Correct way to delay the start of a Task

I want to schedule a task to start in x ms and be able to cancel it before it starts (or just at the beginning of the task).

The first attempt would be something like

var _cancelationTokenSource = new CancellationTokenSource();

var token = _cancelationTokenSource.Token;
Task.Factory.StartNew(() =>
    {
        token.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
        Thread.Sleep(100);
        token.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
    }).ContinueWith(t =>
    {
        token.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
        DoWork();
        token.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
    }, token);

But I feel like there should be a better way, as this would use up a thread while in the sleep, during which it could be canceled.

What are my other options?

Like Damien_The_Unbeliever mentioned, the Async CTP includes Task.Delay. Fortunately, we have Reflector:

public static class TaskEx
{
    static readonly Task _sPreCompletedTask = GetCompletedTask();
    static readonly Task _sPreCanceledTask = GetPreCanceledTask();

    public static Task Delay(int dueTimeMs, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
    {
        if (dueTimeMs < -1)
            throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException("dueTimeMs", "Invalid due time");
        if (cancellationToken.IsCancellationRequested)
            return _sPreCanceledTask;
        if (dueTimeMs == 0)
            return _sPreCompletedTask;

        var tcs = new TaskCompletionSource<object>();
        var ctr = new CancellationTokenRegistration();
        var timer = new Timer(delegate(object self)
        {
            ctr.Dispose();
            ((Timer)self).Dispose();
            tcs.TrySetResult(null);
        });
        if (cancellationToken.CanBeCanceled)
            ctr = cancellationToken.Register(delegate
                                                 {
                                                     timer.Dispose();
                                                     tcs.TrySetCanceled();
                                                 });

        timer.Change(dueTimeMs, -1);
        return tcs.Task;
    }

    private static Task GetPreCanceledTask()
    {
        var source = new TaskCompletionSource<object>();
        source.TrySetCanceled();
        return source.Task;
    }

    private static Task GetCompletedTask()
    {
        var source = new TaskCompletionSource<object>();
        source.TrySetResult(null);
        return source.Task;
    }
}

Since .NET 4.5 has now been released, there's a very simple built-in way to delay a task: just use Task.Delay(). behind the scenes, it uses the implementation that ohadsc decompiled.

The correct answer in the future will probably be Task.Delay. However, that's currently only available through the Async CTP (and in the CTP, it's on TaskEx rather than Task).

Unfortunately, because it's only in CTP, there aren't many good links to documentation for it either.

Look at the TaskFactoryExtensions_Delayed in "Parallel Programming with .NET 4 Samples".

I haven't tested this, but here is a first-pass at wrapper methods to create an initial 'Delay' Task or to continue after a Delay. If you find issues, feel free to correct.

    public static Task StartDelayTask(int delay, CancellationToken token)
    {
        var source = new TaskCompletionSource<Object>();
        Timer timer = null;
        
        timer = new Timer(s =>
        {
            source.TrySetResult(null);
            timer.Dispose();
        }, null, delay, -1);
        token.Register(() => source.TrySetCanceled());

        return source.Task;
    }

    public static Task ContinueAfterDelay
      (this Task task, 
           int delay, Action<Task> continuation, 
           CancellationToken token)
    {
        var source = new TaskCompletionSource<Object>();
        Timer timer = null;

        var startTimer = new Action<Task>(t =>
        {
            timer = new Timer(s =>
            {
                source.TrySetResult(null);
                timer.Dispose();
            },null,delay,-1);
        });

        task.ContinueWith
          (startTimer, 
           token, 
           TaskContinuationOptions.OnlyOnRanToCompletion, 
           TaskScheduler.Current);
        token.Register(() => source.TrySetCanceled());
        return source.Task.ContinueWith(continuation, token);
    }

You can use Token.WaitHandle.WaitOne(int32 milliseconds) overload method to specify number of milliseconds to wait for your task. But key difference between Thread.Sleep(xxx) and Token.WaitHandle.WaitOne(xxx) that later blocks thread until the time specified elapsed or the token has been canceled.

Here is an example

void Main()
{
	var tokenSource = new CancellationTokenSource();
	var token = tokenSource.Token;

	var task = Task.Factory.StartNew(() =>
	{
        // wait for 5 seconds or user hit Enter key cancel the task
		token.WaitHandle.WaitOne(5000);
		token.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
		Console.WriteLine("Task started its work");
	});
	
	Console.WriteLine("Press 'Enter' key to cancel your task");
	
	Console.Read();
	
	tokenSource.Cancel();
}