How to make an Alarm clock with sound in C#

You'll need a Timer control to track the time, a DateTimePicker to allow the user to set the alarm time, and a way to play a sound when the time is reached.

How to make an Alarm clock with sound in C#?

Open Visual Studio, then click New Project, then select Visual C# on the left, then Windows and then select Windows Forms Application. Name your project "AlarmClock" and then click OK

Drag and drop the DateTimePicker, Button, Label, and Timer controls from Visual Toolbox onto your form designer, then design your form as below

Add code to handle your form as below

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Windows.Forms;

namespace AlarmClock
{
    public partial class Form1 : Form
    {
        // Timer that will check if the current time matches the alarm time
        System.Timers.Timer timer;

        public Form1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }

        // Form Load Event - Initialize timer properties
        private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            // Set timer to tick every second
            timer = new System.Timers.Timer();
            timer.Interval = 1000; // 1000 milliseconds = 1 second
            timer.Elapsed += Timer_Elapsed;
        }

        // Timer tick event
        private void Timer_Elapsed(object sender, System.Timers.ElapsedEventArgs e)
        {
            //Update timer
            DateTime currentTime = DateTime.Now;
            DateTime userTime = dateTimePicker.Value;
            // Check if the current time matches the alarm time
            if (currentTime.Hour == userTime.Hour && currentTime.Minute == userTime.Minute && currentTime.Second == userTime.Second)
            {
                // Stop the timer once the alarm time is triggered
                timer.Stop();
                UpdateLable upd = UpdateDataLable;
                if (lblStatus.InvokeRequired)
                    Invoke(upd, lblStatus, "Stop");
                // Play the alarm sound
                PlayAlarmSound();
            }
        }

        //Update label control
        delegate void UpdateLable(Label lbl, string value);
        void UpdateDataLable(Label lbl,string value)
        {
            lbl.Text = value;
        }

        private void btnStart_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            timer.Start();
            lblStatus.Text = "Running...";
        }

        private void btnStop_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            timer.Stop();
            lblStatus.Text = "Stop";
        }
    }
}

Create a play sound method like this:

// Method to play sound
private void PlayAlarmSound()
{
    // You can change this to any WAV file you want
    using (var player = new SoundPlayer("alarm.wav"))
    {
        player.PlayLooping(); // Plays sound continuously
    }
}

Ensure you have a .wav sound file (like alarm.wav) in your project directory or provide the full path to the file. You can find royalty-free alarm sounds online or use any sound you prefer.

By default, the DateTimePicker control allows setting both date and time. If you want only the time to be selected, set the Format property to Time and disable the date portion.

The System.Timers.Timer class in C# triggers the Elapsed event based on the interval defined by its Interval property. This event can be handled to perform specific actions or tasks at the specified time intervals.

However, it's important to note that the System.Timers.Timer has the same resolution as the system clock. If the Interval value is smaller than the resolution of the system clock, the Elapsed event may not fire as expected, as the system clock may not be able to handle such fine-grained intervals.

This simple alarm clock app will alert the user when the specified time is reached and play an alarm sound.

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