.NET Patterns: Architecture, Design, and Process

Pollable Thread Manager

Intent

Provide a framework for an initiating a long-running operation and periodically checking the completion status.

Problem

Although the Notifying Thread Manager provides a simple structure for calling an operation asynchronously, it assumes an event-driven application that does not have any sequential processing requirements.

In servicing a Web request, either for a service or a page, the developer does not typically have the ability to trigger notifications back to the client to indicate completion of the operation except for the actual response to the request. Once the request is complete, the operation needs to be complete.

Although it seems like extra overhead to make an operation an asynchronous fashion, there ...