Displaying next sampling time date and time without freezing WPF form in C#

Question

I am writing a code in WPF & C# to display next sampling time in Date and time format. For example, if sampling time is one minute and current time is 08:00 - the next sampling time should show 08:01, Next sampling time is displayed once 08:01 has passed.

I have tried using dispatcherTimer and sleep thread. But when I use the whole WPF form freezes until next update.

Could you please help me?

code ->

 public float samplingTime = 1;
        

        public MainWindow()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
            timer.Interval = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1);
            timer.Tick += timer_Tick;
            timer.Start();
            tboxSampling.Text = DateTime.Now.AddSeconds(samplingTime).ToString();
            void timer_Tick(object sender, EventArgs e)
            {
                System.Threading.Thread.Sleep((int)samplingTime*1000);
                tboxSampling.Text = DateTime.Now.AddSeconds(samplingTime).ToString();
            }

        }

You should not be using `Thread.Sleep` at all. Simply modify your timer interval or skip timer ticks. If you want to wait without blocking the thread you could also use `await Task.Delay(...)`. But that's unnecessary here. The whole point of a timer is to fire X often. — Zer0, Jan 24 '21 at 07:30
No need to sleep. The `Tick` is fired every `Interval` although note that accuracy may not be great so you may skip seconds — Charlieface, Jan 24 '21 at 07:32
This seems to work correctly `code` //timer to display sampling time in time window tboxSampling.Text = DateTime.Now.AddSeconds(samplingTime).ToString(); timer.Interval = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(samplingTime); timer.Tick += timer_Tick; timer.Start(); void timer_Tick(object sender, EventArgs e) { dtEnd = DateTime.Now.AddSeconds(samplingTime); tboxSampling.Text = dtEnd.ToString(); running = true; } — damu_d, Jan 24 '21 at 13:17

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 24 '21 at 07:38

I'd use the DispatcherTimer for such a problem:

public float samplingTime = 1;

public MainWindow()
{
    dispatcherTimer = new System.Windows.Threading.DispatcherTimer();
    dispatcherTimer.Tick += new EventHandler(dispatcherTimer_Tick);
    dispatcherTimer.Interval = new TimeSpan(0,0,1);
    dispatcherTimer.Start();
}

private void dispatcherTimer_Tick(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    tboxSampling.Text = DateTime.Now.AddSeconds(samplingTime).ToString();
}

Timers are not guaranteed to execute exactly when the time interval occurs, but they are guaranteed to not execute before the time interval occurs.

Displaying next sampling time date and time without freezing WPF form in C#

1 Answers1