Advanced - Change tokens

In this article

IChangeToken interface

• ActiveChangeCallbacks indicate if the token proactively raises callbacks. If ActiveChangedCallbacks is set to false, a callback is never called, and the app must poll HasChanged for changes. It's also possible for a token to never be cancelled if no changes occur or the underlying change listener is disposed or disabled.

• HasChanged receives a value that indicates if a change has occurred.

ChangeToken class

• Func<IChangeToken> produces the token.

• Action is called when the token changes.

Example uses of change tokens in ASP.NET Core

• For monitoring changes to files, IFileProvider's Watch method creates an IChangeToken for the specified files or folder to watch.

• IChangeToken tokens can be added to cache entries to trigger cache evictions on change.

• For TOptions changes, the default OptionsMonitor<TOptions> implementation of IOptionsMonitor<TOptions> has an overload that accepts one or more IOptionsChangeTokenSource<TOptions> instances. Each instance returns an IChangeToken to register a change notification callback for tracking options changes.

Monitor for configuration changes

config.AddJsonFile("appsettings.json", optional: true, reloadOnChange: true)
      .AddJsonFile($"appsettings.{env.EnvironmentName}.json", optional: true, 
          reloadOnChange: true);

public static byte[] ComputeHash(string filePath)
{
    var runCount = 1;

    while(runCount < 4)
    {
        try
        {
            if (File.Exists(filePath))
            {
                using (var fs = File.OpenRead(filePath))
                {
                    return System.Security.Cryptography.SHA1
                        .Create().ComputeHash(fs);
                }
            }
            else 
            {
                throw new FileNotFoundException();
            }
        }
        catch (IOException ex)
        {
            if (runCount == 3)
            {
                throw;
            }

            Thread.Sleep(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(Math.Pow(2, runCount)));
            runCount++;
        }
    }

    return new byte[20];
}

Simple startup change token

ChangeToken.OnChange(
    () => config.GetReloadToken(),
    (state) => InvokeChanged(state),
    env);

private void InvokeChanged(IWebHostEnvironment env)
{
    byte[] appsettingsHash = ComputeHash("appSettings.json");
    byte[] appsettingsEnvHash = 
        ComputeHash($"appSettings.{env.EnvironmentName}.json");

    if (!_appsettingsHash.SequenceEqual(appsettingsHash) || 
        !_appsettingsEnvHash.SequenceEqual(appsettingsEnvHash))
    {
        _appsettingsHash = appsettingsHash;
        _appsettingsEnvHash = appsettingsEnvHash;

        WriteConsole("Configuration changed (Simple Startup Change Token)");
    }
}

Monitor configuration changes as a service

• Basic startup token monitoring.

• Monitoring as a service.

• A mechanism to enable and disable monitoring.

public interface IConfigurationMonitor
{
    bool MonitoringEnabled { get; set; }
    string CurrentState { get; set; }
}

public ConfigurationMonitor(IConfiguration config, IWebHostEnvironment env)
{
    _env = env;

    ChangeToken.OnChange<IConfigurationMonitor>(
        () => config.GetReloadToken(),
        InvokeChanged,
        this);
}

public bool MonitoringEnabled { get; set; } = false;
public string CurrentState { get; set; } = "Not monitoring";

• MonitoringEnabled: Indicates if the callback should run its custom code.

• CurrentState: Describes the current monitoring state for use in the UI.

• Doesn't run its code unless MonitoringEnabled is true.

• Outputs the current state in its WriteConsole output.

private void InvokeChanged(IConfigurationMonitor state)
{
    if (MonitoringEnabled)
    {
        byte[] appsettingsHash = ComputeHash("appSettings.json");
        byte[] appsettingsEnvHash = 
            ComputeHash($"appSettings.{_env.EnvironmentName}.json");

        if (!_appsettingsHash.SequenceEqual(appsettingsHash) || 
            !_appsettingsEnvHash.SequenceEqual(appsettingsEnvHash))
        {
            string message = $"State updated at {DateTime.Now}";
          

            _appsettingsHash = appsettingsHash;
            _appsettingsEnvHash = appsettingsEnvHash;

            WriteConsole("Configuration changed (ConfigurationMonitor Class) " +
                $"{message}, state:{state.CurrentState}");
        }
    }
}

services.AddSingleton<IConfigurationMonitor, ConfigurationMonitor>();

public IndexModel(
    IConfiguration config, 
    IConfigurationMonitor monitor, 
    FileService fileService)
{
    _config = config;
    _monitor = monitor;
    _fileService = fileService;
}

public IActionResult OnPostStartMonitoring()
{
    _monitor.MonitoringEnabled = true;
    _monitor.CurrentState = "Monitoring!";

    return RedirectToPage();
}

public IActionResult OnPostStopMonitoring()
{
    _monitor.MonitoringEnabled = false;
    _monitor.CurrentState = "Not monitoring";

    return RedirectToPage();
}

<button class="btn btn-success" asp-page-handler="StartMonitoring">
    Start Monitoring
</button>

<button class="btn btn-danger" asp-page-handler="StopMonitoring">
    Stop Monitoring
</button>

Monitor cached file changes

• Return file content.

• Implement a retry algorithm with exponential back-off to cover cases where a file access problem temporarily delays reading the file's content.

public async static Task<string> GetFileContent(string filePath)
{
    var runCount = 1;

    while(runCount < 4)
    {
        try
        {
            if (File.Exists(filePath))
            {
                using (var fileStreamReader = File.OpenText(filePath))
                {
                    return await fileStreamReader.ReadToEndAsync();
                }
            }
            else 
            {
                throw new FileNotFoundException();
            }
        }
        catch (IOException ex)
        {
            if (runCount == 3)
            {
                throw;
            }

            Thread.Sleep(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(Math.Pow(2, runCount)));
            runCount++;
        }
    }

    return null;
}

• The file content is obtained using GetFileContent.

• A change token is obtained from the file provider with IFileProviders.Watch. The token's callback is triggered when the file is modified.

• The file content is cached with a sliding expiration period. The change token is attached with MemoryCacheEntryExtensions.AddExpirationToken to evict the cache entry if the file changes while it's cached.

public class FileService
{
    private readonly IMemoryCache _cache;
    private readonly IFileProvider _fileProvider;
    private List<string> _tokens = new List<string>();

    public FileService(IMemoryCache cache, IWebHostEnvironment env)
    {
        _cache = cache;
        _fileProvider = env.ContentRootFileProvider;
    }

    public async Task<string> GetFileContents(string fileName)
    {
        var filePath = _fileProvider.GetFileInfo(fileName).PhysicalPath;
        string fileContent;

        // Try to obtain the file contents from the cache.
        if (_cache.TryGetValue(filePath, out fileContent))
        {
            return fileContent;
        }

        // The cache doesn't have the entry, so obtain the file 
        // contents from the file itself.
        fileContent = await GetFileContent(filePath);

        if (fileContent != null)
        {
            // Obtain a change token from the file provider whose
            // callback is triggered when the file is modified.
            var changeToken = _fileProvider.Watch(fileName);

            // Configure the cache entry options for a five minute
            // sliding expiration and use the change token to
            // expire the file in the cache if the file is
            // modified.
            var cacheEntryOptions = new MemoryCacheEntryOptions()
                .SetSlidingExpiration(TimeSpan.FromMinutes(5))
                .AddExpirationToken(changeToken);

            // Put the file contents into the cache.
            _cache.Set(filePath, fileContent, cacheEntryOptions);

            return fileContent;
        }

        return string.Empty;
    }
}

services.AddMemoryCache();
services.AddSingleton<FileService>();

var fileContent = await _fileService.GetFileContents("poem.txt");

CompositeChangeToken class

var firstCancellationTokenSource = new CancellationTokenSource();
var secondCancellationTokenSource = new CancellationTokenSource();

var firstCancellationToken = firstCancellationTokenSource.Token;
var secondCancellationToken = secondCancellationTokenSource.Token;

var firstCancellationChangeToken = new CancellationChangeToken(firstCancellationToken);
var secondCancellationChangeToken = new CancellationChangeToken(secondCancellationToken);

var compositeChangeToken = 
    new CompositeChangeToken(
        new List<IChangeToken> 
        {
            firstCancellationChangeToken, 
            secondCancellationChangeToken
        });

Additional resources

• Cache in-memory in ASP.NET Core

• Distributed caching in ASP.NET Core

• Response caching in ASP.NET Core

• Response Caching Middleware in ASP.NET Core

• Cache Tag Helper in ASP.NET Core MVC

• Distributed Cache Tag Helper in ASP.NET Core

Ref: Detect changes with change tokens in ASP.NET Core