How to run certain task every day at a particular time using ScheduledExecutorService?

As with the present java SE 8 release with it's excellent date time API with java.time these kind of calculation can be done more easily instead of using java.util.Calendar and java.util.Date.

• Use date time class's i.e. LocalDateTime of this new API
• Use ZonedDateTime class to handle Time Zone specific calculation including Daylight Saving issues. You will find tutorial and example here.

Now as a sample example for scheduling a task with your use case:

ZonedDateTime now = ZonedDateTime.now(ZoneId.of("America/Los_Angeles"));
ZonedDateTime nextRun = now.withHour(5).withMinute(0).withSecond(0);
if(now.compareTo(nextRun) > 0)
    nextRun = nextRun.plusDays(1);

Duration duration = Duration.between(now, nextRun);
long initalDelay = duration.getSeconds();

ScheduledExecutorService scheduler = Executors.newScheduledThreadPool(1);            
scheduler.scheduleAtFixedRate(new MyRunnableTask(),
    initalDelay,
    TimeUnit.DAYS.toSeconds(1),
    TimeUnit.SECONDS);

The initalDelay is computed to ask the scheduler to delay the execution in TimeUnit.SECONDS. Time difference issues with unit milliseconds and below seems to be negligible for this use case. But you can still make use of duration.toMillis() and TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS for handling the scheduling computaions in milliseconds.

And also TimerTask is better for this or ScheduledExecutorService?

NO: ScheduledExecutorService seemingly better than TimerTask. StackOverflow has already an answer for you.

From @PaddyD,

You still have the issue whereby you need to restart this twice a year if you want it to run at the right local time. scheduleAtFixedRate won't cut it unless you are happy with the same UTC time all year.

As it is true and @PaddyD already has given a workaround(+1 to him), I am providing a working example with Java8 date time API with ScheduledExecutorService. Using daemon thread is dangerous

class MyTaskExecutor
{
    ScheduledExecutorService executorService = Executors.newScheduledThreadPool(1);
    MyTask myTask;
    volatile boolean isStopIssued;

    public MyTaskExecutor(MyTask myTask$) 
    {
        myTask = myTask$;

    }

    public void startExecutionAt(int targetHour, int targetMin, int targetSec)
    {
        Runnable taskWrapper = new Runnable(){

            @Override
            public void run() 
            {
                myTask.execute();
                startExecutionAt(targetHour, targetMin, targetSec);
            }

        };
        long delay = computeNextDelay(targetHour, targetMin, targetSec);
        executorService.schedule(taskWrapper, delay, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
    }

    private long computeNextDelay(int targetHour, int targetMin, int targetSec) 
    {
        LocalDateTime localNow = LocalDateTime.now();
        ZoneId currentZone = ZoneId.systemDefault();
        ZonedDateTime zonedNow = ZonedDateTime.of(localNow, currentZone);
        ZonedDateTime zonedNextTarget = zonedNow.withHour(targetHour).withMinute(targetMin).withSecond(targetSec);
        if(zonedNow.compareTo(zonedNextTarget) > 0)
            zonedNextTarget = zonedNextTarget.plusDays(1);

        Duration duration = Duration.between(zonedNow, zonedNextTarget);
        return duration.getSeconds();
    }

    public void stop()
    {
        executorService.shutdown();
        try {
            executorService.awaitTermination(1, TimeUnit.DAYS);
        } catch (InterruptedException ex) {
            Logger.getLogger(MyTaskExecutor.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
        }
    }
}

Note:

• MyTask is an interface with function execute.
• While stopping ScheduledExecutorService, Always use awaitTermination after invoking shutdown on it: There's always a likelihood your task is stuck / deadlocking and the user would wait forever.

The previous example I gave with Calender was just an idea which I did mention, I avoided exact time calculation and Daylight saving issues. Updated the solution on per the complain of @PaddyD

In Java 8:

scheduler = Executors.newScheduledThreadPool(1);

//Change here for the hour you want ----------------------------------.at()       
Long midnight=LocalDateTime.now().until(LocalDate.now().plusDays(1).atStartOfDay(), ChronoUnit.MINUTES);
scheduler.scheduleAtFixedRate(this, midnight, 1440, TimeUnit.MINUTES);

If you don't have the luxury of being able to use Java 8, the following will do what you need:

public class DailyRunnerDaemon
{
   private final Runnable dailyTask;
   private final int hour;
   private final int minute;
   private final int second;
   private final String runThreadName;

   public DailyRunnerDaemon(Calendar timeOfDay, Runnable dailyTask, String runThreadName)
   {
      this.dailyTask = dailyTask;
      this.hour = timeOfDay.get(Calendar.HOUR_OF_DAY);
      this.minute = timeOfDay.get(Calendar.MINUTE);
      this.second = timeOfDay.get(Calendar.SECOND);
      this.runThreadName = runThreadName;
   }

   public void start()
   {
      startTimer();
   }

   private void startTimer();
   {
      new Timer(runThreadName, true).schedule(new TimerTask()
      {
         @Override
         public void run()
         {
            dailyTask.run();
            startTimer();
         }
      }, getNextRunTime());
   }


   private Date getNextRunTime()
   {
      Calendar startTime = Calendar.getInstance();
      Calendar now = Calendar.getInstance();
      startTime.set(Calendar.HOUR_OF_DAY, hour);
      startTime.set(Calendar.MINUTE, minute);
      startTime.set(Calendar.SECOND, second);
      startTime.set(Calendar.MILLISECOND, 0);

      if(startTime.before(now) || startTime.equals(now))
      {
         startTime.add(Calendar.DATE, 1);
      }

      return startTime.getTime();
   }
}

It doesn't require any external libs, and will account for daylight savings. Simply pass in the time of day you want to run the task as a Calendar object, and the task as a Runnable. For example:

Calendar timeOfDay = Calendar.getInstance();
timeOfDay.set(Calendar.HOUR_OF_DAY, 5);
timeOfDay.set(Calendar.MINUTE, 0);
timeOfDay.set(Calendar.SECOND, 0);

new DailyRunnerDaemon(timeOfDay, new Runnable()
{
   @Override
   public void run()
   {
      try
      {
        // call whatever your daily task is here
        doHousekeeping();
      }
      catch(Exception e)
      {
        logger.error("An error occurred performing daily housekeeping", e);
      }
   }
}, "daily-housekeeping");

N.B. the timer task runs in a Daemon thread which is not recommended for doing any IO. If you need to use a User thread, you will need to add another method which cancels the timer.

If you have to use a ScheduledExecutorService, simply change the startTimer method to the following:

private void startTimer()
{
   Executors.newSingleThreadExecutor().schedule(new Runnable()
   {
      Thread.currentThread().setName(runThreadName);
      dailyTask.run();
      startTimer();
   }, getNextRunTime().getTime() - System.currentTimeMillis(),
   TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
}

I am not sure of the behaviour but you may need a stop method which calls shutdownNow if you go down the ScheduledExecutorService route, otherwise your application may hang when you try to stop it.