Run with interval until condition or a certain time elapsed

Question

I need to write a piece of code that is:

Run on every configured interval
Stops after a certain amount of time OR after a condition is met.

I found that I can use a Task with CancellationToken but I can't see any option to run a it again and again within an interval.

Another option I saw is to use System.Threading.Timer - but then I can't cancel the process if a condition is met.

Can someone suggest an elegant solution ?

You can check the condition after the timer is triggered (first action) and skip the processing if needed. — Jeroen Heier, Jan 01 '18 at 12:50
Looking for the Timer.Enabled property? Or a while-statement in a Task with a Task.Delay() inside the loop? The task is easier to stop reliably. — Hans Passant, Jan 01 '18 at 13:22

Peter Bons · Accepted Answer · 2018-01-01T16:55:27.230

You can do this easily using Reactive Extensions:

int maxDurationInseconds = 5;
bool condition = true;

var timer = Observable.Interval(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1))
    .TakeWhile(i => i <= maxDurationInseconds)
    .TakeWhile(i => condition)
    .Subscribe(i => 
    {
        Console.WriteLine(i);
    });

Console.ReadLine();     

timer.Dispose();

The above code will show the elapsed seconds until the threshold is reached or the condition becomes false. i represent the amount of seconds passed.

A good reference for Rx can be found here. Or take a look at the GitHub repo.

Run with interval until condition or a certain time elapsed

1 Answers1