Windows Service Planning

Question

If I have a Windows service that needs to run a task every 30 seconds, which is better to use; class Timer () or a loop executing a task, then sleeping for a few seconds?

class MessageReceiver { public MessageReceiver() { } public void CommencePolling() { while (true) { try { this.ExecuteTask(); System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(30000); } catch (Exception) { // log the exception } } } public void ExecutedTask() { // do stuff } } class MessageReceiver { public MessageReceiver() { } public void CommencePolling() { var timer = new Timer() { AutoReset = true, Interval = 30000, Enabled = true }; timer.Elapsed += Timer_Tick; } public void Timer_Tick(object sender, ElapsedEventArgs args) { try { // do stuff } catch (Exception) { // log the exception } } } 

The Windows service will instantiate the MessageReciever class and execute the CommencePolling method on the new thread.

Answer 1

I think it really depends on your requirement.

case 1. Suppose you want to run this.ExecuteTask() every five minutes starting at 12:00 (ie 12:00, 12:05, ...), and suppose that this.ExecuteTask() changes (e.g. from 30 seconds to 2 minutes), perhaps using a timer instead of Thread.Sleep () seems to be an easier way to do this (at least for me).

However, you can achieve this behavior with Thread.Sleep() , as well as by calculating the offset, taking timestamps when the thread wakes up and this.ExecuteTask() .

Case 2. Suppose you want to complete a task in the next 5 minutes immediately after completing this.ExecuteTask() , using Thread.Sleep() seems simpler. Again, you can achieve this behavior with a timer, as well as by reprogramming the timer each time the offsets are calculated each time this.ExecuteTask() completes.

Note1 , for case 1, you have to be very careful in the following scenario: what if this.ExecuteTask() sometimes takes longer than the period (i.e. starts at 12:05 and ends at this.ExecuteTask() in the example above).

• What does this mean for your application and how will it be processed?

  a. A general failure is to abort the service or interrupt the execution of the current (12:05) at 12:10 and start the execution at 12:10.
  b. Not a big deal (skip 12:10 and run this.ExecuteTask() at 12:15).

  with. It doesn’t matter, but you need to start 12:10 execution immediately after the completion of task 12:05 (what if it holds for more than 5 minutes?).

  e. It is necessary to start execution 12:10, although execution 12:05 is executed.

  e. anything else?

• For the policy that you selected above, does your choice of implementation (timer or Thread.Sleep() ) allow you to support your policy?

Note 2 . There are several timers that you can use in .NET. Please see the following document (even if it's a bit outdated, but it seems to be a good start): Comparing timer classes in the .NET Framework class library

Answer 2

Do you do anything else in ten seconds of waiting? Using Thread.sleep is blocked, which prevents you from doing other things. In terms of performance, I don’t think you will see too much difference, but I would not use Thread.sleep myself.

There are three timers to choose from - System.Windows.Forms.Timer is implemented in the main thread, while System.Timers.Timer and System.Threading.Timer create separate threads.

Answer 3

I believe both methods are equivalent. In any case, there will be a stream: either because you create it, or because the library that implements the Timer class creates one.

Using the Timer class can be slightly less expensive in terms of resources, since threads that implement timers also control other timeouts.

Answer 4

I will answer this question will help.

Answer 5

Didn’t answer me, but John Saunders (above) ... the answer can be found here For a Windows service, which is better, wait or timer?