1 out of 1 rated this helpful - Rate this topic

Interlocked.Decrement Method (Int32)

Decrements a specified variable and stores the result, as an atomic operation.

Namespace:  System.Threading
Assembly:  mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)
public static int Decrement(
	ref int location
)

Parameters

location
Type: System.Int32

The variable whose value is to be decremented.

Return Value

Type: System.Int32
The decremented value.
ExceptionCondition
ArgumentNullException

The address of location is a null pointer.

This method handles an overflow condition by wrapping: If location = Int32.MinValue, location - 1 = Int32.MaxValue. No exception is thrown.

The following code example shows a thread-safe way to increment and decrement an integer value. SafeInstanceCount will always be zero. However, UnsafeInstanceCount will not necessarily be zero because a race condition occurs between incrementing and decrementing the count. This effect is especially marked on a multiprocessor computer.

NoteNote

The C++ example does not follow the IDisposable.Dispose pattern. (See Destructors and Finalizers in Visual C++.) The finalizer is used to decrement the counters, so that garbage collection causes decrementing.

using System;
using System.Threading;

class Test
{
    static void Main()
    {
        Thread thread1 = new Thread(new ThreadStart(ThreadMethod));
        Thread thread2 = new Thread(new ThreadStart(ThreadMethod));
        thread1.Start();
        thread2.Start();
        thread1.Join();
        thread2.Join();

        // Have the garbage collector run the finalizer for each 
        // instance of CountClass and wait for it to finish.
        GC.Collect();
        GC.WaitForPendingFinalizers();

        Console.WriteLine("UnsafeInstanceCount: {0}" +
            "\nSafeCountInstances: {1}",
            CountClass.UnsafeInstanceCount.ToString(),
            CountClass.SafeInstanceCount.ToString());
    }

    static void ThreadMethod()
    {
        CountClass cClass;

        // Create 100,000 instances of CountClass. 
        for(int i = 0; i < 100000; i++)
        {
            cClass = new CountClass();
        }
    }
}

class CountClass
{
    static int unsafeInstanceCount = 0;
    static int   safeInstanceCount = 0;

    static public int UnsafeInstanceCount
    {
        get {return unsafeInstanceCount;}
    }

    static public int SafeInstanceCount
    {
        get {return safeInstanceCount;}
    }

    public CountClass()
    {
        unsafeInstanceCount++;
        Interlocked.Increment(ref safeInstanceCount);
    }

    ~CountClass()
    {
        unsafeInstanceCount--;
        Interlocked.Decrement(ref safeInstanceCount);
    }
}

.NET Framework

Supported in: 4.5, 4, 3.5, 3.0, 2.0, 1.1, 1.0

.NET Framework Client Profile

Supported in: 4, 3.5 SP1

Portable Class Library

Supported in: Portable Class Library

.NET for Windows Store apps

Supported in: Windows 8

Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, Windows 7, Windows Vista SP2, Windows Server 2008 (Server Core Role not supported), Windows Server 2008 R2 (Server Core Role supported with SP1 or later; Itanium not supported)

The .NET Framework does not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.

Did you find this helpful?
(1500 characters remaining)
© 2013 Microsoft. All rights reserved.