Welcome To ActorSrcGen

ActorSrcGen is a C# Source Generator that converts simple C# classes into TPL Dataflow-compatible pipelines. It simplifies working with TPL Dataflow by generating boilerplate code to handle errors without interrupting the pipeline, ideal for long-lived processes with ingesters that continually pump messages into the pipeline.

Getting Started

1. Install the package:

   dotnet add package ActorSrcGen

2. Declare the pipeline class:

   [Actor]
   public partial class MyPipeline
   {
   }

   The class must be partial to allow the source generator to add boilerplate code.

   If you are using Visual Studio, you can see the generated part of the code under the ActorSrcGen analyzer:

   

3. Create ingester functions:

   [Ingest(1)]
   [NextStep(nameof(DoSomethingWithRequest))]
   public async Task<string> ReceivePollRequest(CancellationToken cancellationToken)
   {
       return await GetTheNextRequest();
   }

   Ingesters define a Priority and are visited in priority order. If no messages are available, the pipeline sleeps for a second before retrying.

4. Implement pipeline steps:

   [FirstStep("decode incoming poll request")]
   [NextStep(nameof(ActOnTheRequest))]
   public PollRequest DecodeRequest(string json)
   {
       Console.WriteLine(nameof(DecodeRequest));
       var pollRequest = JsonSerializer.Deserialize<PollRequest>(json);
       return pollRequest;
   }

   The first step controls the pipeline's interface. Implement additional steps as needed, ensuring input and output types match.

5. Now implement other steps are needed in the pipeline. The outputs and input types of successive steps need to match.

   [Step]
   [NextStep(nameof(DeliverResults))]
   public PollResults ActOnTheRequest(PollRequest req)
   {
       Console.WriteLine(nameof(ActOnTheRequest));
       var result = SomeApiClient.GetTheResults(req.Id);
       return result;
   }

6. Define the last step:

   [LastStep]
   public bool DeliverResults(PollResults res)
   {
       return myQueue.TryPush(res);
   }

7. Generated code example:

   using System.Threading.Tasks.Dataflow;
   using Gridsum.DataflowEx;
   
   public partial class MyActor : Dataflow<string, bool>, IActor< string >
   {
   
       public MyActor(DataflowOptions dataflowOptions = null) : base(DataflowOptions.Default)
       {
           _DeliverResults = new TransformBlock<PollResults,bool>(         (PollResults x) => {
               try
               {
                   return DeliverResults(x);
               }
               catch
               {
                   return default;
               }
           },
               new ExecutionDataflowBlockOptions() {
                   BoundedCapacity = 1,
                   MaxDegreeOfParallelism = 1
           });
           RegisterChild(_DeliverResults);
   
           _ActOnTheRequest = new TransformBlock<PollRequest,PollResults>(         (PollRequest x) => {
               try
               {
                   return ActOnTheRequest(x);
               }
               catch
               {
                   return default;
               }
           },
               new ExecutionDataflowBlockOptions() {
                   BoundedCapacity = 1,
                   MaxDegreeOfParallelism = 1
           });
           RegisterChild(_ActOnTheRequest);
   
           _DecodeRequest = new TransformBlock<string,PollRequest>(         (string x) => {
               try
               {
                   return DecodeRequest(x);
               }
               catch
               {
                   return default;
               }
           },
               new ExecutionDataflowBlockOptions() {
                   BoundedCapacity = 1,
                   MaxDegreeOfParallelism = 1
           });
           RegisterChild(_DecodeRequest);
   
           _ActOnTheRequest.LinkTo(_DeliverResults, new DataflowLinkOptions { PropagateCompletion = true });
           _DecodeRequest.LinkTo(_ActOnTheRequest, new DataflowLinkOptions { PropagateCompletion = true });
           }
   
           TransformBlock<PollResults,bool> _DeliverResults;
           TransformBlock<PollRequest,PollResults> _ActOnTheRequest;
           TransformBlock<string,PollRequest> _DecodeRequest;
           public override ITargetBlock<string > InputBlock { get => _DecodeRequest ; }
           public override ISourceBlock< bool > OutputBlock { get => _DeliverResults; }
           public bool Call(string input) => InputBlock.Post(input);
           public async Task<bool> Cast(string input) => await InputBlock.SendAsync(input);
   
           public async Task<bool> AcceptAsync(CancellationToken cancellationToken)
           {
               try
               {
                   var result = await _DeliverResults.ReceiveAsync(cancellationToken);
                   return result;
               }
               catch (OperationCanceledException operationCanceledException)
               {
                   return await Task.FromCanceled<bool>(cancellationToken);
               }
           }
   
         public async Task Ingest(CancellationToken ct)
         {
           // start the message pump
           while (!ct.IsCancellationRequested)
           {
             var foundSomething = false;
             try
             {
               // cycle through ingesters IN PRIORITY ORDER.
               {
                   var msg = await ReceivePollRequest(ct);
                   if (msg != null)
                   {
                       Call(msg);
                       foundSomething = true;
                       // then jump back to the start of the pump
                       continue;
                   }
               }
   
               if (!foundSomething) 
                   await Task.Delay(1000, ct);
             }
             catch (TaskCanceledException)
             {
               // if nothing was found on any of the receivers, then sleep for a while.
               continue;
             }
             catch (Exception e)
             {
               // _logger.LogError(e, "Exception suppressed");
             }
           }
         }
       }

8. Using the pipeline:

   var actor = new MyActor(); // this is your pipeline
   
   try
   {
       // call into the pipeline synchronously
       if (actor.Call("""
                      { "something": "here" }
                      """))
           Console.WriteLine("Called Synchronously");
   
       // stop the pipeline after 10 secs
       var cts = new CancellationTokenSource(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(10));
   
       // kick off an endless process to keep ingesting input into the pipeline
       var t = Task.Run(async () => await actor.Ingest(cts.Token), cts.Token);
   
       // consume results from the last step via the AcceptAsync method
       while (!cts.Token.IsCancellationRequested)
       {
           var result = await actor.AcceptAsync(cts.Token);
           Console.WriteLine($"Result: {result}");
       }
   
       await t; // cancel the message pump task
       await actor.SignalAndWaitForCompletionAsync(); // wait for all pipeline tasks to complete
   }
   catch (OperationCanceledException _)
   {
       Console.WriteLine("All Done!");
   }

Benefits

• Simplifies TPL Dataflow usage: Automatically generates boilerplate code.
• Concurrency: Efficient use of multiple CPU cores.
• Fault tolerance: Errors in pipeline steps are trapped and handled.
• Encapsulation: Easier to reason about and test code.

Acknowledgements

Built on DataflowEx and Bnaya.SourceGenerator.Template.