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Yes - that Jake.
Yes - that Jake.

Reputation: 17121

Threading.Timer vs. Forms.Timer

The short form of this question: When, if ever, is it appropriate to use the Forms.Timer in a multithreaded WinForms application?

More specifically, I am architecting an application that uses multiple System.Threading.Timers to launch processes asynchronously, check queues containing the results of those asynchronous processes, and update the statistics to be shown by the application's main form.

In an application like that, is it appropriate to use a Forms.Timer to actually check the application statistics and draw them to the main form or would that just throw a wrench into the application's smooth running?

Upvotes: 21

Views: 10239

Answers (3)

Steven A. Lowe
Steven A. Lowe

Reputation: 61223

I agree with what Mehrdad and David said, but you should be aware that timers offer no guarantee of timeliness or order or execution. Too many timers and the application will just hang ;-)

Upvotes: 2

Mehrdad Afshari
Mehrdad Afshari

Reputation: 421968

Forms.Timer registers the timer to send a message when the timer goes off. The event raised is treated like a GUI event. System.Threading.Timer uses a thread blocking approach. Basically, you should use Forms.Timer for your GUI oriented timers (to add some effects to the user interface) and Threading.Timer for scheduling tasks and other things.

Upvotes: 26

t3rse
t3rse

Reputation: 10124

MSDN had a comparison article that does the subject justice.

Upvotes: 16

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