Windows.Forms.Timer OR System.Threading.Timer

Question

I have an application that runs many threads. Each thread should have a timer that checks for something in that thread's scope. My question is: Which timer I should use and what is the difference between them?

Accepted Answer

This article provides an excellent comparison and should contain the information you need: Comparing the Timer Classes in the .NET Framework Class Library:

```
                                    Windows.Forms  System.Timers         System.Threading 
Timer event runs on what thread?    UI thread      UI or worker thread   Worker thread 
Instances are thread safe?          No             Yes                   No 
Familiar/intuitive object model?    Yes            Yes                   No 
Requires Windows Forms?             Yes            No                    No 
Metronome-quality beat?             No             Yes*                  Yes* 
Timer event supports state object?  No             No                    Yes 
Initial timer event schedulable?    No             No                    Yes 
Class supports inheritance?         Yes            Yes                   No
```

* Depending on the availability of system resources (for example, worker threads)

Windows.Forms.Timer OR System.Threading.Timer

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