I want to queue time-based tasks in Azure

Question

My App on Azure processes incoming requests from a user that are queued, and assigns them to real-world people. These people are supposed to have a time-window to handle the request. If none of the people assigned handle the request, I need to move on to a new set of people. Basically, I want to queue these tasks to be handled at a certain time, and then handle them again. If one of the users handles the task, I need to de-queue it so it isn't handled again by the worker. How do I do that?

Answer 1

You need to use a scheduled task. There are two good libraries out there that you could use:Quartz.Net and Castle scheduler.

With a scheduledler, such a task becomes easy. You just create a job that runs when the processing time expires. There you would check for any unprocessed requests and if there are any left, you notify the next set of people and set another scheduled start to fire after processing time expires.