C# Timer or Thread.Sleep

I am running a windows service and using a loop and Thread.Sleep to repeat a task, would it be better to use a timer method?

If yes a code example would be great

I am currently using this code to repeat

int curMinute;
int lastMinute = DateTime.Now.AddMinutes(-1).Minute;

while (condition)
{
   curMinute = DateTime.Now.Minute;

   if (lastMinute < curMinute) {
         // do your once-per-minute code here
         lastMinute = curMinute;
   }

   Thread.Sleep(50000);      // sleeps for 50 seconds

   if (error condition that would break you out of this) {
       break;      // leaves looping structure
   }
}

A timer is a better idea, IMO. That way, if your service is asked to stop, it can respond to that very quickly, and just not call the timer tick handler again... if you're sleeping, the service manager will either have to wait 50 seconds or kill your thread, neither of which is terribly nice.

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        Timer timer = new Timer(new TimerCallback(TimeCallBack),null,1000,50000);
        Console.Read();
        timer.Dispose();
    }

    public static void TimeCallBack(object o)
    {
      curMinute = DateTime.Now.Minute;
      if (lastMinute < curMinute) {
       // do your once-per-minute code here
       lastMinute = curMinute;
    }
}

The code could resemble something like the one above

It's important to understand that your code will sleep for 50 seconds between ending one loop, and starting the next...

A timer will call your loop every 50 seconds, which isn't exactly the same.

They're both valid, but a timer is probably what you're looking for here.

Beware that calling Sleep() will freeze the service, so if the service is requested to stop, it won't react for the duration of the Sleep() call.

Yes, using a Timer will free up a Thread that is currently spending most of its time sleeping. A Timer will also more accurately fire every minute so you probably won't need to keep track of lastMinute anymore.