下面是一个代码示例，可能会有所帮助:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;

namespace Event_Example
{
  // First we have to define a delegate that acts as a signature for the
  // function that is ultimately called when the event is triggered.
  // You will notice that the second parameter is of MyEventArgs type.
  // This object will contain information about the triggered event.

  public delegate void MyEventHandler(object source, MyEventArgs e);

  // This is a class which describes the event to the class that receives it.
  // An EventArgs class must always derive from System.EventArgs.

  public class MyEventArgs : EventArgs
  {
    private string EventInfo;

    public MyEventArgs(string Text) {
      EventInfo = Text;
    }

    public string GetInfo() {
      return EventInfo;
    }
  }

  // This next class is the one which contains an event and triggers it
  // once an action is performed. For example, lets trigger this event
  // once a variable is incremented over a particular value. Notice the
  // event uses the MyEventHandler delegate to create a signature
  // for the called function.

  public class MyClass
  {
    public event MyEventHandler OnMaximum;

    private int i;
    private int Maximum = 10;

    public int MyValue
    {
      get { return i; }
      set
      {
        if(value <= Maximum) {
          i = value;
        }
        else 
        {
          // To make sure we only trigger the event if a handler is present
          // we check the event to make sure it's not null.
          if(OnMaximum != null) {
            OnMaximum(this, new MyEventArgs("You've entered " +
              value.ToString() +
              ", but the maximum is " +
              Maximum.ToString()));
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }

  class Program
  {
    // This is the actual method that will be assigned to the event handler
    // within the above class. This is where we perform an action once the
    // event has been triggered.

    static void MaximumReached(object source, MyEventArgs e) {
      Console.WriteLine(e.GetInfo());
    }

    static void Main(string[] args) {
      // Now lets test the event contained in the above class.
      MyClass MyObject = new MyClass();
      MyObject.OnMaximum += new MyEventHandler(MaximumReached);
      for(int x = 0; x <= 15; x++) {
        MyObject.MyValue = x;
      }
      Console.ReadLine();
    }
  }
}

只是在这里添加到现有的伟大答案-在已接受的代码的基础上构建，它使用了委托void MyEventHandler(string foo)…

因为编译器知道SomethingHappened事件的委托类型，所以:

myObj.SomethingHappened += HandleSomethingHappened;

完全等价于:

myObj.SomethingHappened += new MyEventHandler(HandleSomethingHappened);

处理程序也可以像这样用-=取消注册:

// -= removes the handler from the event's list of "listeners":
myObj.SomethingHappened -= HandleSomethingHappened;

为了完整起见，只能在拥有该事件的类中，像这样触发事件:

//Firing the event is done by simply providing the arguments to the event:
var handler = SomethingHappened; // thread-local copy of the event
if (handler != null) // the event is null if there are no listeners!
{
    handler("Hi there!");
}

处理程序的线程本地副本是必要的，以确保调用是线程安全的——否则，线程可能会在检查事件是否为空后立即注销该事件的最后一个处理程序，我们将在那里有一个“有趣的”NullReferenceException。

---

c# 6为这个模式引入了一个很好的简写。它使用空传播操作符。

SomethingHappened?.Invoke("Hi there!");

发布者:事件发生的地方。发布者应该指定类使用哪个委托，并生成必要的参数，将这些参数和自身传递给委托。

订阅者:响应发生的地方。订阅者应指定响应事件的方法。这些方法应该采用与委托相同类型的参数。订阅者然后将此方法添加到发布者的委托。

因此，当事件在publisher中发生时，delegate将收到一些事件参数(数据等)，但publisher不知道所有这些数据将会发生什么。订阅者可以在自己的类中创建方法来响应发布者类中的事件，这样订阅者就可以响应发布者的事件。

c#有两个术语，委托和事件。让我们从第一个开始。

委托

委托是对方法的引用。就像你可以创建一个实例的引用:

MyClass instance = myFactory.GetInstance();

你可以使用委托来创建一个方法的引用:

Action myMethod = myFactory.GetInstance;

现在你有了一个方法的引用，你可以通过引用调用这个方法:

MyClass instance = myMethod();

但你为什么要这么做?你也可以直接调用myFactory.GetInstance()。在这种情况下你可以。但是，有很多情况需要考虑，您不希望应用程序的其余部分了解myFactory或直接调用myFactory. getinstance()。

一个明显的例子是，如果你想从一个中心位置(也就是工厂方法模式)将myFactory.GetInstance()替换为myOfflineFakeFactory.GetInstance()。

工厂方法模式

所以，如果你有一个TheOtherClass类，它需要使用myFactory. getinstance()，这是没有委托的代码看起来的样子(你需要让TheOtherClass知道你的myFactory的类型):

TheOtherClass toc;
//...
toc.SetFactory(myFactory);


class TheOtherClass
{
   public void SetFactory(MyFactory factory)
   {
      // set here
   }

}

如果你使用委托，你不需要暴露我的工厂的类型:

TheOtherClass toc;
//...
Action factoryMethod = myFactory.GetInstance;
toc.SetFactoryMethod(factoryMethod);


class TheOtherClass
{
   public void SetFactoryMethod(Action factoryMethod)
   {
      // set here
   }

}

因此，您可以将委托交给其他类使用，而无需向它们暴露您的类型。你唯一要暴露的是你的方法的签名(你有多少参数等等)。

"我的方法的签名"我在哪儿听过这个?哦，是的，接口!!接口描述了整个类的签名。把委托看作是只描述一个方法的签名!

接口和委托之间的另一个巨大区别是，当你编写类时，你不必对c#说“这个方法实现了那种类型的委托”。对于接口，你确实需要说“这个类实现了那种类型的接口”。

此外，一个委托引用可以(有一些限制，见下文)引用多个方法(称为MulticastDelegate)。这意味着当您调用委托时，将执行多个显式附加的方法。一个对象引用总是只能引用一个对象。

MulticastDelegate的限制是(方法/委托)签名不应该有任何返回值(void)，关键字out和ref不能在签名中使用。显然，您不能调用两个返回一个数字的方法，并期望它们返回相同的数字。一旦签名符合要求，该委托就自动成为MulticastDelegate。

事件

事件只是属性(就像get;set;属性到实例字段)，这将从其他对象向委托公开订阅。但是，这些属性不支持get;set;。相反，它们支持add;删除;

所以你可以有:

    Action myField;

    public event Action MyProperty
    {
        add { myField += value; }
        remove { myField -= value; }
    }

在UI中的使用(WinForms,WPF,UWP等等)

So, now we know that a delegate is a reference to a method and that we can have an event to let the world know that they can give us their methods to be referenced from our delegate, and we are a UI button, then: we can ask anyone who is interested in whether I was clicked, to register their method with us (via the event we exposed). We can use all those methods that were given to us and reference them by our delegate. And then, we'll wait and wait.... until a user comes and clicks on that button, then we'll have enough reason to invoke the delegate. And because the delegate references all those methods given to us, all those methods will be invoked. We don't know what those methods do, nor we know which class implements those methods. All we do care about is that someone was interested in us being clicked, and gave us a reference to a method that complied with our desired signature.

Java

像Java这样的语言没有委托。相反，他们使用接口。他们这样做的方式是让任何对“我们被点击”感兴趣的人来实现某个接口(使用我们可以调用的某个方法)，然后给我们实现该接口的整个实例。我们保留了实现该接口的所有对象的列表，并在我们被单击时调用它们的“我们可以调用的特定方法”。

要理解事件处理程序，您需要理解委托。在c#中，您可以将委托视为指向方法的指针(或引用)。这很有用，因为指针可以作为值传递。

委托的核心概念是它的签名或形状。即(1)返回类型和(2)输入参数。例如，如果我们创建一个委托void MyDelegate(object sender, EventArgs e)，它只能指向返回void的方法，并接受一个对象和EventArgs。有点像一个方洞和一个方钉子。因此，我们说这些方法与委托具有相同的签名或形状。

So knowing how to create a reference to a method, let's think about the purpose of events: we want to cause some code to be executed when something happens elsewhere in the system - or "handle the event". To do this, we create specific methods for the code we want to be executed. The glue between the event and the methods to be executed are the delegates. The event must internally store a "list" of pointers to the methods to call when the event is raised.* Of course, to be able to call a method, we need to know what arguments to pass to it! We use the delegate as the "contract" between the event and all the specific methods that will be called.

因此默认的EventHandler(以及许多类似的)表示方法的特定形状(同样是void/object-EventArgs)。当你声明一个事件时，你是在说该事件将调用哪种形状的方法(EventHandler)，通过指定一个委托:

//This delegate can be used to point to methods
//which return void and take a string.
public delegate void MyEventHandler(string foo);

//This event can cause any method which conforms
//to MyEventHandler to be called.
public event MyEventHandler SomethingHappened;

//Here is some code I want to be executed
//when SomethingHappened fires.
void HandleSomethingHappened(string foo)
{
    //Do some stuff
}

//I am creating a delegate (pointer) to HandleSomethingHappened
//and adding it to SomethingHappened's list of "Event Handlers".
myObj.SomethingHappened += new MyEventHandler(HandleSomethingHappened);

//To raise the event within a method.
SomethingHappened("bar");

(*这是。net中事件的关键，它揭开了“魔法”的面纱——一个事件实际上只是一组具有相同“形状”的方法。列表存储在事件所在的位置。当事件被“引发”时，它实际上只是“遍历这个方法列表并调用每个方法，使用这些值作为参数”。分配事件处理程序只是将您的方法添加到要调用的方法列表的一种更漂亮、更简单的方式)。

我同意KE50的观点，除了我认为'event'关键字是'ActionCollection'的别名，因为事件包含了要执行的操作的集合(例如。委托)。

using System;

namespace test{

class MyTestApp{
    //The Event Handler declaration
    public delegate void EventAction();

    //The Event Action Collection 
    //Equivalent to 
    //  public List<EventAction> EventActions=new List<EventAction>();
    //        
    public event EventAction EventActions;

    //An Action
    public void Hello(){
        Console.WriteLine("Hello World of events!");
    }
    //Another Action
    public void Goodbye(){
        Console.WriteLine("Goodbye Cruel World of events!");
    }

    public static void Main(){
        MyTestApp TestApp = new MyTestApp();

        //Add actions to the collection
        TestApp.EventActions += TestApp.Hello;
        TestApp.EventActions += TestApp.Goodbye;

        //Invoke all event actions
        if (TestApp.EventActions!= null){
            //this peculiar syntax hides the invoke 
            TestApp.EventActions();
            //using the 'ActionCollection' idea:
            // foreach(EventAction action in TestApp.EventActions)
            //     action.Invoke();
        }
    }

}   

}