c# - How to call a method after so many seconds?

Question

In my project I would like to be able to call a method after 3 minutes have passed. There is no "main loop" to speak of so I cannot use a stopwatch and constantly check if 3 minutes have passed. The only other solution I can think of is a Timer object with an interval of 3 minutes but that seems rather messy because it will only be called once after the 3 minute delay.

Thanks for reading.

Edit: Forgot to mention. This is for a server application so I cannot pause the execution of the thread because other stuff will have to be handled in the meantime. Also, this timer mechanism will not be alone. There may be hundreds of even thousands of concurrent timers at a time.

Answer 1

I really believe your idea with the Timer object is the right way to go. It sounds like you're familiar with how to use it - but here's an example:

    aTimer = new System.Timers.Timer(1000 * 60 * 3);
    aTimer.Elapsed += new ElapsedEventHandler(OnTimedEvent);
    aTimer.Enabled = true; 

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.timers.timer.aspx