Multiple timer only runs once

General
1

In trying to set a desktop app (Xojo 2018 r2) to quit after a specified period of time, I have set a timer in the open event of the application, like so:

TimeOutTimer = New Timer AddHandler TimeOutTimer.Action, AddressOf Timer_Quit TimeOutTimer.Period = 2000 //2 seconds TimeOutTimer.Mode = Timer.ModeMultiple TimeOutTimer.Enabled = True

[code]function TimerQuit (sender as Timer)
dim idleTime as double = UserIdleSeconds
dim myLimit as Integer = 30*60 //30 minutes (in seconds)

 Beep  //test if the method runs

 if idleTime >= myLimit then
   sender.Period = 2000 // Because, potentially, of dialogs
   Quit
 else
   sender.Period = ( myLimit - idleTime ) * 1000
 end if

end function[/code]

The TimerQuit method seems to only run (beeps) once.

This seems to work the same way whether I use Timer (classic) or Xojo.Core.Timer.

Not sure why this timer stops after the first run.

2 
TimeOutTimer = New Timer

If this is declared in the Open event, then at the end of the Open event, this object will become nil

Make TimeOutTimer a property of the app, and it will likely work.

3

I’m sorry, I neglected to say that TimeOutTimer is a property of the app. Must be something else going on.

Hmmm. I just heard a beep after a long period of time. Could my interval somehow not be 2 seconds?

4

You’ve changed your interval immediately after the first time the timer fired. The timer will fire for the first time after 2 seconds and then it will immediately change its interval (period) in the TimerQuit function. When it’s fired that first time, the code resets the interval to 1798000 milliseconds.

sender.Period = ( myLimit - idleTime ) * 1000

(1800 - 2) * 1000 = 1798000 miliseconds or almost half an hour.

5

Thanks. I really wasn’t clear what “sender” referred to as a parameter within a timer method.

Is “sender” a new timer within the TimeOutTimer method, or something related to the timer that is currently running?

6

[quote=409707:@David Schlam]Thanks. I really wasn’t clear what “sender” referred to as a parameter within a timer method.

Is “sender” a new timer within the TimeOutTimer method, or something related to the timer that is currently running?[/quote]
The TimerQuit method handles the firing of your TimeOutTimer. The AddHandler line says “whenever the action event fires for me (the timer), I want a method called TimerQuit to handle it”. So, inside TimerQuit, sender refers to that exact same timer.

For a quick fix, take out the else statement and the timer will keep firing every 2 seconds, always checking if the idleTime has been reached. Of course, this is inefficient because the first time that the app could quit is 30 mins away…

7

Is this a typo?

AddHandler TimeOutTimer.Action, AddressOf Timer_Quit

function TimerQuit (sender as Timer)

8

[quote=409717:@Tim Streater]
Is this a typo?

AddHandler TimeOutTimer.Action, AddressOf Timer_Quit
function TimerQuit (sender as Timer)[/quote]
Probably, since I wasn’t sure how to copy a function and its parameters so I just typed that out.

Do you not have to put a parameter of “sender” in the Timer_Quit method?

True, the first instance can’t be less than 30 minutes away so the first instance of the timer should occur in 30 minutes and then run (myLimit - idleTime) seconds after that. I was trying to test the method with a shorter start time and (as things would have it) got confused looking at old code. I usually try to document everything but could have done a better job here.

9

Also beware that myTimer.Reset sets it entirely back to it’s default settings, not just it’s clock. So if it was Mode.Single and you changed it in code to Mode.multiple, then a Reset will set it back to Mode.Single.