如何使用 System.Threading.Timer 和 Thread.Sleep？

Question

I made a maze game. I need a ticking timer. I have tried to create a class like this:

using System;
using System.Threading;

namespace Maze
{
    class Countdown
    {
        public void Start()
        {
            Thread.Sleep(3000);              
            Environment.Exit(1);
        }
    }
}

and calls the method Start() at the start of the code. After running it, I tried to move the avatar through the maze which failed. If I'm not mistaken, the Thread.Sleep makes the rest of my code not to work anymore. If there's a way I can do other things, please tell me.

Answer 1

The reason your current code isn't working is that calling Thread.Sleep() stops any execution on the current thread until the time given has elapsed. So if you call Countdown.Start() on your main game thread (which I guess you are doing), your game will freeze until the Sleep() call has finished.

---

Instead, you'll want to use System.Timers.Timer

Take a look at the MSDN documentation .

UPDATE: Now hopefully matches more your scenario

public class Timer1
 {
     private int timeRemaining;

     public static void Main()
     {
         timeRemaining = 120; // Give the player 120 seconds

         System.Timers.Timer aTimer = new System.Timers.Timer();

         // Method which will be called once the timer has elapsed
         aTimer.Elapsed + =new ElapsedEventHandler(OnTimedEvent);

         // Set the Interval to 3 seconds.
         aTimer.Interval = 3000;

         // Tell the timer to auto-repeat each 3 seconds
         aTimer.AutoReset = true;

         // Start the timer counting down
         aTimer.Enabled = true;

         // This will get called immediately (before the timer has counted down)
         Game.StartPlaying();
     }

     // Specify what you want to happen when the Elapsed event is raised.
     private static void OnTimedEvent(object source, ElapsedEventArgs e)
     {
         // Timer has finished!
         timeRemaining -= 3; // Take 3 seconds off the time remaining

         // Tell the player how much time they've got left
         UpdateGameWithTimeLeft(timeRemaining);
     }
 }

Answer 2

You're looking for the Timer class.

Answer 3

Why not use one of the Timer classes already included in the BCL?

Here is a comparison of the different ones (MSDN Magazine - Comparing the Timer Classes in the .NET Framework Class Library). Read it to see which one will be most suitable to your specific situation.

Answer 4

In addition to @Slaks resposnse can say you can use:

1. System.Windows.Forms.Timer which is Timer on the same thread where UI stays
2. System.Timers.Timer which is a timer but runs on another thread.

Choose is up to you, depends on your app architecture.

Regards.