In web/cloud applications, how can I have an automated task (based on date/time)?

My web site stores invoices.

I would like t开发者_运维技巧o process them every night at midnight.

I would also like to send out notices nightly at midnight.

But the web is stateless.

I do not have my own server.

Is there a way?

No, you need a Windows Service on a dedicated box, however the box can be virtual and in the cloud.

You do not own your own server, but your website must be hosted somewhere. You may want to see if you can install windows services on to that server. If you can, I would strongly recommend using a service to run any automated tasks. It is generally frowned upon to use IIS to run automated tasks simply because the process shuts down after periods of inactivity... and if IIS isn't running, neither will your automated task.

A similar question was asked a while back and I think the answers are still very relevant to your problem: Best way to run scheduled tasks

And even further, after google searching I found even more info which you might find helpful: https://blog.stackoverflow.com/2008/07/easy-background-tasks-in-aspnet/

http://www.codeproject.com/KB/aspnet/ASPNETService.aspx

If you absolutely cannot install a service, you could try something like creating a new thread on Application_Start() that checks the time and decides whether or not to run. Then, to keep IIS running during periods of inactivity, you could possibly try spawning a process or something every few minutes to send a request to your server and thus keep it from shutting down.