c# - Is there default way to get first task that finished successfully?

Question

Lets say that i have a couple of tasks:

void Sample(IEnumerable<int> someInts)
{
    var taskList = someInts.Select(x => DownloadSomeString(x));
}

async Task<string> DownloadSomeString(int x) {...}

I want to to get the result of first successful task. So, the basic solution is to write something like:

var taskList = someInts.Select(x => DownloadSomeString(x));
string content = string.Empty;
Task<string> firstOne = null;
while (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(content)){
    try
    {
        firstOne = await Task.WhenAny(taskList);
        if (firstOne.Status != TaskStatus.RanToCompletion)
        {
            taskList = taskList.Where(x => x != firstOne);
            continue;
        }
        content = await firstOne;
    }
    catch(...){taskList = taskList.Where(x => x != firstOne);}
}

But this solution seems to run N+(N-1)+..+K tasks. Where N is someInts.Count and K is position of first successful task in tasks, so as it's rerunning all task except one that is captured by WhenAny. So, is there any way to get first task that finished successfully with running maximum of N tasks? (if successful task will be the last one)

Answer 1

All you need to do is create a TaskCompletionSource, add a continuation to each of your tasks, and set it when the first one finished successfully:

public static Task<T> FirstSuccessfulTask<T>(IEnumerable<Task<T>> tasks)
{
    var taskList = tasks.ToList();
    var tcs = new TaskCompletionSource<T>();
    int remainingTasks = taskList.Count;
    foreach (var task in taskList)
    {
        task.ContinueWith(t =>
            {
                if (task.Status == TaskStatus.RanToCompletion)
                    tcs.TrySetResult(t.Result);
                else
                if (Interlocked.Decrement(ref remainingTasks) == 0)
                    tcs.SetException(new AggregateException(tasks.SelectMany(t1 => t1.Exception.InnerExceptions)));
            });
    }
    return tcs.Task;
}

And a version for tasks without a result:

public static Task FirstSuccessfulTask(IEnumerable<Task> tasks)
{
    var taskList = tasks.ToList();

    var tcs = new TaskCompletionSource<bool>();

    int remainingTasks = taskList.Count;

    foreach (var task in taskList)
    {
        task.ContinueWith(t =>
        {
            if (task.Status == TaskStatus.RanToCompletion)
                tcs.TrySetResult(true);
            else
                if (Interlocked.Decrement(ref remainingTasks) == 0)
                tcs.SetException(new AggregateException(
                    tasks.SelectMany(t1 => t1.Exception.InnerExceptions)));
        });
    }

    return tcs.Task;
}