Is there a Task based replacement for System.Threading.Timer?

Question

I\'m new to .Net 4.0\'s Tasks and I wasn\'t able to find what I thought would be a Task based replacement or implementation of a Timer, e.g. a periodic Task. Is there such a

Answer 1

UPDATE I am marking the answer below as the "answer" since this is old enough now that we should be using the async/await pattern. No need to downvote this anymore. LOL

---

As Amy answered, there is no Tasked based periodic/timer implementation. However, based upon my original UPDATE, we have evolved this into something quite useful and production tested. Thought I would share:

using System;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Threading;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

namespace ConsoleApplication7
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            Task perdiodicTask = PeriodicTaskFactory.Start(() =>
            {
                Console.WriteLine(DateTime.Now);
            }, intervalInMilliseconds: 2000, // fire every two seconds...
               maxIterations: 10);           // for a total of 10 iterations...

            perdiodicTask.ContinueWith(_ =>
            {
                Console.WriteLine("Finished!");
            }).Wait();
        }
    }

    /// 

    /// Factory class to create a periodic Task to simulate a  using Tasks.
    /// 
    public static class PeriodicTaskFactory
    {
        /// 

        /// Starts the periodic task.
        /// 
        /// The action.
        /// The interval in milliseconds.
        /// The delay in milliseconds, i.e. how long it waits to kick off the timer.
        /// The duration.
        /// If the duration is set to 10 seconds, the maximum time this task is allowed to run is 10 seconds.
        /// The max iterations.
        /// if set to true executes each period in a blocking fashion and each periodic execution of the task
        /// is included in the total duration of the Task.
        /// The cancel token.
        ///  used to create the task for executing the .
        /// A 
        /// 
        /// Exceptions that occur in the  need to be handled in the action itself. These exceptions will not be 
        /// bubbled up to the periodic task.
        /// 
        public static Task Start(Action action,
                                 int intervalInMilliseconds = Timeout.Infinite,
                                 int delayInMilliseconds = 0,
                                 int duration = Timeout.Infinite,
                                 int maxIterations = -1,
                                 bool synchronous = false,
                                 CancellationToken cancelToken = new CancellationToken(),
                                 TaskCreationOptions periodicTaskCreationOptions = TaskCreationOptions.None)
        {
            Stopwatch stopWatch = new Stopwatch();
            Action wrapperAction = () =>
            {
                CheckIfCancelled(cancelToken);
                action();
            };

            Action mainAction = () =>
            {
                MainPeriodicTaskAction(intervalInMilliseconds, delayInMilliseconds, duration, maxIterations, cancelToken, stopWatch, synchronous, wrapperAction, periodicTaskCreationOptions);
            };

            return Task.Factory.StartNew(mainAction, cancelToken, TaskCreationOptions.LongRunning, TaskScheduler.Current);
        }

        /// 

        /// Mains the periodic task action.
        /// 
        /// The interval in milliseconds.
        /// The delay in milliseconds.
        /// The duration.
        /// The max iterations.
        /// The cancel token.
        /// The stop watch.
        /// if set to true executes each period in a blocking fashion and each periodic execution of the task
        /// is included in the total duration of the Task.
        /// The wrapper action.
        ///  used to create a sub task for executing the .
        private static void MainPeriodicTaskAction(int intervalInMilliseconds,
                                                   int delayInMilliseconds,
                                                   int duration,
                                                   int maxIterations,
                                                   CancellationToken cancelToken,
                                                   Stopwatch stopWatch,
                                                   bool synchronous,
                                                   Action wrapperAction,
                                                   TaskCreationOptions periodicTaskCreationOptions)
        {
            TaskCreationOptions subTaskCreationOptions = TaskCreationOptions.AttachedToParent | periodicTaskCreationOptions;

            CheckIfCancelled(cancelToken);

            if (delayInMilliseconds > 0)
            {
                Thread.Sleep(delayInMilliseconds);
            }

            if (maxIterations == 0) { return; }

            int iteration = 0;

            ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
            // using a ManualResetEventSlim as it is more efficient in small intervals.
            // In the case where longer intervals are used, it will automatically use 
            // a standard WaitHandle....
            // see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/vstudio/5hbefs30(v=vs.100).aspx
            using (ManualResetEventSlim periodResetEvent = new ManualResetEventSlim(false))
            {
                ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
                // Main periodic logic. Basically loop through this block
                // executing the action
                while (true)
                {
                    CheckIfCancelled(cancelToken);

                    Task subTask = Task.Factory.StartNew(wrapperAction, cancelToken, subTaskCreationOptions, TaskScheduler.Current);

                    if (synchronous)
                    {
                        stopWatch.Start();
                        try
                        {
                            subTask.Wait(cancelToken);
                        }
                        catch { /* do not let an errant subtask to kill the periodic task...*/ }
                        stopWatch.Stop();
                    }

                    // use the same Timeout setting as the System.Threading.Timer, infinite timeout will execute only one iteration.
                    if (intervalInMilliseconds == Timeout.Infinite) { break; }

                    iteration++;

                    if (maxIterations > 0 && iteration >= maxIterations) { break; }

                    try
                    {
                        stopWatch.Start();
                        periodResetEvent.Wait(intervalInMilliseconds, cancelToken);
                        stopWatch.Stop();
                    }
                    finally
                    {
                        periodResetEvent.Reset();
                    }

                    CheckIfCancelled(cancelToken);

                    if (duration > 0 && stopWatch.ElapsedMilliseconds >= duration) { break; }
                }
            }
        }

        /// 

        /// Checks if cancelled.
        /// 
        /// The cancel token.
        private static void CheckIfCancelled(CancellationToken cancellationToken)
        {
            if (cancellationToken == null)
                throw new ArgumentNullException("cancellationToken");

            cancellationToken.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
        }
    }
}

Output:

2/18/2013 4:17:13 PM
2/18/2013 4:17:15 PM
2/18/2013 4:17:17 PM
2/18/2013 4:17:19 PM
2/18/2013 4:17:21 PM
2/18/2013 4:17:23 PM
2/18/2013 4:17:25 PM
2/18/2013 4:17:27 PM
2/18/2013 4:17:29 PM
2/18/2013 4:17:31 PM
Finished!
Press any key to continue . . .