Alex Rivera | Logout

Why must someone be subscribed for an event to occur?

Asked 2008-10-16T16:56:26.307
12

Some text before the code so that the question summary isn't mangled.

class Tree
{
    public event EventHandler MadeSound;

    public void Fall() { MadeSound(this, new EventArgs()); }

    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        Tree oaky = new Tree();
        oaky.Fall();
    }
}

I haven't used events much in C#, but the fact that this would cause a NullRefEx seems weird. The EventHandler reference is considered null because it currently has no subsribers - but that doesn't mean that the event hasn't occurred, does it?

EventHandlers are differentiated from standard delegates by the event keyword. Why didn't the language designers set them up to fire silently in to the void when they have no subscribers? (I gather you can do this manually by explicitly adding an empty delegate).

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2 Answers

6

Well, the canonical form is:

void OnMadeSound()
{
    if (MadeSound != null)
    {
        MadeSound(this, new EventArgs());
    }
}

public void Fall() {  OnMadeSound(); }

which is very slightly faster that calling an empty delegate, so speed won out over programming convenience.

answered 2008-10-16T17:01:04.240
2

What is the point of raising an event if no one is listening? Technically, its just how C# chose to implement it.

In C#, an event is a delegate with some special feathers. A delegate in this case can be viewed as a linked list of function pointers (to handler methods of subscribers). When you 'fire the event' each function pointer is invoked in turn. Initially the delegate is a null object like anything else. When you do a += for the first subscribe action, Delegate.Combine is called which instantiates the list. (Calling null.Invoke() throws the null exception - when the event is fired.)

If you still feel that "it must not be", use a helper class EventsHelper as mentioned here with old and improved 'defensive event publishing' http://weblogs.asp.net/rosherove/articles/DefensiveEventPublishing.aspx

answered 2008-10-16T17:07:20.480

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