How to call a method daily at specific time in C

Question

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

User · Answer

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);
    }
}

User · Answer

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    gt  EmailWait        private void EmailWait         EventWaitHandle handle            new EventWaitHandle false  EventResetMode ManualReset   GoodMutexName         while  true                handle WaitOne             SendEmail             handle Reset

User · Answer

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

User · Answer

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

User · Answer

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  lt  DateTime Today  amp  amp  scheduledTime TimeOfDay  lt  DateTime Now TimeOfDay                                Console WriteLine  quot Time to run task quot                    dateTimeLastRunTask   DateTime Now                            else                               Console WriteLine  quot not yet time quot                                       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

User · Answer

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  amp  amp  DateTime Now Minute    aMinute                        Thread Sleep 60   1000     Wait a minute to make the if-statement false               Do Stuff

User · Answer

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  lt  DateAndTime Now                nextRestart   nextRestart AddDays 1                      while  true                if  nextRestart  lt  DateAndTime Now                    LogInfo  Auto Restarting Service                    Process p   new Process                    p StartInfo FileName    cmd exe                   p StartInfo Arguments   string Format   C net stop  0   amp  amp  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

User · Answer

Create a console app that does what you re looking for Use the Windows  Scheduled Tasks  functionality to have that console app executed at the time you need it to run   That s really all you need   Update  if you want to do this inside your app  you have several options    in a Windows Forms app  you could tap into the Application Idle event and check to see whether you ve reached the time in the day to call your method  This method is only called when your app isn t busy with other stuff  A quick check to see if your target time has been reached shouldn t put too much stress on your app  I think    in a ASP NET web app  there are methods to  simulate  sending out scheduled events - check out this CodeProject article and of course  you can also just simply  roll your own  in any  NET app - check out this CodeProject article for a sample implementation   Update  2  if you want to check every 60 minutes  you could create a timer that wakes up every 60 minutes and if the time is up  it calls the method   Something like this   using System Timers   const double interval60Minutes   60   60   1000     milliseconds to one hour  Timer checkForTime   new Timer interval60Minutes   checkForTime Elapsed    new ElapsedEventHandler checkForTime Elapsed   checkForTime Enabled   true    and then in your event handler   void checkForTime Elapsed object sender  ElapsedEventArgs e        if  timeIsReady                 SendEmail

User · Answer

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  lt   DateTime Now                DoSomething              else               var delay   runAt - DateTime Now          System Threading Tasks Task Delay delay  ContinueWith     gt  DoSomething               void DoSomething            do somethig

User · Answer

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  gt  dateNow                  ts   date - dateNow              else                               date   date AddDays 1                   ts   date - dateNow                               waits certan time and run the code             Task Delay ts  ContinueWith  x    gt  OnTimer      public void OnTimer                 ViewBag ErrorMessage    EROOROOROROOROR

User · Answer

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  gt  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

User · Answer

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

User · Answer

Solution with System Threading Timer       private void nameOfMethod                   do something                 lt summary gt          run method at 22 00 every day          lt  summary gt      private void runMethodEveryDay                 var runAt   DateTime Today   TimeSpan FromHours 22            if runAt Hour gt  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     gt  nameOfMethod    null  broj3  broj4

User · Answer

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                       gt  utils DailyWorker 12  30  00       gt  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            lt -- Hour when the method should be started                      min       lt -- Minutes when the method should be started                      sec       lt -- Seconds when the method should be started                   TimeSpan ts                  if  scanDateTime  gt  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

User · Answer

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

User · Answer

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  gt  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

User · Answer

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

User · Answer

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

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

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