Handling async code

In automation scripts, async methods should not be used, and all code should execute on the same thread. If an external library contains async methods, they must be executed synchronously to maintain script stability.

Important

The Engine object, and every object you obtain through it (such as Element objects returned by engine.FindElement, dummies, and their parameters), is not thread-safe. It may only be used from the single thread on which Run(Engine engine) executes.

This applies even when the work you offload is fully synchronous. Dispatching Engine calls to other threads (for example with Task.Run, Parallel.For, or a manually started Thread) and using the Engine or its objects from more than one thread at a time can corrupt the Automation subsystem's internal state and crash the process (SLAutomation). Keep all interaction with the Engine and its objects on the script's main thread.

To properly call an async method from an external library, use the following approach:

using System;
using System.Net.Http;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using Skyline.DataMiner.Automation;

public class Script
{
  public void Run(Engine engine)
  {
    string url = "https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/todos/1"; // Example API
    string result = GetDataSync(url);
    engine.GenerateInformation(result);
  }

  public static string GetDataSync(string url)
  {
    using (HttpClient client = new HttpClient())
    {
      return client.GetStringAsync(url).GetAwaiter().GetResult(); // Synchronous execution
    }
  }
}