how to continuously run a c# console application in background

Question

I would like to know how to run a c# program in background every five minute increments. The code below is not what I would like to run as a background process but would like to find out the best possible method to do this using this code so that I can implement it on another code. so this process should run after a five minute increment. I know I could use threads to do so, but dont really now how to implement this. I know this is the best way How to run a console application on system Startup , without appearing it on display(background process)? this to run in the background, but how would I have the code running in five minute increments

 class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            Console.Write("hellow world");
            Console.ReadLine();
        }
    }

If there is no output in the application, you should consider creating a service instead. — Theodoros Chatzigiannakis, Jul 02 '13 at 14:58
If there is no output in the application, why you wrote `Console.Write` ? — Soner Gönül, Jul 02 '13 at 14:59
is this is same question http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2686289/how-to-run-a-net-console-app-in-the-background — Glory Raj, Jul 02 '13 at 14:59
Make windows service using TopShelf and then in While(true) scope put Thread.Sleep(5*60*1000) — Kamil Budziewski, Jul 02 '13 at 15:01
Do you want to write a program that is doing something every 5 minutes? Or do you have a program where you don't have source code access and which you want to start every 5 minutes? — Werner Henze, Jul 02 '13 at 15:16

score 10 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 02 '13 at 14:59

10

This app should run continuously, putting out a message every 5 minutes.
Isn't that what you want?

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        while (true) {
            Console.Write("hellow world");
            System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(1000 * 60 * 5); // Sleep for 5 minutes
        }

    }
}

answered Jul 02 '13 at 14:59

abelenky

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@Cemafor He edited the answer after my comment. His initial code would run regardless of an interval. I have deleted it since it is no longer relevant – DGibbs Jul 02 '13 at 15:03
1

why would you need a while – user2543131 Jul 02 '13 at 15:07
The `while(true)` will cause the loop to run forever or until you terminate the app.. – DGibbs Jul 02 '13 at 15:09
while true is needed to don't let the app reach the end. – VeNoMiS Jul 02 '13 at 15:09
yeah.. but that whill sleep for five minutes not run every five minutes – user2543131 Jul 02 '13 at 15:32
1

The `Console.Write` will be run every 5 minutes. Replace that line with whatever other code/function you want to run every 5 minutes. – abelenky Jul 02 '13 at 15:33

DGibbs · Accepted Answer · 2013-07-03T08:21:44.813

7

Why not just use Windows Task Scheduler?

Set it to run your app at the desired interval. It's perfect for this sort of job and you don't have to mess about with forcing threads to sleep which can create more problems that it solves.

edited Jul 03 '13 at 08:21

answered Jul 02 '13 at 15:02

DGibbs

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ScionofSeraphs · Answer 3 · 2013-07-02T15:23:47.100

2

How about using a System.Windows.Threading.DispatcherTimer?

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        DispatcherTimer timer = new DispatcherTimer();
        timer.Interval = new TimeSpan(0, 5, 0); // sets it to 5 minutes
        timer.Tick += new EventHandler(timer_Tick);
        timer.Start();
    }

    static void timer_Tick(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        // whatever you want to happen every 5 minutes
    }

}

edited Jul 02 '13 at 15:23

answered Jul 02 '13 at 15:16

ScionofSeraphs

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You just need to prevent closing of the console app here. – Teoman shipahi Nov 09 '15 at 07:16
put a `Console.ReadLine()` at the end and it will keep running. – Robert Koritnik Nov 24 '15 at 02:30

score 1 · Answer 4 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:54

Probably the simplest way to "fire" a new process every X minutes is to use Windows Task Scheduler.

You could of course do something similar programmatically, e.g. create your own service, that starts the console application every X minutes.

All this under assumption you actually want to close the application before the next iteration. Alternatively, you might just keep it active the whole time. You might use one of the timer classes to fire events periodically, or even a Thread.Sleep in a very simplified scenario....

how to continuously run a c# console application in background

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