Performing operation in a timely manner

Question

What is the best architecture to perform custom operations (application-level) at an interval?

• Define a static class, define a timer in it, and set the interval. Perform the operation in timer's tick event: Seems like a bit dirty and unreliable.

• Define a windows service, handle operations in the service: Reliable, but needs much more work and it's preferable to have a simpler solution with fewer lines of code. Also, this needs access to the host system (Not applicable if you're on a shared hosting).

Is there any specific design pattern which is considered best practice for this kind of work?

Answer 1

One of the serious problem with (1) solution is that if PC is restarted, switchedoff/switchedon after a couple of days is that you need restart your app.

    void InstallMeOnStartUp()
    {
        try
        {
            Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey key =   Microsoft.Win32.Registry.CurrentUser.OpenSubKey("SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Run", true);
            Assembly curAssembly = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly();
            key.SetValue(curAssembly.GetName().Name, curAssembly.Location);
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            //
        }
    }

Install on startup run. Using this combination can add kind of more "reliability" to your app + easier debugging then service + easier setup then service == easier maintanance then service.

Regards.

Answer 2

Create a Console Application and use Windows Task Scheduler.