Multi-threaded polling process - base for NT-Service

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• Download demo project - 9 Kb

Introduction

This sample code may be use as a basic skeleton for a multi-threaded process or service.

Background (optional)

Article "A simple tutorial on Multithreaded Programming using C#" from Zeeshan Amjad may be useful for beginners.

Using the code

To use the code:

• create a new Console Application (or a Windows Services),
• Replace [STAThread] attribute by [MTAThread] attribute of the Main method (for Console Application),
• add WorkerThread.cs and WorkerThreadManager.cs files to your projet,
• modify the DoSomethingUseful method by providing your task,
• create a new WorkerThreadManager,
• call Start / Stop methods.

That's it.

Example of basic main method:

// Any source code blocks look like this
[MTAThread]
static void Main(string[] args)
{
    String sCmd; WorkerThreadManager oManager = new WorkerThreadManager();

    for (;;)
    { 
        Console.WriteLine("EXIT/START/STOP"); 
        Console.Write("$ "); 
        sCmd = Console.ReadLine ();
        if (sCmd.ToUpper() == "EXIT")
        {
            // Stop manager and exit loop
            // oManager.Stop();
            break;
        }

        if (sCmd.ToUpper() == "START")
        {
            // Start manager
            // oManager.Start();
        }
        else if (sCmd.ToUpper() == "STOP")
        {
            // Stop manager
            // oManager.Stop();
        }
    }
} 

Points of Interest

This code is the basic skeleton of one of our high availability SMS (Short Message System) platform. It actually handles a couple of million of SMS per month on a 24/7 basis. 

History

• 24th March, 2003 - First revision.