Application Scheduler Service Using C#.Net And XML

This is an application scheduler that is implemented as a Windows Service, similar to the Windows Task Scheduler - but simple, as it has fewer configuration options and it uses XML to store and retrieve data.

 

The program uses System.Timers, System.Threading and System.Diagnostics to repeatedly loop through the XML data to see whether an application is scheduled to run at the present time or not, and if yes, to launch it as a new process in a new thread.

 

The source

  1using System;
  2
  3using System.Collections;
  4
  5using System.ComponentModel;
  6
  7using System.Data;
  8
  9using System.Diagnostics;
 10
 11using System.ServiceProcess;
 12
 13using System.Xml;
 14
 15using System.Timers;
 16
 17using System.Threading;
 18
 19using System.Configuration;
 20
 21using System.IO;
 22
 23 
 24
 25namespace AppScheduler
 26
 27{
 28
 29      public class AppScheduler : System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase
 30
 31      {
 32
 33            string configPath;
 34
 35            System.Timers.Timer _timer=new System.Timers.Timer();
 36
 37            DataSet ds=new DataSet();
 38
 39            /**//// <summary> 
 40
 41            /// Required designer variable.
 42
 43            /// </summary>
 44
 45            private System.ComponentModel.Container components = null;
 46
 47 
 48
 49        /**//// <summary>
 50
 51        /// Class that launches applications on demand.
 52
 53        /// </summary>
 54
 55            class AppLauncher
 56
 57            {
 58
 59                  string app2Launch;
 60
 61                  public AppLauncher(string path)
 62
 63                  {
 64
 65                        app2Launch=path;
 66
 67                  }
 68
 69                  public void runApp()
 70
 71                  {
 72
 73                        ProcessStartInfo pInfo=new ProcessStartInfo(app2Launch);
 74
 75                        pInfo.WindowStyle=ProcessWindowStyle.Normal;
 76
 77                        Process p=Process.Start(pInfo);
 78
 79                  }
 80
 81            }
 82
 83 
 84
 85            void timeElapsed(object sender, ElapsedEventArgs args)
 86
 87            {
 88
 89                  DateTime currTime=DateTime.Now;
 90
 91                  foreach(DataRow dRow in ds.Tables["task"].Rows)
 92
 93                  {
 94
 95                        DateTime runTime=Convert.ToDateTime(dRow["time"]);
 96
 97                        string formatString="MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm";
 98
 99                        if(runTime.ToString(formatString)==currTime.ToString(formatString))
100
101                        {
102
103                              string exePath=dRow["exePath"].ToString();
104
105                              AppLauncher launcher=new AppLauncher(exePath);
106
107                              new Thread(new ThreadStart(launcher.runApp)).Start();
108
109                              // Update the next run time
110
111                              string strInterval=dRow["repeat"].ToString().ToUpper();
112
113                              switch(strInterval)
114
115                              {
116
117                                    case "D":
118
119                                          runTime=runTime.AddDays(1);
120
121                                          break;
122
123                                    case "W":
124
125                                          runTime=runTime.AddDays(7);
126
127                                          break;
128
129                                    case "M":
130
131                                          runTime=runTime.AddMonths(1);
132
133                                          break;
134
135                              }
136
137                              dRow["time"]=runTime.ToString(formatString);
138
139                              ds.AcceptChanges();
140
141                              StreamWriter sWrite=new StreamWriter(configPath);
142
143                              XmlTextWriter xWrite=new XmlTextWriter(sWrite);
144
145                              ds.WriteXml(xWrite, XmlWriteMode.WriteSchema);
146
147                              xWrite.Close();
148
149                        }
150
151                  }
152
153            }
154
155 
156
157            public AppScheduler()
158
159            {
160
161                  // This call is required by the Windows.Forms Component Designer.
162
163                  InitializeComponent();
164
165 
166
167                  // TODO: Add any initialization after the InitComponent call
168
169            }
170
171 
172
173            // The main entry point for the process
174
175            static void Main()
176
177            {
178
179                  System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase[] ServicesToRun;
180
181      
182
183                  // More than one user Service may run within the same process. To add
184
185                  // another service to this process, change the following line to
186
187                  // create a second service object. For example,
188
189                  //
190
191                  //   ServicesToRun = new System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase[] {new Service1(), new MySecondUserService()};
192
193                  //
194
195                  ServicesToRun = new System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase[] { new AppScheduler() };
196
197 
198
199                  System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase.Run(ServicesToRun);
200
201            }
202
203 
204
205            /**//// <summary> 
206
207            /// Required method for Designer support - do not modify 
208
209            /// the contents of this method with the code editor.
210
211            /// </summary>
212
213            private void InitializeComponent()
214
215            {
216
217                  // 
218
219                  // AppScheduler
220
221                  // 
222
223                  this.CanPauseAndContinue = true;
224
225                  this.ServiceName = "Application Scheduler";
226
227 
228
229            }
230
231 
232
233            /**//// <summary>
234
235            /// Clean up any resources being used.
236
237            /// </summary>
238
239            protected override void Dispose( bool disposing )
240
241            {
242
243                  if( disposing )
244
245                  {
246
247                        if (components != null) 
248
249                        {
250
251                              components.Dispose();
252
253                        }
254
255                  }
256
257                  base.Dispose( disposing );
258
259            }
260
261 
262
263            /**//// <summary>
264
265            /// Set things in motion so your service can do its work.
266
267            /// </summary>
268
269            protected override void OnStart(string[] args)
270
271            {
272
273                  // TODO: Add code here to start your service.
274
275                  configPath=ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["configpath"];
276
277                  try
278
279                  {
280
281                        XmlTextReader xRead=new XmlTextReader(configPath);
282
283                        XmlValidatingReader xvRead=new XmlValidatingReader(xRead);
284
285                        xvRead.ValidationType=ValidationType.DTD;
286
287                        ds.ReadXml(xvRead);
288
289                        xvRead.Close();
290
291                        xRead.Close();
292
293                  }
294
295                  catch(Exception)
296
297                  {
298
299                        ServiceController srvcController=new ServiceController(ServiceName);
300
301                        srvcController.Stop();
302
303                  }
304
305                  _timer.Interval=30000;
306
307                  _timer.Elapsed+=new ElapsedEventHandler(timeElapsed);
308
309                  _timer.Start();
310
311            }
312
313 
314
315            /**//// <summary>
316
317            /// Stop this service.
318
319            /// </summary>
320
321            protected override void OnStop()
322
323            {
324
325                  // TODO: Add code here to perform any tear-down necessary to stop your service.
326
327            }
328
329      }
330
331}
332
333

I have created a class named AppLauncher that accepts the executable name of a program as its constructor parameter. There is a method RunApp() in the class that creates a new ProcessInfo object with the specified path and calls Process.Start(ProcessInfo) with the ProcessInfo object as its parameter.

 

Class that launches applications on demand

 1class AppLauncher
 2
 3{
 4
 5      string app2Launch;
 6
 7      public AppLauncher(string path)
 8
 9      {
10
11            app2Launch=path;
12
13      }
14
15      public void runApp()
16
17      {
18
19            ProcessStartInfo pInfo=new ProcessStartInfo(app2Launch);
20
21            pInfo.WindowStyle=ProcessWindowStyle.Normal;
22
23            Process p=Process.Start(pInfo);
24
25      }
26
27}
28

I had to create a separate class to launch an application in a new thread, because the Thread class in .Net 2003 does not allow you to pass parameters to a thread delegate (whereas you can do so in .Net 2005). The ProcessStartInfo class can be used to create a new process. The static method Start (ProcessInfo) of the Process class returns a Process object that represents the process started.

 

There is a Timer variable used in the program, named _timer. The event handler for the timer's tick event is given below:

 

Event handler for the timer's tick event

 1void timeElapsed(object sender, ElapsedEventArgs args)
 2
 3{
 4
 5      DateTime currTime=DateTime.Now;
 6
 7      foreach(DataRow dRow in ds.Tables["task"].Rows)
 8
 9      {
10
11            DateTime runTime=Convert.ToDateTime(dRow["time"]);
12
13            string formatString="MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm";
14
15            if(runTime.ToString(formatString)==currTime.ToString(formatString))
16
17            {
18
19                  string exePath=dRow["exePath"].ToString();
20
21                  AppLauncher launcher=new AppLauncher(exePath);
22
23                  new Thread(new ThreadStart(launcher.runApp)).Start();
24
25                  // Update the next run time
26
27                  string strInterval=dRow["repeat"].ToString().ToUpper();
28
29                  switch(strInterval)
30
31                  {
32
33                        case "D":
34
35                              runTime=runTime.AddDays(1);
36
37                              break;
38
39                        case "W":
40
41                              runTime=runTime.AddDays(7);
42
43                              break;
44
45                        case "M":
46
47                              runTime=runTime.AddMonths(1);
48
49                              break;
50
51                  }
52
53                  dRow["time"]=runTime.ToString(formatString);
54
55                  ds.AcceptChanges();
56
57                  StreamWriter sWrite=new StreamWriter(configPath);
58
59                  XmlTextWriter xWrite=new XmlTextWriter(sWrite);
60
61                  ds.WriteXml(xWrite, XmlWriteMode.WriteSchema);
62
63                  xWrite.Close();
64
65            }
66
67      }
68
69}
70
71

An easy way to compare date and time disregarding some particular values such as hour of the day or minute or second: convert them to the appropriate string format first, and check whether the two strings are equal. Otherwise, you have to individually check each item you want to compare, like if(currTime.Day==runtime.Day && currTime.Month==runtime.Month && ...). The interval values are : "D" (for daily schedule), "W" (for weekly schedule), and "M" (for monthly schedule). The values are read from an XML file named AppScheduler.xml. The file format is given below:

 

The XML file containing list of applications to launch

 1<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?> 
 2
 3<!DOCTYPE appSchedule[
 4
 5<!ELEMENT appSchedule (task*)>
 6
 7<!ELEMENT task EMPTY>
 8
 9<!ATTLIST task name CDATA #REQUIRED>
10
11<!ATTLIST task exePath CDATA #REQUIRED>
12
13<!ATTLIST task time CDATA #REQUIRED>
14
15<!ATTLIST task repeat (D|W|M) #REQUIRED>
16
17]>
18
19<appSchedule>
20
21          <task name="Notepad" exePath="%SystemRoot%\system32\notepad.exe" time="05/05/2006 10:45" repeat="D"/>
22
23          <task name="Wordpad" exePath="C:\Program Files\Outlook Express\msimn.exe" time="05/05/2006 10:46" repeat="W"/>
24
25          <task name="Calculator" exePath="%SystemRoot%\System32\calc.exe" time="05/05/2006 10:47" repeat="M"/>
26
27</appSchedule>
28
29

Starting the service

 1protected override void OnStart(string[] args)
 2
 3{
 4
 5      // TODO: Add code here to start your service.
 6
 7      configPath=ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["configpath"];
 8
 9      try
10
11      {
12
13            XmlTextReader xRead=new XmlTextReader(configPath);
14
15            XmlValidatingReader xvRead=new XmlValidatingReader(xRead);
16
17            xvRead.ValidationType=ValidationType.DTD;
18
19            ds.ReadXml(xvRead);
20
21            xvRead.Close();
22
23            xRead.Close();
24
25      }
26
27      catch(Exception)
28
29      {
30
31            ServiceController srvcController=new ServiceController(ServiceName);
32
33            srvcController.Stop();
34
35      }
36
37      _timer.Interval=30000;
38
39      _timer.Elapsed+=new ElapsedEventHandler(timeElapsed);
40
41      _timer.Start();
42
43}
44
45

The path of the XML file is set in the App.config file (the IDE will not create this file automatically, so you will have to manually add one into your project) in the following way:

 

App.config

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?> 

<configuration>

          <appSettings>

                   <add key="configpath" value="C:\AppScheduler.xml"/>

          </appSettings>

</configuration>

An XmlValidatingReader is used to ensure that the data strictly confirms to the DTD. The catch block stops the service, if some error occurs while trying to load data from the XML file. The timer interval is set to 30 seconds on starting the service.

 

To install/unistall the service

 

Build the application. Copy the AppScheduler.xml file to your C:\. Select Start > Programs > Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003 > Visual Studio .NET Tools > Visual Studio .NET 2003 Command Prompt. Go to the \bin\release folder in the project directory. Type the following command:

 

installutil AppScheduler.exe

 

Now, go to control panel. Select Performance and Maintenance > Administrative Tools and select Services. Doble-click on the AppScheduler service. Select the Log on tab. Check the Allow this service to interact with desktop checkbox. Click OK. Then click on the Start Service(}) button in the toolbar.

 

To uninstall the service, in the Visual Studio .NET command prompt, go to the \bin\release folder in the project directory and enter:

 

installutil /u AppScheduler.exe

 

Summary

 

Creating Windows services is fun, once you learn the basic things to do. XML is really a great tool that makes lot simple to define data and behavior using plain text files.