Question

I have a while loop running in my .NET backgroundworker. I would like to end the loop when Timers.Timer reaches 0.

Problem is that since I’m working in another thread (backgroundworker), my timer has to be instantiated in that same thread. So I can’t set any private boolean timer_Elapsed. Nether do I know how to give reference of boolean thro event.

Code Example:

private bool timer_Elapsed = false;

    private void backgroundWorker_DoWork(object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)
    {
        System.Timers.Timer timer = new System.Timers.Timer();
        Set_Timer(timer);

        timer.Start();

        while(timer_Elapsed) //Has to be a boolean that indicates if timer elapsed
        {
            this.Do_Proces();
        }
    }

    private void Set_Timer(System.Timers.Timer timer)
    {
        timer.Interval = 200;
        timer.Elapsed += new ElapsedEventHandler(timer_ElapsedEvent);
    }

    private void timer_ElapsedEvent(object source, ElapsedEventArgs e)
    {
        timer_Elapsed = true; //I can't set my private boolean since it got instantiated in another thread
    }

Particular questions in code. I’m new with this kind of stuff.
Any suggestions? Thanks in advance

EDIT: To clarify, I want the Do_Proces() to run for 200 milliseconds, when that time passed, I want it to stop. When it stops after 200 millisec, I want to and update GUI with data generated in backgroundWorker. Then check if user wants the proces to stop, if not, I want it to run again.. I use the timer because the thread will have to get restarted to much, this will have effect on the main thread as well, effecting the user experience badly.

Answer 1

Is the timer serving any other purpose other than listed here? If not, you may just want to record the current time at the beginning of your BackgroundWorker method, and change the condition on the while loop to check if the required amount of time has elapsed.

private void backgroundWorker_DoWork(object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)
{
    TimeSpan timeout = TimeSpan.FromMinutes(5);
    DateTime start_time = DateTime.Now;

    while(DateTime.Now - start_time < timeout)
    {
        this.Do_Proces();
    }
}