System.Timers.Timer/Threading.Timer vs Thread with WhileLoop + Thread.Sleep For Periodic Tasks

Question

In my application I have to send periodic heartbeats to a \"brother\" application.

Is this better accomplished with System.Timers.Timer/Threading.Timer or Using a Th

Answer 1

Neither :)

Sleeping is typically frowned upon (unfortunately I cannot remember the particulars, but for one, it is an uninteruptible "block"), and Timers come with a lot of baggage. If possible, I would recommend System.Threading.AutoResetEvent as such

// initially set to a "non-signaled" state, ie will block
// if inspected
private readonly AutoResetEvent _isStopping = new AutoResetEvent (false);

public void Process()
{
    TimeSpan waitInterval = TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds (1000);

    // will block for 'waitInterval', unless another thread,
    // say a thread requesting termination, wakes you up. if
    // no one signals you, WaitOne returns false, otherwise
    // if someone signals WaitOne returns true
    for (; !_isStopping.WaitOne (waitInterval); )
    {
        // do your thang!
    }
}

Using an AutoResetEvent (or its cousin ManualResetEvent) guarantees a true block with thread safe signalling (for such things as graceful termination above). At worst, it is a better alternative to Sleep

Hope this helps :)