I’m building a C# WinForms application that uses a telegram bot. The Telegram Bot API provides two ways to get messages: polling with getUpdates and webhook notifications.
My bot needs to respond quickly to incoming messages, so I need to track which updates haven’t been processed yet.
Polling approach: The getUpdates method returns all available updates. I tried running a continuous loop to check for new messages, but this makes my application freeze and feels like a bad solution.
Webhook approach: This would be perfect since it automatically sends new updates to my app. The problem is that webhooks require a public URL endpoint, but my application is a desktop WinForms app, not a web application.
What’s the best way to handle this situation? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
i totally agree! async/await is essential for keeping that smooth UI. using Task.Run() for polling can really help avoid those freezes. just make sure your threads are managed well. it’s all about balance when it comes to these updates!
Been there, done that. I went with a hybrid polling approach that nailed it. Skip continuous polling - use CancellationToken with configurable intervals instead. You need solid error handling and exponential backoff when Telegram’s servers go down. Here’s the game changer: batch your updates. Don’t process messages one by one - handle them in chunks. Massive performance boost. For offsets, just save the last update_id to a local file. Your app picks up where it left off after restarts. This gets you near real-time performance without webhook headaches. I use 2-3 second intervals - sweet spot between speed and staying under rate limits.
For WinForms apps, polling beats webhooks since you’d need a public web server otherwise. Just make sure you’re doing it right - use a background thread with Timer or BackgroundWorker so your UI doesn’t freeze up. I use System.Threading.Timer to call getUpdates every few seconds and track offsets properly so I don’t miss messages. Throw in some exponential backoff when there’s nothing new to cut down on pointless API calls. I usually go with 1-3 second intervals depending on how responsive the app needs to be. Keeps things simple and runs solid.