C# Timer
Written by: maffelu , 2009-05-30 13:32:48
About the timer class?
From MSDN:
A Timer is used to raise an event at user-defined intervals. This Windows timer is designed for a single-threaded environment where UI threads are used to perform processing. It requires that the user code have a UI message pump available and always operate from the same thread, or marshal the call onto another thread.
The timer is a useful class that can be used to measure time elapsed between two events. The timer can be started by setting the .Enabled property to true or by using the Start() method. Likewise it can also be turned off by setting the .Enabled property to false or by using the Stop() method.
An example:
Let's make a small forms application that displays a message every second (every 1000 ms that is). We add two buttons (btnStart, btnStop) and a textbox (txtMain) to a form. After that we add a timer control (timTimer) by dragging the timer control onto the form. The timer control will then be represented by a small icon below, it will look like this:
After that we alter the properties of the control and set the .Interval property to 1000 ms:
Then we take a look at the eventlist (by pressing the yellow flash above the properties) and we can see that there is only one event, Tick. Double click on it to open it up for editing:
We can now add something to the event, and we will. This is what we'll do:
private void timTimer_Tick(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
txtMain.AppendText(string.Format("Time: {0}\n", DateTime.Now.ToLongTimeString()));
}
This means that for every tick (for every 1000ms/1sec) the event will fire and add "Time: xxx" to the txtMain textbox.
But we need to be able to fire the event as well, so we'll add something to the buttons click event as well:
private void btnStart_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
timTimer.Enabled = true;
}
private void btnStop_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
timTimer.Enabled = false;
}
The first button, btnStart, will enable the tick, and while enable it will every second enter a new line into the textbox. The second button, btnStop, will stop the timer and it's Tick event.
This is what it will look like:
The full code:
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
private void timTimer_Tick(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
txtMain.AppendText(string.Format("Time: {0}\n", DateTime.Now.ToLongTimeString()));
}
private void btnStart_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
timTimer.Enabled = true;
}
private void btnStop_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
timTimer.Enabled = false;
}
}
There are 12 comments on this article.
AG
2010-08-19 03:00:23
Good Example
Harshal
2011-07-04 23:27:15
It is easy to understand.
GAURAV
2011-07-18 23:25:46
thanks for help, it is simple & good example....
Sathish Babu G
2011-07-21 01:13:12
Short and Sweet !
Usha
2011-07-22 07:29:04
Thanks... it is really simple. The way u explained is simply superb....
Ravi Chandran
2011-08-19 07:33:45
Hi,
This Coding is simply superb and easy to
understand the concept of Timer.
Thanks
ziya
2011-08-21 12:59:19
can u give full use of marquee and timer in c#
Mohamed
2011-09-19 00:50:08
Of the finest examples and the simplest
Thanks you
Kapil
2011-09-25 08:58:31
Excellent
pavan
2011-10-04 18:23:36
nice
rakesh rajput
2011-12-07 05:32:42
nice
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Maffelu
sani
2010-04-28 01:54:38
wonderful article. thanks