Simple class to create and write to performance counters

gistfile1.cs

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Linq;

namespace Two10.Utils
{
    public class PerformanceMonitor : IDisposable
    {
        string counterCategory = null;
        string counterName = null;
        Stopwatch watch = new Stopwatch();


        public PerformanceMonitor(string counterName, string counterCategory)
        {
            this.watch.Start();
            this.counterName = counterName;
            this.counterCategory = counterCategory;
        }

        private void WriteToCounter()
        {
            try
            {
                var pcTime = new PerformanceCounter(counterCategory, counterName, false);
                var pcBase = new PerformanceCounter(counterCategory, counterName + "_base", false);
                pcTime.IncrementBy(watch.ElapsedTicks);
                pcBase.Increment();
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                Trace.WriteLine("Failed to write the performance counter {0}", counterName);
                Trace.WriteLine(ex.ToString());
            }
        }

        public static void CreateCounters(string[] counterName, string counterCategory)
        {
            try
            {
                if (!PerformanceCounterCategory.Exists(counterCategory))
                {
                    PerformanceCounterCategory.Create(
                        counterCategory,
                        "Custom Counters",
                        PerformanceCounterCategoryType.SingleInstance,
                        new CounterCreationDataCollection(CounterData(counterName).ToArray()));
                }
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                Trace.WriteLine("Failed to create a performance counter in category '{0}'", counterCategory);
                Trace.WriteLine(ex.ToString());
            }

        }

        private static IEnumerable<CounterCreationData> CounterData(string[] counterNames)
        {
            foreach (var name in counterNames)
            {
                yield return new CounterCreationData(name, "The elapsed time for " + name, PerformanceCounterType.AverageTimer32);
                yield return new CounterCreationData(name + "_base", "The average base for " + name, PerformanceCounterType.AverageBase);
            }
        }

        public void Dispose()
        {
            watch.Stop();
            WriteToCounter();
        }
    }
}