Develop Reference

Async function freezes UI thread

I have an async function which still freezes / lags the UI thread for me when I execute it. This is my function calling it.
private void TcpListenerLogic(object sender, string e)
{
Application.Current.Dispatcher.BeginInvoke((Action)async delegate {
try
{
dynamic results = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<dynamic>(e);
if (results.test_id != null)
{
// Get properties for new anchor
string testInformation = await CommunicationCommands.getJsonFromURL(
"http://" + ServerIP + ":" + ServerPort + "/api/" + results.test_id);
}
}
catch (Exception exception)
{
// Writing some Trace.WriteLine()'s
}
});
}
And this is the async function that freezes my UI Thread
public static async Task<string> getJsonFromURL(string url)
{
try
{
string returnString = null;
using (System.Net.WebClient client = new System.Net.WebClient())
{
returnString = await client.DownloadStringTaskAsync(url);
}
return returnString;
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
Debug.WriteLine(ex.ToString());
return null;
}
}
I already tried to make everything in TcpListenerLogic run in a new Thread:
new Thread(() =>
{
Thread.CurrentThread.IsBackground = true;
}).Start();
Which resulted in the whole UI completely freezing. And I tried to make TcpListenerLogic async and await the dispatcher, which also made everything freeze permanently. I also tried to make TcpListenerLogic async and leave the dispatcher. The dispatcher is only there because I normally have some UI code in there, which I left out for my tests.
I have ventured far through the internet, but no BackgroundWorker, ThreadPool or other methods helped me in my endeavour.
If anyone has help for this particular problem, or a resource that would improve my understanding of async functions in C#, I would much appreciate it.
Edit
As requested a deeper insight in how this event handler is called.
I have System.Net.Websocket, which is connected to the Backend API I am working with and triggers an event, everytime he receives new Data. To guarantee the socket listens as longs as it is open, there is a while loop which checks for the client state:
public event EventHandler<string> TcpReceived;
public async void StartListener(string ip, int port, string path)
{
try
{
using (client = new ClientWebSocket())
{
try
{ // Connect to backend
Uri serverUri = new Uri("ws://" + ip + ":" + port.ToString() + path );
await client.ConnectAsync(serverUri, CancellationToken.None);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
BackendSettings.IsConnected = false;
Debug.WriteLine("Error connecting TCP Socket: " + ex.ToString());
}
state = client.State;
// Grab packages send in backend
while (client.State == WebSocketState.Open || client.State == WebSocketState.CloseSent)
{
try
{
// **Just formatting the received data until here and writing it into the "message" variable**//
TcpReceived(this, message);
// Close connection on command
if (result.MessageType == WebSocketMessageType.Close)
{
Debug.WriteLine("Closing TCP Socket.");
shouldstayclosed = true;
await client.CloseAsync(WebSocketCloseStatus.NormalClosure, string.Empty, CancellationToken.None);
break;
}
state = client.State;
}
catch
{
BackendSettings.IsConnected = false;
state = client.State;
}
}
state = client.State;
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
// Some error messages and settings handling
}
}
The Event has a handler attached:
TcpReceived += TcpListener_TcpReceived;
And this is the Handler, which calls the previously seen "TcpListenereLogic".
private void TcpListener_TcpReceived(object sender, string e)
{
TcpListenerLogic(sender, e);
//App.Current.Dispatcher.BeginInvoke(new Action(() => {
// TcpListenerLogic(sender, e);
//}));
//new Thread(() =>
//{
// Thread.CurrentThread.IsBackground = true;
// TcpListenerLogic(sender, e);
//}).Start();
}
I previously had the "TcpListenereLogic" as the handler, but I wanted to try different methods to call it. I also left in the commented out part, to show how the call of "TcpListenereLogic" looked already. All my attempts were with all mentioned setups and sadly lead to nothing.

Thank you very much #TheodorZoulias for helping me to find the solution to my problem.
It turns out it wasn't the async function itself, but rather how often it gets called. It got called roughly ~120 times every second.
My solution starts by calling the Listener method over a new Thread:
new Thread(() =>
{
Thread.CurrentThread.IsBackground = true;
MainWindow.tcpListener.StartListener(ip, portNumber, "/api/");
}).Start();
To limit the amount of calls that happen every second I added a dispatcher timer, that resets a bool after it has been used for a call, by my Event.
readonly System.Windows.Threading.DispatcherTimer packageIntervallTimer =
new System.Windows.Threading.DispatcherTimer();
bool readyForNewPackage = true;
private void ReadyForPackage(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
readyForNewPackage = true;
}
public async void StartListener(string ip, int port, string path)
{
packageIntervallTimer.Interval = TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(50);
packageIntervallTimer.Tick += (s, e) => { Task.Run(() => ReadyForPackage(s, e)); };
packageIntervallTimer.Start();
Then I wrapped everything inside the while loop into an if condition based on the bool, the most important part was to have my "event EventHandler TcpReceived" in there:
// Grab packages sent in backend
while (client.State == WebSocketState.Open || client.State == WebSocketState.CloseSent)
{
if (readyForNewPackage == true)
{
readyForNewPackage = false;
try
{
....
TcpReceived(this, message);
....
}
catch
{
...
}
}
}
I added my TcpListenerLogic to the Eventhandler:
TcpReceived += TcpListenerLogic;
And my TcpListenerLogic now looked like this (names have been changed):
private async void TcpListenerLogic(object sender, string e)
{
try
{
dynamic results = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<dynamic>(e);
if (results.test_id != null)
{
string testID = "";
if (results.test_id is JValue jValueTestId)
{
testID = jValueTestId.Value.ToString();
}
else if (results.test_id is string)
{
testID = results.test_id;
}
// Get properties for new object
string information = await CommunicationCommands.getJsonFromURL(
"http://" + ServerIP + ":" + ServerPort + "/api/" + testID );
if (information != null)
{
await App.Current.Dispatcher.BeginInvoke(new Action(() =>
{
// Create object out of the json string
TestStatus testStatus = new TestStatus();
testStatus.Deserialize(information);
if (CommunicationCommands.isNameAlreadyInCollection(testStatus.name) == false)
{
// Add new object to the list
CommunicationCommands.allFoundTests.Add(testStatus);
}
}));
{
}
catch (Exception exception)
{
....
}
}
Adding a new Thread to execute any step results in problems, so keep in mind that all this uses the thread created at the beginning for "StartListener"

Reading data from serial Port is loosing packages

Hello i created a program which reads serial data from a scoreboard, then depending on the string the program separates the data into different boxes on the form and then to different txt files.The purpose of this, is to use those txt files for livestreaming purposes in basketball games.
It's the first time i work with serial data and i am not a very experienced programmer.
My problem, as the title of this post suggests is that every now and then without any reason i am loosing some packages. This is happening randomly , for example in 10 second period i could 1 package while the next one none or 4.
private void ReadData()
{
Thread MyThread = null;
{
try
{
ThreadStart ThreadMethod = new ThreadStart(ReadFromPort);
MyThread = new Thread(ThreadMethod);
}
catch (Exception e)
{
Console.WriteLine("Failed to create thread! " + e.Message);
return;
}
try
{
MyThread.Start();
}
catch (Exception e)
{
Console.WriteLine("The thread failed to start! " + e.Message);
}
}
}
//Recieves data and write them on textbox (optionally on a txt)
private void ReadFromPort()
{
while (Receiver == true)
{
try
{
int count = ComPort.BytesToRead;
System.Windows.Forms.Application.DoEvents();
byte[] data = new byte[count];
ComPort.Read(data, 0, data.Length);
currentMessage = Combine(currentMessage, data);
ReceivedData = (BitConverter.ToString(data));
if (count > 0)
{
if (chBoxUpdate.Checked)
{
DataType = count;
tempData = ReceivedData;
this.Invoke(new EventHandler(DisplayText));
if (chboxTxt.Checked)
{
this.Invoke(new EventHandler(ExportData));
}
}
else if (chBoxPrevious.Checked)
{
DataType = count;
tempData = ReceivedData;
this.Invoke(new EventHandler(ClearData));
this.Invoke(new EventHandler(DisplayText));
if (chboxTxt.Checked)
{
this.Invoke(new EventHandler(ExportData));
}
}
}
}
catch (Exception e)
{
}
}
}
//Displays Text
private void DisplayText(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
string temp;
Console.WriteLine(tempData+ " (" + tempData.Length.ToString() + ")");
try
{
if (tempData.Length == 38)// && ReceivedData.Substring(12, 5) == "03-02")
{
if (tempData.Substring(12, 5) == "03-02")
{
DataText.AppendText(tempData.Substring(24, 8));
DataText.AppendText("\n");
Blink.Text = "Reading...";
timer1.Start();
timer1.Enabled = true;
}
}
else
if (tempData.Length == 35)
{
if (tempData.Substring(12, 5) == "45-02")
{
AttackTime.AppendText(tempData.Substring(24, 5));
Blink.Text = "Reading...";
AttackTime.AppendText("\n");
timer1.Start();
timer1.Enabled = true;
}
}
else
if (tempData.Length == 29)
{
if (tempData.Substring(12, 5) == "03-36")
{
HomeScore.AppendText(tempData.Substring(21, 2));
Blink.Text = "Reading...";
HomeScore.AppendText("\n");
timer1.Start();
timer1.Enabled = true;
}
else
if (tempData.Substring(12, 5) == "03-46")
{
AwayScore.AppendText(tempData.Substring(21, 2));
Blink.Text = "Reading...";
AwayScore.AppendText("\n");
timer1.Start();
timer1.Enabled = true;
}
}
}
catch (ArgumentOutOfRangeException)
{
}
}
Keep in mind that tempData and ReceivedData are the same here and as the programs appears now there's not any particular reason to set tempData=ReceivedData.This is a part of a different,older code i used in the begining which i never changed but it doesn't effect the program.
At first i am using a thread to enable the ReadFromPort then if the program finds that there are available data in line it displays them with the DisplayText and it's using the ExportData to export the data to a txt.I think the problem is somewhere there but as i am not very experienced i can't tell where.
Are there any suggestions on how to improve my code? If you more details or information i can provide them.

You are using Invoke, this blocks the caller thread until the event has been processed, and since you are updating the UI this can take some time. This probably causes some buffer to overflow and data to be discarded. So you should do as little work as possible on the reading thread.
There are a few alternatives
Put the data on a concurrentQueue, and let the UI thread have a timer that periodically triggers a method that reads from the queue and updates the UI.
Put the data on a concurrentQueue, wrapped in a blocking collection, have another background thread iterate over the blocking collection, using GetConsumingEnumerable, and post the result to the main thread once done. This would be suitable if there is significant processing to be done.
Use BeginInvoke to post the received data to the main-thread, this does not wait for the call to complete, but probably have slightly higher overhead that the previous alternatives. I would recommend not accessing any UI properties from the background thread, since by default no property of a UI class is threadsafe. Even if you might get away with it if you are only reading, I would not take the chance.

Wait for RunOnUIThread to finish and continue executing the rest of the task

im developing an app for android via c#(xamarin.visual studio) , the problem is that i have some task to do that running in other threads , and when it should update the layout it should call Activity.RunOnUIThread , everything it's working well but the thread dont wait this method to finnish and continue executing the rest withuout waiting.
The question is : How to wait for RunOnUIThread to finish and after that continue executing rest of the commands of the task. ?
public void start(int threadCounter)
{
for (int i = 0; i < threadCounter; i++)
{
Thread thread1 = new Thread(new ThreadStart(RunScanTcp));
thread1.Start();
}
}
public void RunScanTcp()
{
int port;
//while there are more ports to scan
while ((port = portList.NextPort()) != -1)
{
count = port;
Thread.Sleep(1000); //lets be a good citizen to the cpu
Console.WriteLine("Current Port Count : " + count.ToString());
try
{
Connect(host, port, tcpTimeout);
}
catch
{
continue;
}
Activity.RunOnUiThread(() =>
{
mdata.Add(new data() { titulli = "Port : " + port, sekuenca = "Sequence : ", ttl = "Connection Sucessfull !", madhesia = "", koha = "Time : " });
mAdapter.NotifyItemInserted(mdata.Count() - 1);
if (ndaluar == false)
{
mRecyclerView.ScrollToPosition(mdata.Count() - 1);
}
}); // in that point i want to wait this to finish and than continue below...
Console.WriteLine("TCP Port {0} is open ", port);
}

First of all you should avoid creating new Threads.
In you case you must use ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem to enqueue the CPU bound operation.
Then you could use a ManualResetEventSlim or TaskCompletionSource to synchronize the the UI thread and the Worker Thread.
Example:
// mre is used to block and release threads manually. It is
// created in the unsignaled state.
ManualResetEventSlim mre = new ManualResetEventSlim(false);
RunOnUiThread(() =>
{
// Update UI here.
// Release Manual reset event.
mre.Set();
});
// Wait until UI operations end.
mre.Wait();
In your specific case:
for (int i = 0; i < threadCounter; i++)
{
ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem(RunScanTcp);
}
private void RunScanTcp(object stateInfo)
{
// Do CPU bound operation here.
var a = 100;
while (--a != 0)
{
// mre is used to block and release threads manually. It is
// created in the unsignaled state.
ManualResetEventSlim mre = new ManualResetEventSlim(false);
Activity.RunOnUiThread(() =>
{
// Update UI here.
// Release Manual reset event.
mre.Set();
});
// Wait until UI operation ends.
mre.WaitOne();
}
}
If you prefer to use TaskCompletionSource you could use an alternative approach:
private async void RunScanTcp(object stateInfo)
{
// Do CPU bound operation here.
var a = 100;
while (--a != 0)
{
// using TaskCompletionSource
var tcs = new TaskCompletionSource<bool>();
RunOnUiThread(() =>
{
// Update UI here.
// Set result
tcs.TrySetResult(true);
});
// Wait until UI operationds.
tcs.Task.Wait();
}
}

You could use Monitor.Wait and Monitor.Pulse with a shared myLock object to wait for the UI execution.
Activity.RunOnUiThread(() =>
{
mdata.Add(new data() { titulli = "Port : " + port, sekuenca = "Sequence : ", ttl = "Connection Sucessfull !", madhesia = "", koha = "Time : " });
mAdapter.NotifyItemInserted(mdata.Count() - 1);
if (ndaluar == false)
{
mRecyclerView.ScrollToPosition(mdata.Count() - 1);
}
lock(myLock) Monitor.Pulse(myLock)
});
lock(myLock) Monitor.Wait(myLock)
Console.WriteLine("TCP Port {0} is open ", port);

For those interested in an async/await solution, there is Stephen Cleary's AsyncManualResetEvent, e.g.:
var mre = new AsyncManualResetEvent();
this.context.RunOnUiThread(() =>
{
// Do awesome UI stuff
mre.Set();
});
await mre.WaitAsync();

Using Task to run continuous Thread

I want run a thread continuously. This thread would poll and check for card status. Here is a sample implementation:
static void Main(string[] args)
{
var _cancelationTokenSource = new CancellationTokenSource();
new Task(() => chkRequestTask(_cancelationTokenSource), _cancelationTokenSource.Token, TaskCreationOptions.LongRunning).Start();
while (true)
{
}
}
static bool chkRequestTask(CancellationTokenSource _cancellationTokenSource)
{
bool noRequest = false;
while (!_cancellationTokenSource.Token.IsCancellationRequested)
{
var RequestTask = Task.Factory.StartNew(() => noRequest = chkRequestTask(_cancellationTokenSource), _cancellationTokenSource.Token);
if (noRequest)
{
_cancellationTokenSource.Token.WaitHandle.WaitOne(15000);
Console.WriteLine("Waiting for 15Seconds");
}
else
{
Console.WriteLine("Checking the card");
}
}
return noRequest;
}
What I want to achieve here is chkRequestTask should be run on a separate thread. This would continously poll the status of the card. For this sample I'm simply doing : Console.WriteLine("Checking the card");.
Once it checks the status of the card it should sleep for 15secs for this sample only (in general it should check every 50ms, but for testing purposes I have kept 15secs).
But in the above sample it's not sleeping it's simply giving me Checking the card continuously. It's not sleeping at all for 15secs. What is wrong with this code ?

You're calling chkRequestTask recursively using Task.Factory.StartNew which you don't need at all.
It's not clear why you need to poll the status, better idea is to check any event or callback or WaitHandle provided by the card API you're talking about. That should keep you away from the pain.
If at all you believe polling is the only option you've left with, you can do it as follows.
static async Task ChkRequestTask(CancellationToken token)
{
while (true)
{
token.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
Console.WriteLine("Checking the card");
bool status = PollTheCardForStatus();
if(!status)
break;
await Task.Delay(15 * 1000, token);//Adjust the delay as you wish
}
}
Else where in code, if possible await the call, If not then attach a continuation or use blocking task.Wait.
await ChkRequestTask(token);
This method doesn't need to return bool as you're returning from the method only when it is false, it is safe to assume the status is false when the Task returned from ChkRequestTask completes, which means poll returned false or the CancellationToken is cancelled, in which case you'll get TaskCanceledException

This is how I have done this. It seems to be working properly. As it's a background thread it would exit when the application exits. Could someone advise If this is the right way to do it.
private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
m_dev = DASK.Register_Card(DASK.PCI_7250, 0);
if (m_dev < 0)
{
MessageBox.Show("Register_Card error!");
}
FunctionToCall();
}
private void FunctionToCall()
{
short ret;
uint int_value;
var thread = new Thread(() =>
{
while (true)
{
ret = DASK.DI_ReadPort((ushort)m_dev, 0, out int_value);
if (ret < 0)
{
MessageBox.Show("D2K_DI_ReadPort error!");
return;
}
if (int_value > 0)
{
textBox2.Invoke(new UpdateText(DisplayText), Convert.ToInt32(int_value));
}
Thread.Sleep(500);
}
});
thread.Start();
thread.IsBackground = true;
}
private void DisplayText(int i)
{
textBox2.Text = i.ToString();
}

Architecture of real-time, iteration application

Sorry for abstract question, but I'm looking for some samples/advices/articles on type of applications which does some equivalent operations in cycle, and every iteration of cycle should expose its result in certain portion of time (for instance, 10 seconds).
My application does synchronization of data between external WCF service and local database. In every iteration an application retrieves changes of data passing request to WCF service and puts changes to database and vice versa. One of most hard requirement for this application is that iterations should fire every ten seconds.
So here is the issues arises. How can I guarantee that iteration will finish for no more than 10 seconds?
I guess this type of applications called real-time applications (in maner of real-time OS).
DAL components that we use acts randomly on connection timeout behavior. So DB operations may take longer time than 10 seconds.
Here is the estimated code of one iteration:
Stopwatch s1 = new Stopwatch();
s1.Start();
Parallel.ForEach(Global.config.databases, new ParallelOptions { MaxDegreeOfParallelism = -1 }, (l) =>
{
Console.WriteLine("Started for {0}", l.key.name);
DB db = new DB(l.connectionString);
DateTime lastIterationTS = GetPreviousIterationTS(l.id);
ExternalService serv = new ExternalService(l.id);
List<ChangedData> ChangedDataDb = db.GetChangedData(DateTime.Now.AddSeconds((lastIterationTS == DateTime.MinValue) ? -300 : -1 * (DateTime.Now - lastIterationTS).Seconds));
List<Data> ChangedDataService = serv.GetModifiedData();
Action syncDBChanges = new Action(() =>
{
// Изменения в БД
foreach (ChangedData d in ChangedDataDb)
{
try
{
// ...
// analyzing & syncing
}
catch (Exception e)
{
logger.InfoEx("Exception_SyncDatabase", e.ToString());
}
}
}
);
Action syncService = new Action(() =>
{
foreach (Data d in ChangedDataService)
{
try
{
// ...
// analyzing & syncing
}
catch (Exception e)
{
logger.InfoEx("Exception_SyncService", e.ToString());
}
}
});
List<WaitHandle> handles = new List<WaitHandle>();
IAsyncResult ar1 = syncDBChanges.BeginInvoke(syncDBChanges.EndInvoke, null);
IAsyncResult ar2 = syncService.BeginInvoke(syncService.EndInvoke, null);
handles.Add(ar1.AsyncWaitHandle);
handles.Add(ar2.AsyncWaitHandle);
WaitHandle.WaitAll(handles.ToArray(), (int)((Global.config.syncModifiedInterval - 1) * 1000));
SetCurrentIterationTS(l.id);
}
catch (Exception e)
{
Console.WriteLine(e.Message);
logger.InfoEx("Exception_Iteration", e.ToString());
continue;
}
}
logger.InfoEx("end_Iteration", IterationContextParams);
}
);
s1.Stop();
Console.WriteLine("Main iteration done for {0}...", s1.Elapsed);

You can consider a couple of options...
Kill the iteration if it exceeds more than 10 seconds and hope that the next iteration can complete process. The issue with this approach is that there is a good possibility that the none of the iterations will complete and therefore the synchronization process will never occur. I would recommend the following option...
If the iteration takes more than 10 seconds, wait for it to complete and skip the next iteration(s). This way you ensure the process completes atleast once. The following is a simplified code sample for reference...
class Updater
{
Timer timer = new Timer();
public object StateLock = new object();
public string State;
public Updater()
{
timer.Elapsed += timer_Elapsed;
timer.Interval = 10000;
timer.AutoReset = true;
timer.Start();
}
void timer_Elapsed(object sender, ElapsedEventArgs e)
{
if (State != "Running")
{
Process();
}
}
private void Process()
{
try
{
lock (StateLock)
{
State = "Running";
}
// Process
lock (StateLock)
{
State = "";
}
}
catch
{
throw;
}
}
}
...
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
Updater updater = new Updater();
Console.ReadLine();
}
}

Quartz.net is an excellent scheduler for the .NET platform, which I think could suit your needs.
If you want to kill a job, you can implement IInterruptableJob. You should be able to add some cleanup code in the Interupt method to dispose of any db connections.
If you want finish a job, but only start another job if the last one is completed (which I think is the better option), you can implement IStatefulJob interface

I usually separate the update cycle from the actual timer
The timer does two things:
1) if the update is not running starts it.
2) if the service is already running set a flag for it to continue running.
The update cycle:
1)set running flag
2) do the update
3) set running flag to false
4) if continue running is set go to 1).

You might want to read up on the variety of Timer objects available in .Net: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc164015.aspx
I personally like System.Threading.Timer because you can easily use lambdas, and it allows a state object to be passed if you create a separate callback.
I would also recommend using the System.Threading.Tasks library, because it allows you to gracefully handle cancellations in the case that the timer elapses before your work is completed. Msdn example: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd537607.aspx
Here's an example of using these components together in a 10 minute timer:
Note: to do this with your sql database you'll need to set Asynchronous Processing=true; and MultipleActiveResultSets=True;
CancellationTokenSource cancelSource = new CancellationTokenSource();
System.Threading.Timer timer = new System.Threading.Timer(callback =>
{
//start sync
Task syncTask = Task.Factory.StartNew(syncAction =>
{
using (SqlConnection conn =
new SqlConnection(
ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["db"].ConnectionString))
{
conn.Open();
using (SqlCommand syncCommand = new SqlCommand
{
CommandText = "SELECT getdate() \n WAITFOR DELAY '00:11'; ",
CommandTimeout = 600,
Transaction = conn.BeginTransaction(),
Connection = conn
})
{
try
{
IAsyncResult t = syncCommand.BeginExecuteNonQuery();
SpinWait.SpinUntil(() =>
(t.IsCompleted || cancelSource.Token.IsCancellationRequested));
if (cancelSource.Token.IsCancellationRequested && !t.IsCompleted)
syncCommand.Transaction.Rollback();
}
catch (TimeoutException timeoutException)
{
syncCommand.Transaction.Rollback();
//log a failed sync attepmt here
Console.WriteLine(timeoutException.ToString());
}
finally
{
syncCommand.Connection.Close();
}
}
}
}, null, cancelSource.Token);
//set up a timer for processing in the interim, save some time for rollback
System.Threading.Timer spinTimer = new System.Threading.Timer(c => {
cancelSource.Cancel();
}, null, TimeSpan.FromMinutes(9), TimeSpan.FromSeconds(5));
//spin here until the spintimer elapses;
//this is optional, but would be useful for debugging.
SpinWait.SpinUntil(()=>(syncTask.IsCompleted || cancelSource.Token.IsCancellationRequested));
if (syncTask.IsCompleted || cancelSource.Token.IsCancellationRequested)
spinTimer.Dispose();
}, null, TimeSpan.FromMinutes(1), TimeSpan.FromMinutes(10));

Perhaps try this. Please make sure you do not create and use any new threads in DoWork() method.
class DatabaseUpdater
{
private readonly Timer _timer;
private List<Thread> _threads;
private readonly List<DatabaseConfig> _dbConfigs;
public DatabaseUpdater(int seconds, List<DatabaseConfig> dbConfigs)
{
_timer = new Timer(seconds * 1000);
_timer.Elapsed += TimerElapsed;
_dbConfigs = dbConfigs;
}
public void Start()
{
StartThreads();
_timer.Start();
}
public void Stop()
{
_timer.Stop();
StopThreads();
}
void TimerElapsed(object sender, ElapsedEventArgs e)
{
StopThreads();
StartThreads();
}
private void StartThreads()
{
var newThreads = new List<Thread>();
foreach (var config in _dbConfigs)
{
var thread = new Thread(DoWork);
thread.Start(config);
newThreads.Add(thread);
}
_threads = newThreads;
}
private void StopThreads()
{
if (_threads == null) return;
var oldThreads = _threads;
foreach (var thread in oldThreads)
{
thread.Abort();
}
}
static void DoWork(object objConfig)
{
var dbConfig = objConfig as DatabaseConfig;
if (null == dbConfig) return;
var n = GetRandomNumber();
try
{
ConsoleWriteLine("Sync started for : {0} - {1} sec work.", dbConfig.Id, n);
// update/sync db
Thread.Sleep(1000 * n);
ConsoleWriteLine("Sync finished for : {0} - {1} sec work.", dbConfig.Id, n);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
// cancel/rollback db transaction
ConsoleWriteLine("Sync cancelled for : {0} - {1} sec work.",
dbConfig.Id, n);
}
}
static readonly Random Random = new Random();
[MethodImpl(MethodImplOptions.Synchronized)]
static int GetRandomNumber()
{
return Random.Next(5, 20);
}
[MethodImpl(MethodImplOptions.Synchronized)]
static void ConsoleWriteLine(string format, params object[] arg)
{
Console.WriteLine(format, arg);
}
}
static void Main(string[] args)
{
var configs = new List<DatabaseConfig>();
for (var i = 1; i <= 3; i++)
{
configs.Add(new DatabaseConfig() { Id = i });
}
var databaseUpdater = new DatabaseUpdater(10, configs);
databaseUpdater.Start();
Console.ReadKey();
databaseUpdater.Stop();
}