C# Timer and StopWatch Classes

Timer Class

The Timer will generate an event after a set interval. There is an option to generate a sequence of events instead of just one.

This is in the System.Timers namespace.

Constructors

• Timer()

  This creates a new Timer with all properties = default values.

• Timer(double Amount)

  This creates a new Timer with Interval = Amount.

Properties (some of them)

• AutoReset

  This is boolean and indicates whether the Timer should be raised only one event (false) or a sequence of them (true). Default = true.

• Enabled

  This is boolean and indicates whether the Timer should raise events (true) or not (false). Default = false.

• Interval

  This is a double = number of milliseconds between events. Default = 100.

Methods (some of them)

• public void Close()

  Release the resources used by the Timer.

• public void Start()

  Set Enabled = true.

• public void Stop()

  Set Enabled = false.

Events (one of them)

The Elapsed event occurs when the appropriate number of milliseconds has passed.

     public event ElapsedEventHandler Elapsed

The second argument for the event handler will be of type ElapsedEventArgs, which has one property (get only):

     public DateTime SignalTime

giving us the date and time of the event.

Here ElapsedEventHandler is:

     public delegate void ElapsedEventHandler(object sender, ElapsedEventArgs e)

Stopwatch Class

The StopWatch class is intended to allow us to measure elapsed time accurately.

It is in the System.Diagnostics namespace.

In a typical Stopwatch scenario, we call the Start method, do something, call the Stop method, and then check elapsed time using the Elapsed property.

Constructor

     public StopWatch()

This creates a Stopwatch object. Initially it is stopped, and the elapsed time property is 0.

Properties (some of them)

• public TimeSpan Elapsed { get; }

  This will get the total elapsed time as an instance of the TimeSpan struct, which has properties (Days, Hours, Minutes, Seconds, etc,).

• public long ElapsedMilliseconds { get; }

  This will get the the total elapsed time as a number of milliseconds.

• public bool IsRunning { get; }

  This returns true if the Stopwatch instance is currently running and false otherwise.

Methods (some of them)

• public void Start()

  Start or resume measuring elapsed time.

• public void Stop()

  Stop measuring elapsed time.

• public void Restart()

  Stop, reset elapsed time to 0 and start again.