[c#] How to call a method daily, at specific time, in C#?

I've searched on SO and found answers about Quartz.net. But it seems to be too big for my project. I want an equivalent solution, but simpler and (at best) in-code (no external library required). How can I call a method daily, at a specific time?

I need to add some information about this:

• the simplest (and ugly) way to do this, is check the time every second/minute and call the method, at right time

I want a more-effective way to do this, no need to check the time constantly, and I have control about whether the job is done a not. If the method fails (because of any problems), the program should know to write to log/send a email. That's why I need to call a method, not schedule a job.

I found this solution Call a method at fixed time in Java in Java. Is there a similar way in C#?

EDIT: I've done this. I added a parameter into void Main(), and created a bat (scheduled by Windows Task Scheduler) to run the program with this parameter. The program runs, does the job, and then exits. If a job fails, it's capable of writing log and sending email. This approach fits my requirements well :)

I just recently wrote a c# app that had to restart daily. I realize this question is old but I don't think it hurts to add another possible solution. This is how I handled daily restarts at a specified time.

public void RestartApp()
{
  AppRestart = AppRestart.AddHours(5);
  AppRestart = AppRestart.AddMinutes(30);
  DateTime current = DateTime.Now;
  if (current > AppRestart) { AppRestart = AppRestart.AddDays(1); }

  TimeSpan UntilRestart = AppRestart - current;
  int MSUntilRestart = Convert.ToInt32(UntilRestart.TotalMilliseconds);

  tmrRestart.Interval = MSUntilRestart;
  tmrRestart.Elapsed += tmrRestart_Elapsed;
  tmrRestart.Start();
}

To ensure your timer is kept in scope I recommend creating it outside of the method using System.Timers.Timer tmrRestart = new System.Timers.Timer() method. Put the method RestartApp() in your form load event. When the application launches it will set the values for AppRestart if current is greater than the restart time we add 1 day to AppRestart to ensure the restart happens on time and that we don't get an exception for putting a negative value into the timer. In the tmrRestart_Elapsed event run whatever code you need ran at that specific time. If your application restarts on it's own you don't necessarily have to stop the timer but it doesn't hurt either, If the application does not restart simply call the RestartApp() method again and you will be good to go.

A simple example for one task:

using System;
using System.Timers;

namespace ConsoleApp
{
    internal class Scheduler
    {
        private static readonly DateTime scheduledTime = 
            new DateTime(DateTime.Now.Year, DateTime.Now.Month, DateTime.Now.Day, 10, 0, 0);
        private static DateTime dateTimeLastRunTask;

        internal static void CheckScheduledTask()
        {
            if (dateTimeLastRunTask.Date < DateTime.Today && scheduledTime.TimeOfDay < DateTime.Now.TimeOfDay)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("Time to run task");
                dateTimeLastRunTask = DateTime.Now;
            }
            else
            {
                Console.WriteLine("not yet time");
            }
        }
    }

    internal class Program
    {
        private static Timer timer;

        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            timer = new Timer(5000);
            timer.Elapsed += OnTimer;
            timer.Start();
            Console.ReadLine();
        }

        private static void OnTimer(object source, ElapsedEventArgs e)
        {
            Scheduler.CheckScheduledTask();
        }
    }
}

I created a simple scheduler that is easy to use and you do not need to use external library. TaskScheduler is a singleton that keeps references on the timers so timers will not be garbage collected, it can schedule multiple tasks. You can set the first run (hour and minute), if at the time of scheduling this time is over scheduling start on the next day this at that time. But it is easy to customize the code.

Scheduling a new task is so simple. Example: At 11:52 the first task is for every 15 secunds, the second example is for every 5 secunds. For daily execution set 24 to the 3 parameter.

TaskScheduler.Instance.ScheduleTask(11, 52, 0.00417, 
    () => 
    {
        Debug.WriteLine("task1: " + DateTime.Now);
        //here write the code that you want to schedule
    });

TaskScheduler.Instance.ScheduleTask(11, 52, 0.00139,
    () =>
    {
        Debug.WriteLine("task2: " + DateTime.Now);
        //here write the code that you want to schedule
    });

My debug window:

task2: 07.06.2017 11:52:00
task1: 07.06.2017 11:52:00
task2: 07.06.2017 11:52:05
task2: 07.06.2017 11:52:10
task1: 07.06.2017 11:52:15
task2: 07.06.2017 11:52:15
task2: 07.06.2017 11:52:20
task2: 07.06.2017 11:52:25
...

Just add this class to your project:

public class TaskScheduler
{
    private static TaskScheduler _instance;
    private List<Timer> timers = new List<Timer>();

    private TaskScheduler() { }

    public static TaskScheduler Instance => _instance ?? (_instance = new TaskScheduler());

    public void ScheduleTask(int hour, int min, double intervalInHour, Action task)
    {
        DateTime now = DateTime.Now;
        DateTime firstRun = new DateTime(now.Year, now.Month, now.Day, hour, min, 0, 0);
        if (now > firstRun)
        {
            firstRun = firstRun.AddDays(1);
        }

        TimeSpan timeToGo = firstRun - now;
        if (timeToGo <= TimeSpan.Zero)
        {
            timeToGo = TimeSpan.Zero;
        }

        var timer = new Timer(x =>
        {
            task.Invoke();
        }, null, timeToGo, TimeSpan.FromHours(intervalInHour));

        timers.Add(timer);
    }
}

I found this very useful:

using System;
using System.Timers;

namespace ScheduleTimer
{
    class Program
    {
        static Timer timer;

        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            schedule_Timer();
            Console.ReadLine();
        }

        static void schedule_Timer()
        {
            Console.WriteLine("### Timer Started ###");

            DateTime nowTime = DateTime.Now;
            DateTime scheduledTime = new DateTime(nowTime.Year, nowTime.Month, nowTime.Day, 8, 42, 0, 0); //Specify your scheduled time HH,MM,SS [8am and 42 minutes]
            if (nowTime > scheduledTime)
            {
                scheduledTime = scheduledTime.AddDays(1);
            }

            double tickTime = (double)(scheduledTime - DateTime.Now).TotalMilliseconds;
            timer = new Timer(tickTime);
            timer.Elapsed += new ElapsedEventHandler(timer_Elapsed);
            timer.Start();
        }

        static void timer_Elapsed(object sender, ElapsedEventArgs e)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("### Timer Stopped ### \n");
            timer.Stop();
            Console.WriteLine("### Scheduled Task Started ### \n\n");
            Console.WriteLine("Hello World!!! - Performing scheduled task\n");
            Console.WriteLine("### Task Finished ### \n\n");
            schedule_Timer();
        }
    }
}

Try to use Windows Task Scheduler. Create an exe which is not prompting for any user inputs.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/taskschd/task-scheduler-start-page

If you want an executable to run, use Windows Scheduled Tasks. I'm going to assume (perhaps erroneously) that you want a method to run in your current program.

Why not just have a thread running continuously storing the last date that the method was called?

Have it wake up every minute (for example) and, if the current time is greater than the specified time and the last date stored is not the current date, call the method then update the date.

Whenever I build applications that require such functionality, I always use the Windows Task Scheduler through a simple .NET library that I found.

Please see my answer to a similar question for some sample code and more explanation.

This little program should be the solution ;-)

I hope this helps everyone.

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

namespace DailyWorker
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            var cancellationSource = new CancellationTokenSource();

            var utils = new Utils();
            var task = Task.Run(
                () => utils.DailyWorker(12, 30, 00, () => DoWork(cancellationSource.Token), cancellationSource.Token));

            Console.WriteLine("Hit [return] to close!");
            Console.ReadLine();

            cancellationSource.Cancel();
            task.Wait();
        }

        private static void DoWork(CancellationToken token)
        {
            while (!token.IsCancellationRequested)
            {
                Console.Write(DateTime.Now.ToString("G"));
                Console.CursorLeft = 0;
                Task.Delay(1000).Wait();
            }
        }
    }

    public class Utils
    {
        public void DailyWorker(int hour, int min, int sec, Action someWork, CancellationToken token)
        {
            while (!token.IsCancellationRequested)
            {
                var dateTimeNow = DateTime.Now;
                var scanDateTime = new DateTime(
                    dateTimeNow.Year,
                    dateTimeNow.Month,
                    dateTimeNow.Day,
                    hour,       // <-- Hour when the method should be started.
                    min,  // <-- Minutes when the method should be started.
                    sec); // <-- Seconds when the method should be started.

                TimeSpan ts;
                if (scanDateTime > dateTimeNow)
                {
                    ts = scanDateTime - dateTimeNow;
                }
                else
                {
                    scanDateTime = scanDateTime.AddDays(1);
                    ts           = scanDateTime - dateTimeNow;
                }

                try
                {
                     Task.Delay(ts).Wait(token);
                }
                catch (OperationCanceledException)
                {
                    break;
                }

                // Method to start
                someWork();
            }
        }
    }
}

It may just be me but it seemed like most of these answers were not complete or would not work correctly. I made something very quick and dirty. That being said not sure how good of an idea it is to do it this way, but it works perfectly every time.

while (true)
{
    if(DateTime.Now.ToString("HH:mm") == "22:00")
    {
        //do something here
        //ExecuteFunctionTask();
        //Make sure it doesn't execute twice by pausing 61 seconds. So that the time is past 2200 to 2201
        Thread.Sleep(61000);
    }

    Thread.Sleep(10000);
}

I know this is old but how about this:

Build a timer to fire at startup that calculates time to next run time. At the first call of the runtime, cancel the first timer and start a new daily timer. change daily to hourly or whatever you want the periodicity to be.

The best method that I know of and probably the simplest is to use the Windows Task Scheduler to execute your code at a specific time of day or have you application run permanently and check for a particular time of day or write a windows service that does the same.

Here's a way to do this using TPL. No need to create/dispose of a timer, etc:

void ScheduleSomething()
{

    var runAt = DateTime.Today + TimeSpan.FromHours(16);

    if (runAt <= DateTime.Now)
    {
        DoSomething();
    }
    else
    {
        var delay = runAt - DateTime.Now;
        System.Threading.Tasks.Task.Delay(delay).ContinueWith(_ => DoSomething());
    }

}

void DoSomething()
{
    // do somethig
}

Solution with System.Threading.Timer:

    private void nameOfMethod()
    {
        //do something
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// run method at 22:00 every day
    /// </summary>
    private void runMethodEveryDay()
    {
        var runAt = DateTime.Today + TimeSpan.FromHours(22);

        if(runAt.Hour>=22)
            runAt = runAt.AddDays(1.00d); //if aplication is started after 22:00 

        var dueTime = runAt - DateTime.Now; //time before first run ; 

        long broj3 = (long)dueTime.TotalMilliseconds;
        TimeSpan ts2 = new TimeSpan(24, 0, 1);//period of repeating method
        long broj4 = (long)ts2.TotalMilliseconds;
        timer2 = new System.Threading.Timer(_ => nameOfMethod(), null, broj3, broj4);
    }

Rather than setting a time to run every second of every 60 minutes you can calculate the time remaining and set the timer to half (or some other fraction) of this. This way your not checking the time as much but also maintianing a degree of accurcy as the timer interval reduces the closer you get to your target time.

For example if you wanted to do something 60 minutes from now the timers intervals would be aproximatly:

30:00:00, 15:00:00, 07:30:00, 03:45:00, ... , 00:00:01, RUN!

I use the code below to automatically restart a service once a day. I use a thread becuase I have found timers to be unreliable over long periods, while this is more costly in this example it is the only one created for this purpose so this dosn't matter.

(Converted from VB.NET)

autoRestartThread = new System.Threading.Thread(autoRestartThreadRun);
autoRestartThread.Start();

...

private void autoRestartThreadRun()
{
    try {
        DateTime nextRestart = DateAndTime.Today.Add(CurrentSettings.AutoRestartTime);
        if (nextRestart < DateAndTime.Now) {
            nextRestart = nextRestart.AddDays(1);
        }

        while (true) {
            if (nextRestart < DateAndTime.Now) {
                LogInfo("Auto Restarting Service");
                Process p = new Process();
                p.StartInfo.FileName = "cmd.exe";
                p.StartInfo.Arguments = string.Format("/C net stop {0} && net start {0}", "\"My Service Name\"");
                p.StartInfo.LoadUserProfile = false;
                p.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
                p.StartInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
                p.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
                p.Start();
            } else {
                dynamic sleepMs = Convert.ToInt32(Math.Max(1000, nextRestart.Subtract(DateAndTime.Now).TotalMilliseconds / 2));
                System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(sleepMs);
            }
        }
    } catch (ThreadAbortException taex) {
    } catch (Exception ex) {
        LogError(ex);
    }
}

Note I have set a mininum interval of 1000 ms, this could be increaded, reduced or removed depending upon the accurcy you require.

Remember to also stop your thread/timer when your application closes.

24 hours times

var DailyTime = "16:59:00";
            var timeParts = DailyTime.Split(new char[1] { ':' });

            var dateNow = DateTime.Now;
            var date = new DateTime(dateNow.Year, dateNow.Month, dateNow.Day,
                       int.Parse(timeParts[0]), int.Parse(timeParts[1]), int.Parse(timeParts[2]));
            TimeSpan ts;
            if (date > dateNow)
                ts = date - dateNow;
            else
            {
                date = date.AddDays(1);
                ts = date - dateNow;
            }

            //waits certan time and run the code
            Task.Delay(ts).ContinueWith((x) => OnTimer());

public void OnTimer()
    {
        ViewBag.ErrorMessage = "EROOROOROROOROR";
    }

As others have said you can use a console app to run when scheduled. What others haven't said is that you can this app trigger a cross process EventWaitHandle which you are waiting on in your main application.

Console App:

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        EventWaitHandle handle = 
            new EventWaitHandle(true, EventResetMode.ManualReset, "GoodMutexName");
        handle.Set();
    }
}

Main App:

private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    // Background thread, will die with application
    ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem((dumby) => EmailWait());
}

private void EmailWait()
{
    EventWaitHandle handle = 
        new EventWaitHandle(false, EventResetMode.ManualReset, "GoodMutexName");

    while (true)
    {
        handle.WaitOne();

        SendEmail();

        handle.Reset();
    }
}

I have a simple approach to this. This creates a 1 minute delay before the action happens. You could add seconds as well to make the Thread.Sleep(); shorter.

private void DoSomething(int aHour, int aMinute)
{
    bool running = true;
    while (running)
    {
        Thread.Sleep(1);
        if (DateTime.Now.Hour == aHour && DateTime.Now.Minute == aMinute)
        {
            Thread.Sleep(60 * 1000); //Wait a minute to make the if-statement false
            //Do Stuff
        }
    }
}