Show Baloon Tip every hour

I am trying to show a balloon tip every hour that my form is minimized to the tray. I allready have the minimize part done but how do I set the timer once it is down and then show the message every hour. I have some code I pulled from MSDN but I am not sure how to apply it to my situation. Also I have the timer set to 10 seconds here so that I can see the balloon tip for testing.

vb Code:

Private Sub SetTimer()
        Dim aTimer As New System.Timers.Timer()
        AddHandler aTimer.Elapsed, AddressOf OnTimedEvent
        aTimer.Interval = 10000
        aTimer.Enabled = True
        GC.KeepAlive(aTimer)
    End Sub
    Private Sub OnTimedEvent(ByVal source As Object, ByVal e As ElapsedEventArgs)
        ShowCSABaloon()
    End Sub

Also will this timer have a noticable effect on performance?

Hmm, why do you call the GC method on it?

This is mostly a copy and paste from the MSDN article and I don't really understand it all yet.

' Keep the timer alive until the end of Main. - However, KeepAlive must be used at the end of Main, to prevent the JIT compiler from allowing aggressive garbage collection to occur before Main ends.

Ah this is why...

Quote:

---

' Normally, the timer is declared at the class level, so
' that it doesn't go out of scope when the method ends.
' In this example, the timer is needed only while Main
' is executing. However, KeepAlive must be used at the
' end of Main, to prevent the JIT compiler from allowing
' aggressive garbage collection to occur before Main
' ends.

---

So their example is based in a Modules sub Main and the keepalive is for maintianing the object existance so it doesnt get disposed. Since you are using a form based timer you wont have that problem.

Ok that makes sence and I kind of suspected that may be the case but I wasn't sure enough to remove it. So now I have this...

vb Code:

'
    Private Sub SetTimer(ByVal intTimeSpan As Integer)
        Dim aTimer As New System.Timers.Timer()
        AddHandler aTimer.Elapsed, AddressOf OnTimedEvent
        aTimer.Interval = intTimeSpan
        aTimer.Enabled = True
    End Sub
    Private Sub OnTimedEvent(ByVal source As Object, ByVal e As ElapsedEventArgs)
        ShowCSABaloon()
    End Sub
 
    Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        SetTimer(3600000)
    End Sub

My code, as is, will pop up the balloon after the first hour but how do I keep it poping up every hour the applications is open?

It should keep firing but do you have any other code that may be disabling the timer?

As long as the timer is enabled, it should keep firing off.

Try a smaller interval, like a minute for testing.

-tg

I didn't realize it would keep running in an automatic "loop" like that. I thought I would have to set it to do so. Anyway I have to do a little more testing but it appears that I can set it to start when the form is minimized and it will keep running in the back ground as needed.