Regarding timer in windows form.

Question

1.00/5 (2 votes)

See more:

Hi all,

I wanted to how long the timers in windows form run once they are triggered by an event. Since i have developed an app which has to run continuously, until user stops it. Most likely it should never stop once started. So will the timers run continuously for 24hrs a day & 365 days...?

Posted 13-Mar-13 19:28pm

Jagadisha_Ingenious

Add a Solution

Comments

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 14-Mar-13 1:47am

Why? What timer do you use? There are at least 4 of them.
—SA

Steve44 15-Mar-13 3:15am

What you describe sounds like you want to run some longer executing task in the timer, which is not a good design. For a longer running task you should spin up a separate thread which can be triggered by a timer, but runs independent of it.
If this is not what you intended, please explain in more detail.

Jagadisha_Ingenious 16-Mar-13 4:32am

@Sergy Alexandrovich Kryukov:I am using system timer for getting & windows form timer for updating UI. Which timer among the four available can do the work as told earlier?

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 18-Mar-13 1:38am

It depends on your application. In almost all cases, it's better to use threading. Most usually used timer is System.Timers.Timer.
If you need regular time intervals (such as in animation), never ever use System.Windows.Forms.Timer.

"The work as told"? The problem is: nothing is told. And you still did not answer what timer did you use.
—SA

Jagadisha_Ingenious 18-Mar-13 10:20am

@Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov: Hi, i am using system.threading.timer in my application. I have used one of them for receiving data from serial port & other timer making button change its back color continuously indicating fault as per my application. So do these timers perform as expected, run continuously?

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 18-Mar-13 10:35am

Yes.
—SA

Jagadisha_Ingenious 21-Mar-13 2:31am

@Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov: Sir i have used this system.threading.timer as i told u earlier, but whats happening is it runs continuously for an hour or more than that n suddenly stops. Is it due to overflow of the timer...?

1 solution

Add a Solution

Add your solution here

Treat my content as plain text, not as HTML

Preview 0

…

Existing Members

Sign in to your account

...or Join us

Download, Vote, Comment, Publish.

Your Email
Password
Forgot your password?

Your Email
This email is in use. Do you need your password?
Optional Password

I have read and agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
Please subscribe me to the CodeProject newsletters

When answering a question please:

Read the question carefully.
Understand that English isn't everyone's first language so be lenient of bad spelling and grammar.
If a question is poorly phrased then either ask for clarification, ignore it, or edit the question and fix the problem. Insults are not welcome.
Don't tell someone to read the manual. Chances are they have and don't get it. Provide an answer or move on to the next question.

Let's work to help developers, not make them feel stupid.

This content, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov · Answer 1 · 2013-03-23T15:45:00

Solution 1

No, there is no such thing as "time overflow". It will continue to work with unlimited number of events.

[EDIT]

Please see my comments to this answer. You cannot do what you are trying to do.
Please see my past answer to get a better idea: Polling Database with Timer[^].

—SA

Posted 23-Mar-13 15:45pm

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov

Updated 24-Mar-13 19:19pm

v2

Comments

Jagadisha_Ingenious 25-Mar-13 0:46am

Then why does the timer stop when running? Is it because of the UI i have developed? Sometimes even the system hangs when the timer is running, why is that so...?

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 25-Mar-13 0:57am

It shouldn't. Well, can you make a code sample to manifest this problem? Only short and complete, focused on just one problem. It sounds strange, maybe you did something weird...
—SA

Jagadisha_Ingenious 25-Mar-13 1:13am

private void timer2_Tick(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
for (int n = 0; n < btn.Length; n++)
{
if (errorIndexOne[n] == 1)
{
btnTest.BackgroundImage = global::AnnunciatorMonitoringTool.Properties.Resources.lightbulb;
string str = "insert into ErrorLog values('" + annName + "','" + btn[n].Text + "','" + DateTime.Now.ToShortDateString() + "','" + DateTime.Now.ToShortTimeString() + "')"; ;
DataBaseHandling(str);
if (btn[n].BackColor == Color.LightGreen)
{
btn[n].BackColor = Color.Red;
}
else
{
btn[n].BackColor = Color.LightGreen;
}
}

else if (errorIndexOne[n] != 1)
{
btn[n].BackColor = Color.LightGreen;
}

}

I am trying to record each flashing event of the button in the database. The UI consists of few buttons in a panel & the panel is surrounded by rectangle making it look like a border around the panel. The panel size is changeable based on the no of buttons in it.
This timer2_tick event is fired when a particular data is coming from serial port. I am looking for a particular data from serial port if get that data i fire this timer event & further process the rest.

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 25-Mar-13 1:17am

You cannot do such things. First, a timer cannot guarantee execution in UI thread. You handler does not guarantee that it is complete soon enough. Just imagine what can happen if a new timer event is invoked before it is complete... and a lot more problem. I'll give you one good idea on better approach.
—SA

Jagadisha_Ingenious 25-Mar-13 1:18am

Sure & thanks u sir..

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 25-Mar-13 1:19am

Please see my updated answer, after [EDIT].
—SA

Jagadisha_Ingenious 25-Mar-13 1:21am

Fine sir i will be waiting for it..

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 25-Mar-13 11:28am

Already done, have you seen it. Please see the updated answer, after [EDIT], and the referenced answer.
—SA

Jagadisha_Ingenious 26-Mar-13 1:27am

Sir your answer refers to polling of database & handling it, but i am not polling a database in the app that i have developed, i am just recording the instance when i get an error while polling for data through serial port.

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 26-Mar-13 2:19am

Do you have any generalization skills? :-)

As to serial port, the whole thing may not make sense. It all depends on what happens on the other end of you RS-232 cable, but usually, you just read all what is sent to you. No need in timer at all.

And finally, not matter what you do with the port, don't even play with the idea of not using a separate thread for communication. Thread, thread, and nothing else.

—SA

Jagadisha_Ingenious 2-Apr-13 1:59am

Hi SA, i have tried what u had suggested but still the process is too slow. How to optimize it & increase the speed..?

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 2-Apr-13 2:03am

Well, I cannot be sure you implemented it correctly, you could screw up something...
In my experience, my approach is much more reliable, by several reasons.
—SA