Timer Objects in Windows Services with C#.NET
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Timer events can be very useful when you need to run a routine on a regular basis. In .NET, creating Windows services with the timer object is very easy to do. In this article we are going to create a timer which writes text to a file on regular intervals, and we’ll employ a Windows Service to control the timer.
Timer Object Concept
From the timer object (in the System.Timers namespace) we use the following properties and events:
Elapsed: Everything in the timer evolves around the Elapsed event, which is the event that is raised every interval. You create code to be executed and call that code in the Elapsed event.
Interval: Used to set the time between raising the Elapsed event.
AutoReset: Ensures that the timer will be reset after every Elapse event. Therefore, if you would only like to execute the Elapse event once, you set the AutoReset property to false. When you omit the AutoReset property, it is assumed to be true.
Enabled: Used to tell the timer to start or stop.
Windows Service Concept
A Windows Service has very defined start and stop events. Starting and stopping timers using these events is very organized and is run as a background process. If you define the Windows Service to start automatically, you need not worry about starting the timer again; this background process will keep on running until you stop the service and disable it. Since this is a background process, there will not be a user interface to dialog with the user. In case of exceptions, messages would be written to the Windows Event Log.
Every Windows Service must have a Main method where you issue a Run command, which loads the service into the Services Control Manager. However, if you use Visual Studio.NET, all this code will be generated automatically.
Next: Setting up the Project >>
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