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Observable.Buffer<TSource> Method (IObservable<TSource>, TimeSpan, TimeSpan, IScheduler)

Indicates each element of an observable sequence into zero or more buffers which are produced based on timing information.

Namespace:  System.Reactive.Linq
Assembly:  System.Reactive (in System.Reactive.dll)

Syntax

'Declaration
<ExtensionAttribute> _
Public Shared Function Buffer(Of TSource) ( _
    source As IObservable(Of TSource), _
    timeSpan As TimeSpan, _
    timeShift As TimeSpan, _
    scheduler As IScheduler _
) As IObservable(Of IList(Of TSource))
'Usage
Dim source As IObservable(Of TSource)
Dim timeSpan As TimeSpan
Dim timeShift As TimeSpan
Dim scheduler As IScheduler
Dim returnValue As IObservable(Of IList(Of TSource))

returnValue = source.Buffer(timeSpan, _
    timeShift, scheduler)
public static IObservable<IList<TSource>> Buffer<TSource>(
    this IObservable<TSource> source,
    TimeSpan timeSpan,
    TimeSpan timeShift,
    IScheduler scheduler
)
[ExtensionAttribute]
public:
generic<typename TSource>
static IObservable<IList<TSource>^>^ Buffer(
    IObservable<TSource>^ source, 
    TimeSpan timeSpan, 
    TimeSpan timeShift, 
    IScheduler^ scheduler
)
static member Buffer : 
        source:IObservable<'TSource> * 
        timeSpan:TimeSpan * 
        timeShift:TimeSpan * 
        scheduler:IScheduler -> IObservable<IList<'TSource>> 
JScript does not support generic types and methods.

Type Parameters

  • TSource
    The type of source.

Parameters

  • timeShift
    Type: System.TimeSpan
    The interval between creation of consecutive buffers.

Return Value

Type: System.IObservable<IList<TSource>>
The buffered observable sequence.

Usage Note

In Visual Basic and C#, you can call this method as an instance method on any object of type IObservable<TSource>. When you use instance method syntax to call this method, omit the first parameter. For more information, see or .

Remarks

This operator creates a buffer that will hold all items that occur during the duration of the timeSpan parameter. This allows an application to buffer items to be delivered in batches. The timeShift parameter indicates how often subscription handlers should be executed for the items in the buffer which results in pushing the items to the subscribers. The scheduler parameter controls which thread the timers for the buffer will be created on.

Examples

The example code generates an endless sequence of emails from an IEnumerable that randomly yields an email within three seconds. The emails are timestamped using the IObservable.TimeStamp operator. Then they are buffered into a buffer that holds all emails that occur within a ten second time span. A subscription to the buffered sequence is created. Finally, each group of emails is then written to the console window along with the corresponding timestamp generated for the email.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Threading;
using System.Reactive.Linq;
using System.Reactive;

namespace Example
{

  class Program
  {
    static void Main()
    {
      //************************************************************************************************************************//
      //*** By generating an observable sequence from the enumerator, we can use Rx to push the emails to an email buffer    ***//
      //*** and have the buffer dumped at an interval we choose. This simulates how often email is checked for new messages. ***//
      //************************************************************************************************************************//
      IObservable<string> myInbox = EndlessBarrageOfEmails().ToObservable();


      //************************************************************************************************************************//
      //*** We can use the Timestamp operator to additionally timestamp each email in the sequence when it is received.      ***//
      //************************************************************************************************************************//
      IObservable<Timestamped<string>> myInboxTimestamped = myInbox.Timestamp();


      //******************************************************************************************************************************//
      //*** The timer controls the frequency of emails delivered from the email buffer. This timer will be on another thread since ***//
      //*** the main thread will be blocked waiting on a key press.                                                                ***//
      //******************************************************************************************************************************//
      System.Reactive.Concurrency.IScheduler scheduleOnNewThread = System.Reactive.Concurrency.Scheduler.NewThread;


      //***************************************************************************************************************************//
      //*** Create a buffer with Rx that will hold all emails received within 10 secs and execute subscription handlers for the ***//
      //*** buffer every 10 secs.                                                                                               ***//
      //*** Schedule the timers associated with emptying the buffer to be created on the new thread.                            ***//
      //***************************************************************************************************************************//
      IObservable<IList<Timestamped<string>>> newMail = myInboxTimestamped.Buffer(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(10), TimeSpan.FromSeconds(10), 
                                                                                  scheduleOnNewThread);


      //******************************************************//
      //*** Activate the subscription on a separate thread ***//
      //******************************************************//
      IDisposable handle = newMail.SubscribeOn(scheduleOnNewThread).Subscribe(emailList =>
      {
        Console.WriteLine("\nYou've got mail!  {0} messages.\n", emailList.Count);
        foreach (Timestamped<string> email in emailList)
        {
          Console.WriteLine("Message   : {0}\nTimestamp : {1}\n", email.Value, email.Timestamp.ToString());
        }
      });

      Console.ReadLine();
      handle.Dispose();
    }



    //*********************************************************************************************//
    //***                                                                                       ***//
    //*** This method will continually yield a random email at a random interval within 3 sec.  ***//
    //***                                                                                       ***//
    //*********************************************************************************************//
    static IEnumerable<string> EndlessBarrageOfEmails()
    {
      Random random = new Random();

      //***************************************************************//
      //*** For this example we are using this fixed list of emails ***//
      //***************************************************************//
      List<string> emails = new List<string> { "Email Msg from John ", 
                                               "Email Msg from Bill ", 
                                               "Email Msg from Marcy ", 
                                               "Email Msg from Wes "};

      //***********************************************************************************//
      //*** Yield an email from the list continually at a random interval within 3 sec. ***//
      //***********************************************************************************//
      while (true)
      {
        yield return emails[random.Next(emails.Count)];
        Thread.Sleep(random.Next(3000));
      }
    }
  }
}

Here is example output from the example code.

You've got mail!  6 messages.

Message   : Email Msg from John
Timestamp : 5/16/2011 3:45:09 PM -04:00

Message   : Email Msg from Wes
Timestamp : 5/16/2011 3:45:12 PM -04:00

Message   : Email Msg from Marcy
Timestamp : 5/16/2011 3:45:13 PM -04:00

Message   : Email Msg from Bill
Timestamp : 5/16/2011 3:45:13 PM -04:00

Message   : Email Msg from Marcy
Timestamp : 5/16/2011 3:45:13 PM -04:00

Message   : Email Msg from Marcy
Timestamp : 5/16/2011 3:45:15 PM -04:00


You've got mail!  7 messages.

Message   : Email Msg from Marcy
Timestamp : 5/16/2011 3:45:17 PM -04:00

Message   : Email Msg from Bill
Timestamp : 5/16/2011 3:45:18 PM -04:00

Message   : Email Msg from Wes
Timestamp : 5/16/2011 3:45:19 PM -04:00

Message   : Email Msg from Bill
Timestamp : 5/16/2011 3:45:21 PM -04:00

Message   : Email Msg from Bill
Timestamp : 5/16/2011 3:45:24 PM -04:00

Message   : Email Msg from Bill
Timestamp : 5/16/2011 3:45:26 PM -04:00

Message   : Email Msg from Marcy
Timestamp : 5/16/2011 3:45:26 PM -04:00

See Also

Reference

Observable Class

Buffer Overload

System.Reactive.Linq Namespace