EnterWriteLock

[Gopher2011]

I'm struggling to understand why I need EnterWriteLock.

Does anyone have any one line replies

 

[jmcilhinney]

The point of a ReadWriterLock is to allow access to a resource by multiple readers simultaneously but only one writer at a time. That's because writing to the resource can cause unexpected results if another reader or writer is active. Calling EnterWriterLock will make the current thread wait until any current readers or writers are finished and prevents any new readers or writers starting.

 

[Gopher2011]

Thanks. That's great - I appreciate the response. I found lots of code examples but none explained as clear or concisely as to 'why' like your comment.

 

[JohnH]

The class that method belongs to ReaderWriterLockSlim Class (System.Threading) explains it like this:

Represents a lock that is used to manage access to a resource, allowing multiple threads for reading or exclusive access for writing.

Help topics for each class member has further explainations, for example the short description for EnterWriteLock is:

Tries to enter the lock in write mode.

The help topic for that method also has more explanations in the Remarks section.