void PluginDataCheck()

This is where your plugin checks whether it needs to inform you about something, perfect place for notifications to be sent. It gets called automatically every 15-20 seconds.

 

 

I'm looking for a way to delay this check. I'm running queries and I don't want to burden my server too much. Does anybody have a best practice to decrease to, for example every five minutes.

 

 

Well you could do a couple of things here:

• Use a nullable DateTime field that indicates the last time the query execute and if (DateTime.now - lastValue.Value).TotalMinutes == 5 (check for null before using .Value) then execute your query, otherwise ignore the call
• On the constructor create a Thread or a Task that runs a while loop that checks for a variable that you set it to true when the plugin is unloaded. Use Thread.Sleep to delay the next execution.
• On the constructor create a Timer that runs every 5 minutes. Don't forget to stop the time when the plugin is disabled.

I believe I've used custom timers in one of my plugins, why not check them out for sample code (all my plugins come with the source code included).