How to limit while loop by time in powershell - powershell

Question

I have a script which starts a process only after specific service is running.
It's a loop that's trying to Get-Service its status.
I can't find how to limit loop by time.
The part where I'm stuck:
#add Start button
$button_start = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$button_start.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(25,70)
$button_start.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(240,32)
$button_start.TextAlign = "MiddleCenter"
$button_start.font = New-Object System.Drawing.Font("Segoe UI",14,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular)
$button_start.BackColor = "seashell"
$button_start.Text = "Start"
$button_start.Add_Click({
#add statement
while ((Get-Service -ComputerName $textBox_IP.text -ServiceName wscsvc).Status -ne "Running") {
# Pause before next check
Start-Sleep -Seconds 1
}
#only then..
Start-Process -FilePath "C:\Users\username\Desktop\software.exe" -verb RunAs -ArgumentList $textBox_IP.text
})
$Form_remoteControl.Controls.Add($button_start)
I've tried internet searching information on network without any success.

Answer 1

Define a time limit and check if the current time exceeds that limit.
$limit = (Get-Date).AddMinutes(5)
while (... -or (Get-Date) -le $limit) {
Start-Sleep -Seconds 1
}
If you want to skip starting the external program when the service still isn't running after that add another check after the loop upon which you return:
if ((Get-Service ...).Status -ne "Running") {
return
}

Answer 2

This is an example how to stop a service and wait until it is stopped or timeout applies.
You can modify to start a service.
Function StopService ($serv)
{
Write-Host "Config service " $serv " ..."
$service = Get-Service $serv -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
if ($service)
{
if($service.status -eq "running")
{
write-host "Stop service" $serv
Stop-Service $serv -Force
# Wait until service is stopped (max. 1 minute)
$acttime = 0
$waittime = 100
$maxtime = 60000
$TestService = Get-Service $serv
While($TestService | Where-Object {$_.Status -eq 'Running'})
{
Start-Sleep -m $waittime
$acttime += $waittime
if ($acttime -gt $maxtime)
{
write-host "ERROR: Service" $serv " could not be stopped!" -ForegroundColor Red
return $False
}
}
}
else
{
write-host "Service already stopped!" -ForegroundColor Green
return $True
}
}
else
{
write-host "Service not installed" -ForegroundColor Green
return $True
}
}

Answer 3

I recommend you not using any polling While loops (with Start-Sleep cmdlets) in a Windows forms interface. It will stall your interface for important form events as button clicks etc.
Instead, I would anticipate on the Windows.Forms Timer class by creating a timer event and take appropriate checks and actions after a certain time period (e.g. a new Start-Process depending on a service state).