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How to: Raise and Consume Events

.NET Framework 4.5

The examples in this topic show how to work with events. They include examples of the EventHandler delegate, the EventHandler(Of TEventArgs) delegate, and a custom delegate, to illustrate events with and without data.

The examples use concepts described in the Handling and Raising Events article.

Example

The first example shows how to raise and consume an event that doesn't have data. It contains a class named Counter that has an event named ThresholdReached. This event is raised when a counter value equals or exceeds a threshold value. The EventHandler delegate is associated with the event, because no event data is provided.

Module Module1

    Sub Main()
        Dim c As Counter = New Counter(New Random().Next(10))
        AddHandler c.ThresholdReached, AddressOf c_ThresholdReached

        Console.WriteLine("press 'a' key to increase total")
        While Console.ReadKey(True).KeyChar = "a"
            Console.WriteLine("adding one")
            c.Add(1)
        End While 
    End Sub 

    Sub c_ThresholdReached(sender As Object, e As EventArgs)
        Console.WriteLine("The threshold was reached.")
        Environment.Exit(0)
    End Sub 
End Module 

Class Counter
    Private threshold As Integer 
    Private total As Integer 

    Public Sub New(passedThreshold As Integer)
        threshold = passedThreshold
    End Sub 

    Public Sub Add(x As Integer)
        total = total + x
        If (total >= threshold) Then
            OnThresholdReached(EventArgs.Empty)
        End If 
    End Sub 

    Protected Overridable Sub OnThresholdReached(e As EventArgs)
        RaiseEvent ThresholdReached(Me, e)
    End Sub 

    Public Event ThresholdReached As EventHandler
End Class

The next example shows how to raise and consume an event that provides data. The EventHandler(Of TEventArgs) delegate is associated with the event, and an instance of a custom event data object is provided.

Module Module1

    Sub Main()
        Dim c As Counter = New Counter(New Random().Next(10))
        AddHandler c.ThresholdReached, AddressOf c_ThresholdReached

        Console.WriteLine("press 'a' key to increase total")
        While Console.ReadKey(True).KeyChar = "a"
            Console.WriteLine("adding one")
            c.Add(1)
        End While 
    End Sub 

    Sub c_ThresholdReached(sender As Object, e As ThresholdReachedEventArgs)
        Console.WriteLine("The threshold of {0} was reached at {1}.", e.Threshold, e.TimeReached)
        Environment.Exit(0)
    End Sub 
End Module 

Class Counter
    Private threshold As Integer 
    Private total As Integer 

    Public Sub New(passedThreshold As Integer)
        threshold = passedThreshold
    End Sub 

    Public Sub Add(x As Integer)
        total = total + x
        If (total >= threshold) Then 
            Dim args As ThresholdReachedEventArgs = New ThresholdReachedEventArgs()
            args.Threshold = threshold
            args.TimeReached = DateTime.Now
            OnThresholdReached(args)
        End If 
    End Sub 

    Protected Overridable Sub OnThresholdReached(e As ThresholdReachedEventArgs)
        RaiseEvent ThresholdReached(Me, e)
    End Sub 

    Public Event ThresholdReached As EventHandler(Of ThresholdReachedEventArgs)
End Class 

Class ThresholdReachedEventArgs
    Inherits EventArgs

    Public Property Threshold As Integer 
    Public Property TimeReached As DateTime
End Class

The next example shows how to declare a delegate for an event. The delegate is named ThresholdReachedEventHandler. This is just an illustration. Typically, you do not have to declare a delegate for an event, because you can use either the EventHandler or the EventHandler(Of TEventArgs) delegate. You should declare a delegate only in rare scenarios, such as making your class available to legacy code that cannot use generics.

Module Module1

    Sub Main()
        Dim c As Counter = New Counter(New Random().Next(10))
        AddHandler c.ThresholdReached, AddressOf c_ThresholdReached

        Console.WriteLine("press 'a' key to increase total")
        While Console.ReadKey(True).KeyChar = "a"
            Console.WriteLine("adding one")
            c.Add(1)
        End While 
    End Sub 

    Sub c_ThresholdReached(sender As Object, e As ThresholdReachedEventArgs)
        Console.WriteLine("The threshold of {0} was reached at {1}.", e.Threshold, e.TimeReached)
        Environment.Exit(0)
    End Sub 
End Module 

Class Counter
    Private threshold As Integer 
    Private total As Integer 

    Public Sub New(passedThreshold As Integer)
        threshold = passedThreshold
    End Sub 

    Public Sub Add(x As Integer)
        total = total + x
        If (total >= threshold) Then 
            Dim args As ThresholdReachedEventArgs = New ThresholdReachedEventArgs()
            args.Threshold = threshold
            args.TimeReached = DateTime.Now
            OnThresholdReached(args)
        End If 
    End Sub 

    Protected Overridable Sub OnThresholdReached(e As ThresholdReachedEventArgs)
        RaiseEvent ThresholdReached(Me, e)
    End Sub 

    Public Event ThresholdReached As ThresholdReachedEventHandler
End Class 

Public Class ThresholdReachedEventArgs
    Inherits EventArgs

    Public Property Threshold As Integer 
    Public Property TimeReached As DateTime
End Class 

Public Delegate Sub ThresholdReachedEventHandler(sender As Object, e As ThresholdReachedEventArgs)

Other Resources

Handling and Raising Events

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