What is the difference between ManualResetEvent and AutoResetEvent in .NET?

Question

I have read the documentation on this and I think I understand. An AutoResetEvent resets when the code passes through event.WaitOne(), but a ManualResetEvent do

Answer 1

OK, normally it does not a good practice to add 2 answers in same thread, but I did not want to edit/delete my previous answer, since it can help on another manner.

Now, I created, much more comprehensive, and easy to understand, run-to-learn console app snippet below.

Just run the examples on two different consoles, and observe behaviour. You will get much more clear idea there what is happening behind the scenes.

Manual Reset Event

using System;
using System.Threading;

namespace ConsoleApplicationDotNetBasics.ThreadingExamples
{
    public class ManualResetEventSample
    {
        private readonly ManualResetEvent _manualReset = new ManualResetEvent(false);

        public void RunAll()
        {
            new Thread(Worker1).Start();
            new Thread(Worker2).Start();
            new Thread(Worker3).Start();
            Console.WriteLine("All Threads Scheduled to RUN!. ThreadId: {0}", Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId);
            Console.WriteLine("Main Thread is waiting for 15 seconds, observe 3 thread behaviour. All threads run once and stopped. Why? Because they call WaitOne() internally. They will wait until signals arrive, down below.");
            Thread.Sleep(15000);
            Console.WriteLine("1- Main will call ManualResetEvent.Set() in 5 seconds, watch out!");
            Thread.Sleep(5000);
            _manualReset.Set();
            Thread.Sleep(2000);
            Console.WriteLine("2- Main will call ManualResetEvent.Set() in 5 seconds, watch out!");
            Thread.Sleep(5000);
            _manualReset.Set();
            Thread.Sleep(2000);
            Console.WriteLine("3- Main will call ManualResetEvent.Set() in 5 seconds, watch out!");
            Thread.Sleep(5000);
            _manualReset.Set();
            Thread.Sleep(2000);
            Console.WriteLine("4- Main will call ManualResetEvent.Reset() in 5 seconds, watch out!");
            Thread.Sleep(5000);
            _manualReset.Reset();
            Thread.Sleep(2000);
            Console.WriteLine("It ran one more time. Why? Even Reset Sets the state of the event to nonsignaled (false), causing threads to block, this will initial the state, and threads will run again until they WaitOne().");
            Thread.Sleep(10000);
            Console.WriteLine();
            Console.WriteLine("This will go so on. Everytime you call Set(), ManualResetEvent will let ALL threads to run. So if you want synchronization between them, consider using AutoReset event, or simply user TPL (Task Parallel Library).");
            Thread.Sleep(5000);
            Console.WriteLine("Main thread reached to end! ThreadId: {0}", Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId);

        }

        public void Worker1()
        {
            for (int i = 1; i <= 10; i++)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("Worker1 is running {0}/10. ThreadId: {1}.", i, Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId);
                Thread.Sleep(5000);
                // this gets blocked until _autoReset gets signal
                _manualReset.WaitOne();
            }
            Console.WriteLine("Worker1 is DONE. ThreadId: {0}", Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId);
        }
        public void Worker2()
        {
            for (int i = 1; i <= 10; i++)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("Worker2 is running {0}/10. ThreadId: {1}.", i, Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId);
                Thread.Sleep(5000);
                // this gets blocked until _autoReset gets signal
                _manualReset.WaitOne();
            }
            Console.WriteLine("Worker2 is DONE. ThreadId: {0}", Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId);
        }
        public void Worker3()
        {
            for (int i = 1; i <= 10; i++)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("Worker3 is running {0}/10. ThreadId: {1}.", i, Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId);
                Thread.Sleep(5000);
                // this gets blocked until _autoReset gets signal
                _manualReset.WaitOne();
            }
            Console.WriteLine("Worker3 is DONE. ThreadId: {0}", Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId);
        }
    }

}

Auto Reset Event

using System;
using System.Threading;

namespace ConsoleApplicationDotNetBasics.ThreadingExamples
{
    public class AutoResetEventSample
    {
        private readonly AutoResetEvent _autoReset = new AutoResetEvent(false);

        public void RunAll()
        {
            new Thread(Worker1).Start();
            new Thread(Worker2).Start();
            new Thread(Worker3).Start();
            Console.WriteLine("All Threads Scheduled to RUN!. ThreadId: {0}", Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId);
            Console.WriteLine("Main Thread is waiting for 15 seconds, observe 3 thread behaviour. All threads run once and stopped. Why? Because they call WaitOne() internally. They will wait until signals arrive, down below.");
            Thread.Sleep(15000);
            Console.WriteLine("1- Main will call AutoResetEvent.Set() in 5 seconds, watch out!");
            Thread.Sleep(5000);
            _autoReset.Set();
            Thread.Sleep(2000);
            Console.WriteLine("2- Main will call AutoResetEvent.Set() in 5 seconds, watch out!");
            Thread.Sleep(5000);
            _autoReset.Set();
            Thread.Sleep(2000);
            Console.WriteLine("3- Main will call AutoResetEvent.Set() in 5 seconds, watch out!");
            Thread.Sleep(5000);
            _autoReset.Set();
            Thread.Sleep(2000);
            Console.WriteLine("4- Main will call AutoResetEvent.Reset() in 5 seconds, watch out!");
            Thread.Sleep(5000);
            _autoReset.Reset();
            Thread.Sleep(2000);
            Console.WriteLine("Nothing happened. Why? Becasuse Reset Sets the state of the event to nonsignaled, causing threads to block. Since they are already blocked, it will not affect anything.");
            Thread.Sleep(10000);
            Console.WriteLine("This will go so on. Everytime you call Set(), AutoResetEvent will let another thread to run. It will make it automatically, so you do not need to worry about thread running order, unless you want it manually!");
            Thread.Sleep(5000);
            Console.WriteLine("Main thread reached to end! ThreadId: {0}", Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId);

        }

        public void Worker1()
        {
            for (int i = 1; i <= 5; i++)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("Worker1 is running {0}/5. ThreadId: {1}.", i, Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId);
                Thread.Sleep(500);
                // this gets blocked until _autoReset gets signal
                _autoReset.WaitOne();
            }
            Console.WriteLine("Worker1 is DONE. ThreadId: {0}", Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId);
        }
        public void Worker2()
        {
            for (int i = 1; i <= 5; i++)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("Worker2 is running {0}/5. ThreadId: {1}.", i, Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId);
                Thread.Sleep(500);
                // this gets blocked until _autoReset gets signal
                _autoReset.WaitOne();
            }
            Console.WriteLine("Worker2 is DONE. ThreadId: {0}", Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId);
        }
        public void Worker3()
        {
            for (int i = 1; i <= 5; i++)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("Worker3 is running {0}/5. ThreadId: {1}.", i, Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId);
                Thread.Sleep(500);
                // this gets blocked until _autoReset gets signal
                _autoReset.WaitOne();
            }
            Console.WriteLine("Worker3 is DONE. ThreadId: {0}", Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId);
        }
    }

}