Question

I need to constantly poll a data store for possible updates. I am achieving this using the following code. This is a windows forms application by the way.

var uiContext = TaskScheduler.FromCurrentSynchronizationContext();

var updateTask = Task.Factory.StartNew(() =>
{
    while (true)
    {
        Thread.Sleep(5000);

        Task.Factory.StartNew(() =>
        {
            someData = dataStore.GetData();
        }).ContinueWith(t =>
        {
            someGrid.DataSource = someData;
        }, uiContext);
    }
});

someData is a private class field and someGrid is a datagrid control.

This seems to work perfectly, but I was wondering if there is a better way of achieving it. Also, should my outer Task be LongRunning?

EDIT:

Ok, at the suggestion of Jon and Henk, I am using a Timer instead:

uiContext = TaskScheduler.FromCurrentSynchronizationContext();

updateTimer = new System.Timers.Timer(5000);
updateTimer.Elapsed += updateTimer_Elapsed;
updateTimer.Enabled = true;

The elapsed event:

void updateTimer_Elapsed(object sender, ElapsedEventArgs e)
{
    someData = dataStore.GetData();

    Task.Factory.StartNew(() =>
    {
        someGrid.DataSource = someData;
    }, uiContext);
}

Answer 1

Instead of Sleep()ing in a PoolThread you could/should use a Timer.
For WinForms you can simply use the Widows.Forms.Timer.

If you do want to do it this way then Yes, use the Longrunning option. But it is still wasting a Thread.