Synchronizing a timer to prevent overlap

Question

I\'m writing a Windows service that runs a variable length activity at intervals (a database scan and update). I need this task to run frequently, but the code to handle isn

Answer 1

instead of locking (which could cause all of your timed scans to wait and eventually stack up). You could start the scan/update in a thread and then just do a check to see if the thread is still alive.

Thread updateDBThread = new Thread(MyUpdateMethod);

...

private void timer_Elapsed(object sender, ElapsedEventArgs e)
{
    if(!updateDBThread.IsAlive)
        updateDBThread.Start();
}