Repeating a function every few seconds

Question

Use a timer. There are 3 basic kinds, each suited for different purposes.

• System.Windows.Forms.Timer

Use only in a Windows Form application. This timer is processed as part of the message loop, so the the timer can be frozen under high load.

• System.Timers.Timer

When you need synchronicity, use this one. This means that the tick event will be run on the thread that started the timer, allowing you to perform GUI operations without much hassle.

• System.Threading.Timer

This is the most high-powered timer, which fires ticks on a background thread. This lets you perform operations in the background without freezing the GUI or the main thread.

For most cases, I recommend System.Timers.Timer.

For this the System.Timers.Timer works best

// Create a timer
myTimer = new System.Timers.Timer();
// Tell the timer what to do when it elapses
myTimer.Elapsed += new ElapsedEventHandler(myEvent);
// Set it to go off every five seconds
myTimer.Interval = 5000;
// And start it        
myTimer.Enabled = true;

// Implement a call with the right signature for events going off
private void myEvent(object source, ElapsedEventArgs e) { }

See Timer Class (.NET 4.6 and 4.5) for details

Use a timer. Keep in mind that .NET comes with a number of different timers. This article covers the differences.

There are lot of different Timers in the .NET BCL:

• System.Timers.Timer
• System.Threading.Timer
• System.Windows.Forms.Timer
• System.Web.UI.Timer
• System.Windows.Threading.DispatcherTimer

When to use which?

• System.Timers.Timer, which fires an event and executes the code in one or more event sinks at regular intervals. The class is intended for use as a server-based or service component in a multithreaded environment; it has no user interface and is not visible at runtime.
• System.Threading.Timer, which executes a single callback method on a thread pool thread at regular intervals. The callback method is defined when the timer is instantiated and cannot be changed. Like the System.Timers.Timer class, this class is intended for use as a server-based or service component in a multithreaded environment; it has no user interface and is not visible at runtime.
• System.Windows.Forms.Timer (.NET Framework only), a Windows Forms component that fires an event and executes the code in one or more event sinks at regular intervals. The component has no user interface and is designed for use in a single-threaded environment; it executes on the UI thread.
• System.Web.UI.Timer (.NET Framework only), an ASP.NET component that performs asynchronous or synchronous web page postbacks at a regular interval.
• System.Windows.Threading.DispatcherTimer, a timer that's integrated into the Dispatcher queue. This timer is processed with a specified priority at a specified time interval.

Source

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Some of them needs explicit Start call to begin ticking (for example System.Timers, System.Windows.Forms). And an explicit Stop to finish ticking.

using TimersTimer = System.Timers.Timer;

static void Main(string[] args)
{
    var timer = new TimersTimer(1000);
    timer.Elapsed += (s, e) => Console.WriteLine("Beep");
    Thread.Sleep(1000); //1 second delay
    timer.Start();
    Console.ReadLine();
    timer.Stop();

}

While on the other hand there are some Timers (like: System.Threading) where you don't need explicit Start and Stop calls. (The provided delegate will run a background thread.) Your timer will tick until you or the runtime dispose it.

So, the following two versions will work in the same way:

using ThreadingTimer = System.Threading.Timer;

static void Main(string[] args)
{
    var timer = new ThreadingTimer(_ => Console.WriteLine("Beep"), null, TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1), TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1));
    Console.ReadLine();
}

using ThreadingTimer = System.Threading.Timer;
static void Main(string[] args)
{
    StartTimer();
    Console.ReadLine();
}

static void StartTimer()
{
    var timer = new ThreadingTimer(_ => Console.WriteLine("Beep"), null, TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1), TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1));
}

But if your timer disposed then it will stop ticking obviously.

using ThreadingTimer = System.Threading.Timer; 

static void Main(string[] args)
{
    StartTimer();
    GC.Collect(0);
    Console.ReadLine();
}

static void StartTimer()
{
    var timer = new ThreadingTimer(_ => Console.WriteLine("Beep"), null, TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1), TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1));
}