Run Java program forever (loop)

you can create a winnt service and run as an service

I want to know the pros and contras of using Timer class to run my java program in a loop (forever) within every few seconds to scan a directory.

This program will sit in a server and run continously NON STOP.

Is this the correct way of how to do this? Or is there any other way i can use?


public class ScanDir {
   Timer timer;

   public Reminder(int seconds) {
       timer = new Timer();
       timer.schedule(new ScanDir(), 0, seconds*1000);
   }

   class ScanDir extends TimerTask {
       public void run() {
           //SCAN THE DIRECTORY AND GRAB THE XML FILE
       }
   }

   public static void main(String args[]) {
       new ScanDir(5);
   }
}


THANKS VERY MUCH!!!!

willstones has give you a simple anwser. You can write a simple loop-forever loop like
while(true)
{
   doYourJob()
   Thread.sleep(enoughTime);
}

or for(;;)
{
   doYourJob()
   Thread.sleep(enoughTime);
}


The rest is what kind of programm you want to write. If this is a standalong program you can use it as the main loop of you programm. Otherwise if it is a part of a program then you should pack-it in a procedure or function and run it in a seperate thread. If you want also to remote control it you will need also some kind of communcation between thread's (e.g. you want to "start" and "stop" it from you application menu, so the user-menu thread should change a shared variable that it is tested in loop
e.g.

while(SharedVariableForRun)
{
   doYourJob()
   Thread.sleep(enoughTimeToRepeat);
}

Sleep is necessary because if you forget it your thread will always call the doYourJob() and consume all the avaliable cpu cycles and this will slow down then performance of other threads or processes.

for further informations take a look on thread programming.

both willstones and AccessDenied solutions are right

Thanks

Quick response??? ;)

Thanks guys...
Wish i could accept 2 answers as the correct one...
Sorry AccessDenied :)

However, thanks so much for the help guys!!!