How to Use Timer in Windows Store Application Using XAML

In this article I will integrate or use the Timer in a Windows Store Application Using XAML and C#. Sometimes the developer needs to do work at some time interval and to delay until that time they need to have a mechanism to  automatically trigger an event at a specific time interval. So, this article will help those who want to run their particular block of code at a regular time interval.

So, here I will use the DispatcherTimer class to do that in a Windows Store Application.

Introduction of DispatcherTimer

The DispatcherTimer can be used to run code on the same thread that produces the UI thread. This provides a timer that is integrated into the Dispatcher queue, which is processed at a specified interval of time and at a specified priority.

Here I will discuss some necessary members of this class.

Methods of DispatcherTimer Class.

There are mainly two types of methods of this class.

  1. Start: Starts the DispatcherTimer with specified members.
  2. Stop: Stops the DispatcherTimer.

Properties of DisptacherTimer Class.

  1. Interval: It specified the time interval of the trigger. In the other words it gets or sets the amount of time between interval ticks.
  2. IsEnabled: It gets a value that indicates whether the timer is running or not. It returns Boolean, true if the timer is enabled; otherwise, false. By default it sets false.

Event

DispatcherTimer has a Tick event.

  • Tick: The Tick event fires after the time specified the for the interval has elapsed.

Note: Tick continues firing at the same interval until the Stop method is called.

So, I think you are now all familiar with the DispatcherTimer Class from the preceding description.

Now, let's start to create an application in which I integrated the DispatcherTimer Class.

First, choose Blank Template of the Windows Store using XAML.

Step 1

After that, I design my UI interface in XAML file, as in:

<Page

    x:Class="TimerInWindowsStoreApps.MainPage"

    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"

    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"

    xmlns:local="using:TimerInWindowsStoreApps"

    xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"

    xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"

    mc:Ignorable="d" Loaded="Page_Loaded_1" >

 

    <Grid Background="{StaticResource ApplicationPageBackgroundThemeBrush}">

        <StackPanel Orientation="Vertical" Margin="20,50" HorizontalAlignment="Center">

            <TextBlock x:Name="TimerLog" FontSize="30"></TextBlock>

            <TextBlock x:Name="TimerStatus" FontSize="25"></TextBlock>

            <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">

                <Button x:Name="TimerStart" Content="Start" Click="TimerStart_Click_1"></Button>

                <Button x:Name="TimerStop" Content="Stop" Click="TimerStop_Click_1"></Button>

            </StackPanel>

        </StackPanel>

    </Grid>

</Page>

In the above code I use two buttons for starting and stopping the timer and texblocks to display the status of the timer.

Step 2

Now, let's explore the DispatcherTimer Class in .cs file.

First I create a method that sets up all the necssary members of the DispatcherTimer class. Here we need to follow some steps.

  1. Create object of DispatcherTimer Class:

    DispatcherTimer dispatcherTimer = newDispatcherTimer();
     
  2. Registered Tick event:
     

    dispatcherTimer.Tick += dispatcherTimer_Tick;
     

  3. Set the Interval property:
     

    dispatcherTimer.Interval = newTimeSpan(0, 0, 1);
     

  4. At last, start the timer using Start() method:
     

    dispatcherTimer.Start();
     

  5. And, stop the timer using Stop() method:
     

    dispatcherTimer.Stop();

Complete code for understanding the entire thing:

using System;

using Windows.UI.Xaml;

using Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls;

using Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls.Primitives;

using Windows.UI.Xaml.Input;

using Windows.UI.Xaml.Media;

using Windows.UI.Xaml.Navigation;

 

namespace TimerInWindowsStoreApps

{  

    public sealed partial class MainPage : Page

    {

        public MainPage()

        {

            this.InitializeComponent();

        }     

        DispatcherTimer dispatcherTimer;

        int timesTicked = 1;

        int timesToTick = 50;

        public void DispatcherTimerSetup()

        {

            dispatcherTimer = new DispatcherTimer();

            dispatcherTimer.Tick += dispatcherTimer_Tick;

            dispatcherTimer.Interval = new TimeSpan(0, 0, 1);

            dispatcherTimer.Start();

            TimerStatus.Text = "dispatcherTimer.IsEnabled = " + dispatcherTimer.IsEnabled + "\n";

        }

 

        void dispatcherTimer_Tick(object sender, object e)

        {          

            TimerLog.Text = timesTicked.ToString();

            if (timesTicked > timesToTick)

            {

                TimerStatus.Text = "Calling dispatcherTimer.Stop()\n";

                dispatcherTimer.Stop();

                TimerStatus.Text = "dispatcherTimer.IsEnabled = " + dispatcherTimer.IsEnabled + "\n";

            }

            timesTicked++;

        }

        private void TimerStart_Click_1(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)

        {

            TimerStatus.Text = "Calling dispatcherTimer.Start()\n";

            DispatcherTimerSetup();

        }

 

        private void TimerStop_Click_1(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)

        {

            TimerStatus.Text = "Calling dispatcherTimer.Stop()\n";

            dispatcherTimer.Stop();

            TimerStatus.Text = "dispatcherTimer.IsEnabled = " + dispatcherTimer.IsEnabled + "\n";

        }

        private void Page_Loaded_1(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)

        {

            TimerStatus.Text = "dispatcherTimer.IsEnabled = False";

        }

    }

}

Step 3

Finally, let's run the application and see what happened.

You now click on the Start button to start the timer. It will show you that the timer is enabled.

DispatcherTimer-Class-In-Windows-Store-apps.jpg

And, when you click the stop button, it will show you that the timer is disabled. This means that the timer is not in the running mode.

Timer-In-Windows-Store-Apps.jpg


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