Timed action using C#

[bgowland]

I need to run a particular bit of code in a System Service every hour shortly after the hour (~5 mins but not too critical).

I'm doing this with a System.Timers.Timer and setting it to fire every 3600000 ms which is working but I've noticed in 12 hours, it has drifted forwards by over 1 minute (in particular between the ~4pm -> ~5pm calls)...

Code:

09/02/2011 11:05:46.385 onTimerElapsed called...
09/02/2011 12:05:45.855 onTimerElapsed called...
...
09/02/2011 16:05:43.735 onTimerElapsed called...
09/02/2011 17:04:30.159 onTimerElapsed called...
...
09/02/2011 23:04:25.535 onTimerElapsed called...

I could check the 'Minute' part of DateTime.Now each time it's called and recalculate the next delay but I was just wondering if there's anything more accurate for doing this.

I'm sure I've done something similar in the past but can't think of how I did it and Google seems to just throw up examples of System.Timers.Timer.

[psycik]

I'd set the timer shorter, like to between 10 and 30 mins and check against a variable. Kind of like what you were saying, check the Minute value.

I've never found, or needed any more accuracy than that.

[UncleJohnsBand]

I wrote a Titan Tv remote service interface once and I set a timer using a check value set in the config file for the service....then converted it to milliseconds and then use the thread sleep in a looping routine.....

Code:

//Pull user set value from config file
                checkHr = ConfigSettings.ReadSetting("CheckIntervalHr");
                checkMin = ConfigSettings.ReadSetting("CheckIntervalMin");
                checkSec = ConfigSettings.ReadSetting("CheckIntervalSec");
                
                //convert user sleep factor to milliseonds
                sleepFactor = Convert.ToInt32(checkHr)*360;
                sleepFactor += Convert.ToInt32(checkMin)*60;
                sleepFactor += Convert.ToInt32(checkSec);
                sleepFactor = sleepFactor*1000;

                //At end of loop routine within the service sleep the thread based on
                //calculated sleepFactor.....was always very precise for me
                
                Thread.Sleep(sleepFactor);

[bgowland]

Thanks guys,

I'd set the timer shorter, like to between 10 and 30 mins and check against a variable. Kind of like what you were saying, check the Minute value.

I've never found, or needed any more accuracy than that.

I've decided I need a 30 minute check anyway so I'll just adjust the 'minute' if it drifts.

I wrote a Titan Tv remote service interface once and I set a timer using a check value set in the config file for the service....then converted it to milliseconds and then use the thread sleep in a looping routine....

Now you mention it, Thread.Sleep() is probably what I was thinking of - I've used it in the past and it was always pretty consistent. I'd need to rework my code a bit though so perhaps I'll try that in my next version (plenty of other stuff to tie up at the moment).

CHeers,
Brian