How to: Execute Asynchronous Data Service Queries (WCF Data Services)

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Important

WCF Data Services has been deprecated and will no longer be available for download from the Microsoft Download Center. WCF Data Services supported earlier versions of the Microsoft OData (V1-V3) protocol only and has not been under active development. OData V1-V3 has been superseded by OData V4, which is an industry standard published by OASIS and ratified by ISO. OData V4 is supported through the OData V4 compliant core libraries available at Microsoft.OData.Core. Support documentation is available at OData.Net, and the OData V4 service libraries are available at Microsoft.AspNetCore.OData.

RESTier is the successor to WCF Data Services. RESTier helps you bootstrap a standardized, queryable, HTTP-based REST interface in minutes. Like WCF Data Services before it, Restier provides simple and straightforward ways to shape queries and intercept submissions before and after they hit the database. And like Web API + OData, you still have the flexibility to add your own custom queries and actions with techniques you're already familiar with.

By using the WCF Data Services client library, you can asynchronously perform client-server operations, such as executing queries and saving changes. For more information, see Asynchronous Operations.

Note

In an application where the callback must be invoked on a specific thread, you must explicitly marshal the execution of the EndExecute method. For more information, see Asynchronous Operations.

The example in this topic uses the Northwind sample data service and autogenerated client data service classes. This service and the client data classes are created when you complete the WCF Data Services quickstart.

Example

The following example shows how to execute an asynchronous query by calling the BeginExecute method to start the query. The inline delegate calls the EndExecute method to display the query results.

public static void BeginExecuteCustomersQuery()
{
    // Create the DataServiceContext using the service URI.
    NorthwindEntities context = new NorthwindEntities(svcUri);

    // Define the query to execute asynchronously that returns
    // all customers with their respective orders.
    DataServiceQuery<Customer> query = (DataServiceQuery<Customer>)(from cust in context.Customers.Expand("Orders")
                                       where cust.CustomerID == "ALFKI"
                                       select cust);

    try
    {
        // Begin query execution, supplying a method to handle the response
        // and the original query object to maintain state in the callback.
        query.BeginExecute(OnCustomersQueryComplete, query);
    }
    catch (DataServiceQueryException ex)
    {
        throw new ApplicationException(
            "An error occurred during query execution.", ex);
    }
}

// Handle the query callback.
private static void OnCustomersQueryComplete(IAsyncResult result)
{
    // Get the original query from the result.
    DataServiceQuery<Customer> query =
        result as DataServiceQuery<Customer>;

    foreach (Customer customer in query.EndExecute(result))
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Customer Name: {0}", customer.CompanyName);
        foreach (Order order in customer.Orders)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Order #: {0} - Freight $: {1}",
                order.OrderID, order.Freight);
        }
    }
}

Public Shared Sub BeginExecuteCustomersQuery()
    ' Create the DataServiceContext using the service URI.
    Dim context = New NorthwindEntities(svcUri)

    ' Define the delegate to callback into the process
    Dim callback As AsyncCallback = AddressOf OnCustomersQueryComplete

    ' Define the query to execute asynchronously that returns 
    ' all customers with their respective orders.
    Dim query As DataServiceQuery(Of Customer) = _
    context.Customers.Expand("Orders")

    Try
        ' Begin query execution, supplying a method to handle the response
        ' and the original query object to maintain state in the callback.
        query.BeginExecute(callback, query)
    Catch ex As DataServiceQueryException
        Throw New ApplicationException( _
                "An error occurred during query execution.", ex)
    End Try
End Sub
' Handle the query callback.
Private Shared Sub OnCustomersQueryComplete(ByVal result As IAsyncResult)
    ' Get the original query from the result.
    Dim query As DataServiceQuery(Of Customer) = _
        CType(result.AsyncState, DataServiceQuery(Of Customer))

    ' Complete the query execution.
    For Each customer As Customer In query.EndExecute(result)
        Console.WriteLine("Customer Name: {0}", customer.CompanyName)
        For Each order As Order In customer.Orders
            Console.WriteLine("Order #: {0} - Freight $: {1}", _
                    order.OrderID, order.Freight)
        Next
    Next
End Sub

See also