizedThreadStart delegate, like so:

void Start(object data)
{
    MyClass myData = (MyClass)myData;
    // do stuff
}

void Test(MyClass data)
{
    new Thread(new ParameterizedThreadStart(Start)).Start(data);
}

Answer 5

public class ThreadParameter
        {
            public int Port { get; set; }
            public string Path { get; set; }
        }


Thread t = new Thread(new ParameterizedThreadStart(Startup));
t.Start(new ThreadParameter() { Port = port, Path = path});

Create an object with the port and path objects and pass it to the Startup method.