Prevent multiple instance of a service - best approach?

Question

So what do you think is the best way to prevent multiple threads of a C# Windows service running simultaneously (the service is using a timer with the OnElapsed event) ?

Using lock() or mutex ?

I can't seem to grasp the concept of the mutex, but using lock() seems to work fine for my case.

Should I spend the time learning how to use the mutex anyways?

Answer 1

Make your timer a one-shot, and re-initialize it in the elapsed event handler. For example, if you're using System.Timers.Timer, you'd initialize it like this:

myTimer.Elapsed = timer1Elapsed; myTimer.Interval = 1000; // every second myTimer.AutoReset = false; // makes it fire only once myTimer.Enabled = true; 

And your elapsed event handler:

void timerElapsed(object source, ElapsedEventArgs e) {     // do whatever needs to be done     myTimer.Start(); // re-enables the timer } 

The drawback to this is that the timer doesn't fire on one second intervals. Rather, it fires one second after the last tick's processing finishes.