Does a System.Timers.Timer elapse on a separate thread than the thread that created it?
Lets say I have a class with a timer that fires every 5 seconds. When the timer fires, in the elapsed method, some object is modified. Lets say it takes a long time to modify this object, like 10 seconds. Is it possible that I will run into thread collisions in this scenario?
It depends. The System.Timers.Timer has two modes of operation.
If SynchronizingObject is set to an ISynchronizeInvoke instance then the Elapsed event will execute on the thread hosting the synchronizing object. Usually these ISynchronizeInvoke instances are none other than plain old Control and Form instances that we are all familiar with. So in that case the Elapsed event is invoked on the UI thread and it behaves similar to the System.Windows.Forms.Timer. Otherwise, it really depends on the specific ISynchronizeInvoke instance that was used.
If SynchronizingObject is null then the Elapsed event is invoked on a ThreadPool thread and it behaves similar to the System.Threading.Timer. In fact, it actually uses a System.Threading.Timer behind the scenes and does the marshaling operation after it receives the timer callback if needed.
For System.Timers.Timer:
See Brian Gideon's answer below
For System.Threading.Timer:
MSDN Documentation on Timers states:
The System.Threading.Timer class makes
callbacks on a ThreadPool thread and
does not use the event model at all.
So indeed the timer elapses on a different thread.
Each elapsed event will fire in the same thread unless a previous Elapsed is still running.
So it handles the collision for you
try putting this in a console
static void Main(string[] args)
{
Debug.WriteLine(Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId);
var timer = new Timer(1000);
timer.Elapsed += timer_Elapsed;
timer.Start();
Console.ReadLine();
}
static void timer_Elapsed(object sender, ElapsedEventArgs e)
{
Thread.Sleep(2000);
Debug.WriteLine(Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId);
}
you will get something like this
10
6
12
6
12
where 10 is the calling thread and 6 and 12 are firing from the bg elapsed event.
If you remove the Thread.Sleep(2000); you will get something like this
10
6
6
6
6
Since there are no collisions.
But this still leaves u with a problem. if u are firing the event every 5 seconds and it takes 10 seconds to edit u need some locking to skip some edits.
For System.Timers.Timer, on separate thread, if SynchronizingObject is not set.
static System.Timers.Timer DummyTimer = null;
static void Main(string[] args)
{
try
{
Console.WriteLine("Main Thread Id: " + System.Threading.Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId);
DummyTimer = new System.Timers.Timer(1000 * 5); // 5 sec interval
DummyTimer.Enabled = true;
DummyTimer.Elapsed += new System.Timers.ElapsedEventHandler(OnDummyTimerFired);
DummyTimer.AutoReset = true;
DummyTimer.Start();
Console.WriteLine("Hit any key to exit");
Console.ReadLine();
}
catch (Exception Ex)
{
Console.WriteLine(Ex.Message);
}
return;
}
static void OnDummyTimerFired(object Sender, System.Timers.ElapsedEventArgs e)
{
Console.WriteLine(System.Threading.Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId);
return;
}
Output you'd see if DummyTimer fired on 5 seconds interval:
Main Thread Id: 9
12
12
12
12
12
...
So, as seen, OnDummyTimerFired is executed on Workers thread.
No, further complication - If you reduce interval to say 10 ms,
Main Thread Id: 9
11
13
12
22
17
...
This is because if prev execution of OnDummyTimerFired isn't done when next tick is fired, then .NET would create a new thread to do this job.
Complicating things further, "The System.Timers.Timer class provides an easy way to deal with this dilemma—it exposes a public SynchronizingObject property. Setting this property to an instance of a Windows Form (or a control on a Windows Form) will ensure that the code in your Elapsed event handler runs on the same thread on which the SynchronizingObject was instantiated."
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc164015.aspx#S2
If the elapsed event takes longer then the interval, it will create another thread to raise the elapsed event. But there is a workaround for this
static void timer_Elapsed(object sender, ElapsedEventArgs e)
{
try
{
timer.Stop();
Thread.Sleep(2000);
Debug.WriteLine(Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId);
}
finally
{
timer.Start();
}
}
Related
I'm running a basic single threaded application.
Normally, when calling System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(), one would expect this call to effectively block further execution until this method had returned.
However, when using a System.Windows.Forms.Timer, it seems the *same* thread is somehow freeing itself and the Timer's Tick event is firing on this same thread.
What on earth is going on? I have a feeling this may have something to do with threading apartments, but I'd like some clarification.
Recreated in it's simplest form as a Console Application as follows:
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
new Program();
while (true)
{
System.Windows.Forms.Application.DoEvents();
}
}
private System.Windows.Forms.Timer timer;
public Program()
{
timer = new System.Windows.Forms.Timer() { Interval = 2000 };
timer.Tick += timer_Tick;
timer.Start();
}
private void timer_Tick(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
Console.WriteLine(string.Format("Thread {0} has entered", Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId));
var result = MessageBox.Show("Test");
Console.WriteLine(string.Format("Thread {0} has left", Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId));
}
}
Output:
Thread 10 has entered
Thread 10 has entered
Thread 10 has entered
Thread 10 has entered
Thread 10 has entered
When a modal window such as a message box is displayed, the Windows message pump continues to run.
If it didn't, the display of the window behind the modal window wouldn't be updated as you move the modal window around in front of it.
Because Windows messages are still being pumped, the "WM_TIMER" messages will still be sent to the non-foreground window and hence you will see the behaviour you have noted.
The key thing to note is that a Windows timer causes Windows to post "WM_TIMER" messages into the window's event queue, and as long as the window's message pump is running, the timer events will continue to be handled.
One common way to avoid this re-entrancey issue is to disable the timer while handling the tick.
For example, put your tick handling code into a method called handleTimer() and then handle the tick like this:
private void timer_Tick(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
timer.Enabled = false;
try
{
handleTimer();
}
finally
{
timer.Enabled = true;
}
}
(You might want to not re-enable the timer in the event of an exception, in which case you won't need the try/finally logic above.)
I want to run a process every one minute, but I have been told that the Timer is working every x minute + the time required for the process to finish. but I want the thread to work every 1 minute even though the thread process may keep working for 1 hour.
I hope you got me, so in the final image, I may have 10 threads working together.
is that possible ?
Depends on the timer. Simple test shows that System.Threading.Timer works the way you want:
var timer = new Timer(s => { "Start".Dump(); Thread.Sleep(10000); "Hi!".Dump(); },
null, 1000, 1000);
Thread.Sleep(20000);
timer.Dump();
The callback executes every second even though it takes ten seconds to execute.
This is basically because the callback for this particular timer is simply posted to the threadpool, while e.g. System.Windows.Forms.Timer is actually tied to the UI thread. Of course, if you simply start a new thread (or queue work, or start a new task etc.) in the callback of winforms timer, it will work in a similar (albeit less precise) way.
Using the right tool for the job usually makes things much easier :)
Create a Timer and on the elapse event just fire a new thread to do the work, like the below example:
public class Example
{
private static Timer aTimer;
public static void Main()
{
// Create a timer with a two second interval.
aTimer = new Timer(2000);
// Hook up the Elapsed event for the timer.
aTimer.Elapsed += OnTimedEvent;
aTimer.Enabled = true;
Console.WriteLine("Press the Enter key to exit the program... ");
Console.ReadLine();
Console.WriteLine("Terminating the application...");
}
public static void DoWork()
{
var workCounter = 0;
while (workCounter < 100)
{
Console.WriteLine("Alpha.Beta is running in its own thread." + Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId);
Thread.Sleep(1000);
workCounter++;
}
}
private static void OnTimedEvent(Object source, ElapsedEventArgs e)
{
// Create the thread object, passing in the method
// via a delegate.
var oThread = new Thread(DoWork);
// Start the thread
oThread.Start();
}
}
Since .NET 4.0 Tasks are preferred to Threads.
The overhead of Task management is minimal.
// Create a task spawning a working task every 1000 msec
var t = Task.Run(async delegate
{
while (isRunning)
{
await Task.Delay(1000);
Task.Run(() =>
{
//your work
};
}
});
I have this code:
private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
/*start update timer*/
System.Timers.Timer updateticker = new System.Timers.Timer();
updateticker.Elapsed += new ElapsedEventHandler(update_overload);
//10 minute ticker
updateticker.Interval = 600000;
//30 sec ticker
updateticker.Interval = 30000;
updateticker.Enabled = true;
System.Timers.Timer guiTimer = new System.Timers.Timer();
guiTimer.Elapsed += new ElapsedEventHandler(idle_display);
//1 minute ticker
guiTimer.Interval = 60000;
//30 sec ticker
//updateticker.Interval = 30000;
guiTimer.Enabled = true;
}
//run front end idle timer
public void idle_display(object source, ElapsedEventArgs e)
{
if (minutes_left > 0) {
minutes_left = minutes_left - 1;
}
lbl_dyn_status.Text = "Time until next automatic update: "+ minutes_left + " minutes.";
}
Visual studio is flagging the final line of the second function as unsafe cross threading. Can anyone suggest how I rewrite this to solve the issue?
Cheers
Use System.Windows.Forms.Timer instead of System.Timers.Timer
or use SynchronizingObject property of Timer.
When SynchronizingObject is null, the method that handles the Elapsed event is called on a thread from the system-thread pool. For more information on system-thread pools, see ThreadPool.
When the Elapsed event is handled by a visual Windows Forms component, such as a button, accessing the component through the system-thread pool might result in an exception or just might not work. Avoid this effect by setting SynchronizingObject to a Windows Forms component, which causes the method that handles the Elapsed event to be called on the same thread that the component was created on.
As others suggested, use System.Windows.Forms.Timer. Unlike System.Threading.Timer, which operates on Thread Pool threads, it guarantees you that the tick event is invoked on the UI thread.
The UI thread is the only thread allows to modify the UI. This is why you get an exception trying to write lbl_dyn_status.Text.
Use System.Windows.Forms.Timer timer instead of System.Timers.Timer.
Change the handler to
public void IdleDisplay(object source, ElapsedEventArgs e)
{
if (lbl_dyn_status.InvokeRequired)
{
this.Invoke(IdleDisplay)
}
else
{
if (minutes_left > 0)
{
minutes_left = minutes_left - 1;
}
lbl_dyn_status.Text = string.Format(
"Time until next automatic update: {0} minutes.",
minutes_left);
}
}
This way allows you to use the thread free System.Threading.Timer but checks for a cross-thread call in the handler. If detected the call is invoked on the main GUI thread, via the Form class.
This is described on MSDN in more detail here.
More generally, you should not use timers to count time like this. The more thread bound your timer is, the more it is likely to diverge from real elapsed time. You can use your timer to schedule an update of your clock but, you should calculate elapsed time since some fixed point rather than using an iterative counter.
How do I get a timer event to fire one at a time.
For example I have a timer that raises an event every 10 minutes.
The event that is raised takes 10 or more minutes to finish executing.
I would like the timer to reset AFTER the event has finished.
In other words I do not want to raise more than 1 instance of the event at any one time.
Use System.Timers.Timer not the Threading one
Set AutoReset to false.
Then Start it again when you're done.
Usually what I do is have my event stop the timer when it's raised and then restart the timer when the event process completes:
private void timerHandler(object sender, TimerElapsedEventArgs e)
{
Timer timer = (Timer)sender;
timer.Stop();
RunProcess();
timer.Start();
}
public void RunProcess()
{
/* Do stuff that takes longer than my timer interval */
}
Now my timer will start again on completion of the process
It may be difficult to stop timers for efficiency or logic. The following code synchronizes skipping the events.
static readonly object key = new object();
void TimerHandler(object sender, TimerElapsedEventArgs e)
{
if(Monitor.TryEnter(key))
{
try
{
//do your stuff
}
finally
{
Montitor.Exit(key);
}
}
}
Locked. This question and its answers are locked because the question is off-topic but has historical significance. It is not currently accepting new answers or interactions.
I need to create some windows service which will execute every N period of time.
The question is:
Which timer control should I use: System.Timers.Timer or System.Threading.Timer one? Does it influence on something?
I am asking because I heard many evidences to non correct work of System.Timers.Timer in windows services.
Thank you.
Both System.Timers.Timer and System.Threading.Timer will work for services.
The timers you want to avoid are System.Web.UI.Timer and System.Windows.Forms.Timer, which are respectively for ASP applications and WinForms. Using those will cause the service to load an additional assembly which is not really needed for the type of application you are building.
Use System.Timers.Timer like the following example (also, make sure that you use a class level variable to prevent garbage collection, as stated in Tim Robinson's answer):
using System;
using System.Timers;
public class Timer1
{
private static System.Timers.Timer aTimer;
public static void Main()
{
// Normally, the timer is declared at the class level,
// so that it stays in scope as long as it is needed.
// If the timer is declared in a long-running method,
// KeepAlive must be used to prevent the JIT compiler
// from allowing aggressive garbage collection to occur
// before the method ends. (See end of method.)
//System.Timers.Timer aTimer;
// Create a timer with a ten second interval.
aTimer = new System.Timers.Timer(10000);
// Hook up the Elapsed event for the timer.
aTimer.Elapsed += new ElapsedEventHandler(OnTimedEvent);
// Set the Interval to 2 seconds (2000 milliseconds).
aTimer.Interval = 2000;
aTimer.Enabled = true;
Console.WriteLine("Press the Enter key to exit the program.");
Console.ReadLine();
// If the timer is declared in a long-running method, use
// KeepAlive to prevent garbage collection from occurring
// before the method ends.
//GC.KeepAlive(aTimer);
}
// Specify what you want to happen when the Elapsed event is
// raised.
private static void OnTimedEvent(object source, ElapsedEventArgs e)
{
Console.WriteLine("The Elapsed event was raised at {0}", e.SignalTime);
}
}
/* This code example produces output similar to the following:
Press the Enter key to exit the program.
The Elapsed event was raised at 5/20/2007 8:42:27 PM
The Elapsed event was raised at 5/20/2007 8:42:29 PM
The Elapsed event was raised at 5/20/2007 8:42:31 PM
...
*/
If you choose System.Threading.Timer, you can use as follows:
using System;
using System.Threading;
class TimerExample
{
static void Main()
{
AutoResetEvent autoEvent = new AutoResetEvent(false);
StatusChecker statusChecker = new StatusChecker(10);
// Create the delegate that invokes methods for the timer.
TimerCallback timerDelegate =
new TimerCallback(statusChecker.CheckStatus);
// Create a timer that signals the delegate to invoke
// CheckStatus after one second, and every 1/4 second
// thereafter.
Console.WriteLine("{0} Creating timer.\n",
DateTime.Now.ToString("h:mm:ss.fff"));
Timer stateTimer =
new Timer(timerDelegate, autoEvent, 1000, 250);
// When autoEvent signals, change the period to every
// 1/2 second.
autoEvent.WaitOne(5000, false);
stateTimer.Change(0, 500);
Console.WriteLine("\nChanging period.\n");
// When autoEvent signals the second time, dispose of
// the timer.
autoEvent.WaitOne(5000, false);
stateTimer.Dispose();
Console.WriteLine("\nDestroying timer.");
}
}
class StatusChecker
{
int invokeCount, maxCount;
public StatusChecker(int count)
{
invokeCount = 0;
maxCount = count;
}
// This method is called by the timer delegate.
public void CheckStatus(Object stateInfo)
{
AutoResetEvent autoEvent = (AutoResetEvent)stateInfo;
Console.WriteLine("{0} Checking status {1,2}.",
DateTime.Now.ToString("h:mm:ss.fff"),
(++invokeCount).ToString());
if(invokeCount == maxCount)
{
// Reset the counter and signal Main.
invokeCount = 0;
autoEvent.Set();
}
}
}
Both examples comes from the MSDN pages.
Don't use a service for this. Create a normal application and create a scheduled task to run it.
This is the commonly held best practice. Jon Galloway agrees with me. Or maybe its the other way around. Either way, the fact is that it is not best practices to create a windows service to perform an intermittent task run off a timer.
"If you're writing a Windows Service that runs a timer, you should re-evaluate your solution."
–Jon Galloway, ASP.NET MVC community program manager, author, part time superhero
Either one should work OK. In fact, System.Threading.Timer uses System.Timers.Timer internally.
Having said that, it's easy to misuse System.Timers.Timer. If you don't store the Timer object in a variable somewhere, then it is liable to be garbage collected. If that happens, your timer will no longer fire. Call the Dispose method to stop the timer, or use the System.Threading.Timer class, which is a slightly nicer wrapper.
What problems have you seen so far?
I agree with previous comment that might be best to consider a different approach. My suggest would be write a console application and use the windows scheduler:
This will:
Reduce plumbing code that replicates scheduler behaviour
Provide greater flexibility in terms
of scheduling behaviour (e.g. only
run on weekends) with all scheduling logic abstracted from application code
Utilise the command line arguments
for parameters without having to
setup configuration values in config
files etc
Far easier to debug/test during development
Allow a support user to execute by invoking
the console application directly
(e.g. useful during support
situations)
As already stated both System.Threading.Timer and System.Timers.Timer will work. The big difference between the two is that System.Threading.Timer is a wrapper arround the other one.
System.Threading.Timer will have more exception handling while
System.Timers.Timer will swallow all the exceptions.
This gave me big problems in the past so I would always use 'System.Threading.Timer' and still handle your exceptions very well.
I know this thread is a little old but it came in handy for a specific scenario I had and I thought it worth while to note that there is another reason why System.Threading.Timer might be a good approach.
When you have to periodically execute a Job that might take a long time and you want to ensure that the entire waiting period is used between jobs or if you don't want the job to run again before the previous job has finished in the case where the job takes longer than the timer period.
You could use the following:
using System;
using System.ServiceProcess;
using System.Threading;
public partial class TimerExampleService : ServiceBase
{
private AutoResetEvent AutoEventInstance { get; set; }
private StatusChecker StatusCheckerInstance { get; set; }
private Timer StateTimer { get; set; }
public int TimerInterval { get; set; }
public CaseIndexingService()
{
InitializeComponent();
TimerInterval = 300000;
}
protected override void OnStart(string[] args)
{
AutoEventInstance = new AutoResetEvent(false);
StatusCheckerInstance = new StatusChecker();
// Create the delegate that invokes methods for the timer.
TimerCallback timerDelegate =
new TimerCallback(StatusCheckerInstance.CheckStatus);
// Create a timer that signals the delegate to invoke
// 1.CheckStatus immediately,
// 2.Wait until the job is finished,
// 3.then wait 5 minutes before executing again.
// 4.Repeat from point 2.
Console.WriteLine("{0} Creating timer.\n",
DateTime.Now.ToString("h:mm:ss.fff"));
//Start Immediately but don't run again.
StateTimer = new Timer(timerDelegate, AutoEventInstance, 0, Timeout.Infinite);
while (StateTimer != null)
{
//Wait until the job is done
AutoEventInstance.WaitOne();
//Wait for 5 minutes before starting the job again.
StateTimer.Change(TimerInterval, Timeout.Infinite);
}
//If the Job somehow takes longer than 5 minutes to complete then it wont matter because we will always wait another 5 minutes before running again.
}
protected override void OnStop()
{
StateTimer.Dispose();
}
}
class StatusChecker
{
public StatusChecker()
{
}
// This method is called by the timer delegate.
public void CheckStatus(Object stateInfo)
{
AutoResetEvent autoEvent = (AutoResetEvent)stateInfo;
Console.WriteLine("{0} Start Checking status.",
DateTime.Now.ToString("h:mm:ss.fff"));
//This job takes time to run. For example purposes, I put a delay in here.
int milliseconds = 5000;
Thread.Sleep(milliseconds);
//Job is now done running and the timer can now be reset to wait for the next interval
Console.WriteLine("{0} Done Checking status.",
DateTime.Now.ToString("h:mm:ss.fff"));
autoEvent.Set();
}
}