BackgroundTimer

An easy to use timer that runs in the background and provides useful functions like callbacks and states. For ideas, feedback or anything else just open an issue.

🟡 Project status: Maintenance mode^[?]

Package	NuGet
BlyZe.BackgroundTimer

How to use

Initialize a new BackgroundTimer instance.

var timer = new BackgroundTimer();

You can create a callback method

static void BackgroundTimerCallback(int tick) => Console.WriteLine("Current tick: " + tick); //tick is the current tick of the running timer

Then you can start the timer with that callback method so it get executed on every tick

timer.Start(TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(69), BackgroundTimerCallback); //Starts a timer that executes the callback method every 69 milliseconds

To stop the timer just call the Stop(); or StopAsync(); method

timer.Stop(); //Stops the timer

await timer.StopAsync(); //Stops the timer asynchronously

await timer.StopAsync(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(5)); //Stops the timer asynchronously after 5 seconds

You can get information about a timer instance

int currentTick = timer.CurrentTick; //Get the current tick the timer is on
BackgroundTimerState currentState = timer.State; //Get the current timer state
TimeSpan timerPeriod = timer.Period; //Get the period the timer is running on

Important Note

You can only run one timer with one instance. If you want to run multiple timers simultaneously you have to create multiple timer instances.

Wrong Example

var timer = new BackgroundTimer();

timer.Start(TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(69), BackgroundTimerCallback, TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1.5));
timer.Start(TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(420), BackgroundTimerCallback); //That timer will not run

Right Example

var timer = new BackgroundTimer();

timer.Start(TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(69), BackgroundTimerCallback, TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1.5)); //Starts the timer

await Task.Delay(2500); //Imitates timer running

//NOTE: You have to use the StopAsync(); method or a while loop to wait for the timer to stop otherwise the timer.Start(); executes before the timer actually stopped!

//First variant - async
if (timer.State is not BackgroundTimerState.NotRunning) await timer.StopAsync();

timer.Start(TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(420), BackgroundTimerCallback); //Start new timer safely

//Second variant - loop
if (timer.State is not BackgroundTimerState.NotRunning) timer.Stop();
while (timer.State is not BackgroundTimerState.NotRunning) { }

timer.Start(TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(420), BackgroundTimerCallback); //Start new timer safely