C# Console Application - Keep it running

Question

Hi, I am about to develop a console application that will be required to continually run and carry out work at specific times.

My question is what is are best methods or practices to keep your application alive?

My thought were: A loop that never ends? A timer that sleeps and then jumps to routine when required (after set sleep period)?

I will be compiling the application into an exe and then running it as a service using AlwaysUp.

Regards..

Peter

Answer 1

Why don't you build your app as a service in the first place?

Answer 2

Code that runs continually is called a daemon and there is an article here outlining how to do what you ask. That will point you to an example of how to write a simple service here.

Answer 3

You probably don't want to just spin in a loop needlessly consuming processor time.

Assuming you are on windows, you should have a loop that never ends with a call to WaitForSingleObject() or WaitForMultipleObjects() or MsgWaitForMultipleObjects() depending on your needs. Then have some synchronization object that wakes you up, such as a named event.

See the Win32 Synchronization documentation here. If you elaborate more on what your program needs to do, we can probably provide more specific advice.

Answer 4

Well I'm sure at some point it should stop, no?

Spawn a thread that does work, and have the main thread block on Console.ReadLine() if you want it to be runnable as a console app too.

If you really just want to pause the main thread forever, just block on a ManualResetEvent you never fire.

But, consider using a service if you can.

Answer 5

If your program is going to be continually running then you should sleep until the desired event occurs (e.g. XX seconds passes). If you just spin in a while {} loop you'll suck up CPU times.

If your program is going to always be running on a machine then you should consider making it a service so it automatically starts and stops with the machine.

Answer 6

Better solution would be to write a console application that does its job and quits, and then use the Windows Task Scheduler to run it periodically.

Answer 7

If your building a desktop application you'll want to have it run in the system tray. This will

1. Keep your users from accidentally closing the application
2. Keep your application from cluttering the screen of your users

If your building a server application you will want to write a windows service. This will

1. Keep an administrator from accidentally closing your application
2. Eliminate the need for the server to have someone logged into the console for your application to be running in

As someone who is primarily an IT Pro I would say that 3rd party applications that we get that run as console apps instead of windows services we put a lot of effort into keeping from being purchased. It creates a lot of work for us, and opens up significant support issues and security holes.