Experimental feature Pode State structure threadsafe

[mdaneri]

Summary

This PR introduces a new experimental feature that modifies the $PodeContext.Server.State type from a standard hashtable to a threadsafe ConcurrentDictionary. This change aims to improve thread safety and simplify the manipulation of the state variable by removing the need to encapsulate operations within a scriptblock using Lock-PodeObject.

Changes

• State Variable Update:
  • Changed the $PodeContext.Server.State type from a standard hashtable to a threadsafe [System.Collections.Concurrent.ConcurrentDictionary[string, PSObject]]::new([StringComparer]::OrdinalIgnoreCase).
• Thread Safety Improvement:
  • By utilizing ConcurrentDictionary, thread safety is inherently managed, reducing the need for manual locking mechanisms.

Benefits

• Improved Thread Safety:
  • ConcurrentDictionary provides built-in thread safety for all operations, eliminating race conditions and potential deadlocks associated with manual locking.
• Simplified Code:
  • Operations involving the state variable no longer require encapsulation within scriptblocks using Lock-PodeObject, resulting in cleaner and more readable code.

Implementation Details

• ConcurrentDictionary:
  • ConcurrentDictionary is used with StringComparer.OrdinalIgnoreCase to ensure case-insensitive keys.
  • The type definition is [System.Collections.Concurrent.ConcurrentDictionary[string, PSObject]]::new([StringComparer]::OrdinalIgnoreCase).

Enabling the Feature

There are two ways to enable this new experimental feature:

1. Inside the server.psd1 file:

   @{
       Experimental = @{
           ConcurrentDictionaryState = $true 
       }
   }

2. Pass the -Experimental parameter to Start-PodeServer:

   @{
       ConcurrentDictionaryState = $true 
   }