Implement c# timeout

Question

Is it bad practice to use such while loop? Maybe it is better to use Stopwatch, or maybe this solution has some pitfalls?

    public void DoWork()
    {
        //do some preparation
        DateTime startTime = DateTime.Now;
        int rowsCount = 0;
        int finalCount = getFinalCount();
        do
        {
            Thread.Sleep(1000);
            rowsCount = getRowsCount(); // gets rows count from database, rows are added by external app.
        } while (rowsCount < finalCount && DateTime.Now - startTime < TimeSpan.FromMinutes(10));

    }

I saw this article Implement C# Generic Timeout, but it is too complex to use in simple scenarios - you need to think about sync of threads, is it proper to abort them or not and so on.

What do you want to do with Creating a TimeOut exactly? If you tell your whole scenerio, maybe we can offer different way to use. — Serkan Hekimoglu
– Serkan Hekimoglu, Commented Feb 16, 2011 at 16:16
Related / duplicate: stackoverflow.com/questions/3195030/thread-timeout-in-c — RQDQ
– RQDQ, Commented Feb 16, 2011 at 16:16
Just need to stop work after some period of time - start work, if it runs more than 10 minutes stop the work. The thread that calls the method can be blocked. — Andriy Kizym
– Andriy Kizym, Commented Feb 16, 2011 at 16:18
@anderhil: what is that work? Do you control that code? Do you realize that by sleeping, you're not working? You may want to provide a better example. — R. Martinho Fernandes
– R. Martinho Fernandes, Commented Feb 16, 2011 at 16:21
@Martinho Fernandes: updated the question. getRowsCount get rows from database table. Table is updated by external app, I need to wait for specific amount of rows in database which i get with getFinalCount method. But there can be a situation that nothing is updated and to prevent the infinite while loop i want to wait some time and then stop the work. — Andriy Kizym
– Andriy Kizym, Commented Feb 16, 2011 at 16:32

Jim Mischel · Accepted Answer · 2011-02-16 16:31:53Z

16

As I understand it, you want your method to do some work until it's done or until some period of time has elapsed? I would use a Stopwatch for that, and check the elapsed time in a loop:

void DoWork()
{
    // we'll stop after 10 minutes
    TimeSpan maxDuration = TimeSpan.FromMinutes(10);
    Stopwatch sw = Stopwatch.StartNew();
    DoneWithWork = false;

    while (sw.Elapsed < maxDuration && !DoneWithWork)
    {
        // do some work
        // if all the work is completed, set DoneWithWork to True
    }

    // Either we finished the work or we ran out of time.
}

answered Feb 16, 2011 at 16:31

Jim Mischel

135k25 gold badges197 silver badges377 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

4 Comments

Andriy Kizym Over a year ago

Thanks for the answer. I thought about Stopwatch at first, then I decided that DateTime is simpler, can you explain why Stopwatch is better? I thought it's implementation based on DateTime...

R. Martinho Fernandes Over a year ago

@anderhil: I think Stopwatch is much more readable :). The only other advantage over DateTime.Now is that Stopwatch can have a higher resolution (not that it matters for you problem, though).

Jim Mischel Over a year ago

I wouldn't use DateTime because the date can change underneath me come Daylight Saving Time. It could cause the code to wait too long (an hour and 10 minutes) or it could cause the code not to wait long enough. But Stopwatch knows how many minutes have elapsed, regardless of what time it is.

Richard Moore Over a year ago

This is a nice clean solution - thanks. I like the use of stopwatch because sw.Elapsed < maxDuration is much clearer to read than formulae involving DateTime.Now().

John Pick · Accepted Answer · 2011-02-16 16:23:40Z

1

It is better to use the System.Timers.Timer class.

answered Feb 16, 2011 at 16:23

John Pick

5,69033 silver badges31 bronze badges

2 Comments

R. Martinho Fernandes Over a year ago

That's not what Timer is for.

Cedric Reichenbach Over a year ago

Yes, but what I was searching for... :D "Timeout" may be misleading, because Javascript's setTimeout() method actually does what System.Timers.Timer does in C#.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Implement c# timeout

2 Answers 2

4 Comments

2 Comments

Your Answer

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

4 Comments

2 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Linked

Related