C# Stopwatch - DateTime And Timer Tick - Is there a better way to run the Stopwatch

[User 12723023]

Is there a better way to run the Stop Watch: Form1.cs

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Diagnostics;

namespace StopWatch
{
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
}

    // new instance of Stop Watch
    Stopwatch StopWatch = new Stopwatch();
    
    private void lblClock\_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {

    }

    private void btnStart\_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        // Button Start Checking if already started
        if (timer1.Enabled)
        {
            MessageBox.Show("Sorry you have already started the Timer");
        }

        else
             timer1.Start();
             this.StopWatch.Start();
    }

    private void btnStop\_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        // Button Stop Checking if already Stopped
        if (timer1.Enabled)
        {
            timer1.Stop();
            StopWatch.Stop();
        }
        else
            MessageBox.Show("Timer Already Stopped");
    }

    private void btnPause\_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        // button reset
        StopWatch.Reset();
        lblClock.Text = "00 HR :00 MIN :00 SEC ";
    }

    private void timer1\_Tick(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {

        // Timer by hr min sec
         TimeSpan elapsed = this.StopWatch.Elapsed;
         lblClock.Text = string.Format("{0:00} HR :{1:00} MIN: {2:00} SEC", Math.Floor(elapsed.TotalHours), elapsed.Minutes, elapsed.Seconds);

    }
}

}

Class1.cs

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Diagnostics;

namespace StopWatch.BL
{
public class Time
{
Stopwatch stopwatch = new Stopwatch();

    public TimeSpan Elapsed // class elapsed
    {
        get { return stopwatch.Elapsed; }
    }

    public bool IsRunning // class is running
    {
        get { return stopwatch.IsRunning; }
    }


    public void Start() // start stop watch

[Midi_Mick]

This very much depends on the application and level of accuracy required. Your sample provides the simplest solution, but it lacks a degree of accuracy, as everything is processed on the UI thread. Using this system, a timer event is actually placed on the message queue when it is signalled, and thus needs to wait its turn to be processed. This can cause a delay small in the processing of the tick, which over time, may accumulate. To go to the next level of accuracy, you need to look at a System.Threading.Timer[^]. These fire events off in another thread, so there is no queue delays. It does, however, take a bit of effort to marshal the results back to the UI thread to update your controls. The most accurate timer is the High Resolution Timer used in the Stopwatch Class[^]. This does not fire its own events at all, so you need to monitor its values in a separate thread, fire the periodic events in another thread, and then marshal all the results back to the UI for display. All three options are good fun!

Cheers, Mick ------------------------------------------------ It doesn't matter how often or hard you fall on your arse, eventually you'll roll over and land on your feet.

[OriginalGriff]

Don't use a StopWatch - just get the current DateTime.Now when you start the timer, and again when you stop (or lap check) it. The Timespan difference will give you all the information you need.

Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...

[Bernhard Hiller]

Ehm, that looks like a hidden bug:

if (timer1.Enabled)
{
MessageBox.Show("Sorry you have already started the Timer");
}

else
timer1.Start();
this.StopWatch.Start();

Did you really mean that? Or rather

        if (timer1.Enabled)
        {
            MessageBox.Show("Sorry you have already started the Timer");
        }
        else
        {
             timer1.Start();
             this.StopWatch.Start();
        }

Anyway, I recommend to always use {} with if and else - also with one-liners.

[omeecode]

There is no problem with your code if that can solve your problem. From design point of view it looks great. As one answer above mentioned that you can use many other types of solution to accomplish timing and scheduling task. That also depend upon your needs. If you need a precise timer such as with 1ms accuracy (Stopwatch can very up-to 20-100 ms) then you should use multimedia timers.

Umair www.objectorienteddesign.org (Interested in C#, .Net, Interfacing, Device Drivers, GIS, WCF, Asp.net, Ajax, Architecture and Design Patterns)