ScriptForge.Timer service

The Timer service measures the amount of time it takes to run user scripts. A Timer measures durations. It can be: Started, to indicate when to start measuring time. Suspended, to pause measuring running time. Resumed, to continue tracking running time after the Timer has been suspended. Restarted, which will cancel previous measurements and start the Timer at zero.

Durations are expressed in seconds with a precision of 3 decimal digits (milliseconds). A duration value of 12.345 means 12 seconds and 345 milliseconds

Service invocation

Before using the Timer service the ScriptForge library needs to be loaded or imported:

The example below creates a Timer object named myTimer and starts it immediately. GlobalScope.BasicLibraries.LoadLibrary("ScriptForge") Dim myTimer As Variant myTimer = CreateScriptService("Timer", True) 'The timer starts immediately when the second argument = True, default = False It is recommended to free resources after use: Set myTimer = myTimer.Dispose()

from scriptforge import CreateScriptService myTimer = CreateScriptService("Timer", start = True) # ... myTimer = myTimer.Dispose()

Properties

Name Readonly Type Description Duration Yes Double The actual running time elapsed since start or between start and stop (does not consider suspended time) IsStarted Yes Boolean True when timer is started or suspended IsSuspended Yes Boolean True when timer is started and suspended SuspendDuration Yes Double The actual time elapsed while suspended since start or between start and stop TotalDuration Yes Double The actual time elapsed since start or between start and stop (including suspensions and running time)

Note that the TotalDuration property is equivalent to summing the Duration and SuspendDuration properties.

Methods

All methods do not require arguments and return a Boolean value. If the returned value is False, then nothing happened. Timer service;Continue Timer service;Restart Timer service;Start Timer service;Suspend Timer service;Terminate Name Description Returned value Continue Resumes the Timer if it has been suspended False if the timer is not suspended Restart Terminates the Timer and discards its current property values, restarting as a new clean Timer False if the timer is inactive Start Starts a new clean timer False if the timer is already started Suspend Suspends a running timer False if the timer is not started or already suspended Terminate Stops a running timer False if the timer is neither started nor suspended

The examples below in Basic and Python illustrate the use of the methods and properties in the Timer service.

myTimer.Start() Wait 500 myTimer.Suspend() 'The time elapsed while the Dialog box is open will be counted as suspended time MsgBox myTimer.Duration & " " & myTimer.SuspendDuration & " " & myTimer.TotalDuration myTimer.Continue() Wait 500 'The time elapsed while the Dialog box is open will be counted as running time MsgBox myTimer.Duration & " " & myTimer.SuspendDuration & " " & myTimer.TotalDuration myTimer.Terminate() 'Shows the final time measurements MsgBox myTimer.Duration & " " & myTimer.SuspendDuration & " " & myTimer.TotalDuration If you call the Terminate method, subsequent calls for the Continue method will not resume time measurement. Similarly, after a Timer has been terminated, calling the Start method will restart it as if it were a clean new Timer.

from time import sleep bas = CreateScriptService("Basic") myTimer.Start() sleep(0.5) myTimer.Suspend() bas.MsgBox("{} {} {}".format(myTimer.Duration, myTimer.SuspendDuration, myTimer.TotalDuration)) myTimer.Continue() sleep(0.5) bas.MsgBox("{} {} {}".format(myTimer.Duration, myTimer.SuspendDuration, myTimer.TotalDuration)) myTimer.Terminate() bas.MsgBox("{} {} {}".format(myTimer.Duration, myTimer.SuspendDuration, myTimer.TotalDuration)) Beware that the Wait function in Basic takes in a duration argument in milliseconds whereas the sleep function in Python uses seconds in its argument.

Working with Multiple Timers

It is possible to instantiate multiple Timer services in parallel, which gives flexibility in measuring time in different parts of the code. The following example illustrates how to create two Timer objects and start them separately.

Dim myTimerA as Variant, myTimerB as Variant myTimerA = CreateScriptService("Timer") myTimerB = CreateScriptService("Timer") 'Starts myTimerA myTimerA.Start() Wait 1000 'Wait 1 second (1,000 milliseconds) MsgBox myTimerA.Duration & " " & myTimerB.Duration 'Starts myTimerB myTimerB.Start() Wait 1000 MsgBox myTimerA.Duration & " " & myTimerB.Duration 'Terminate both timers myTimerA.Terminate() myTimerB.Terminate()

from time import sleep myTimerA = CreateScriptService("Timer") myTimerB = CreateScriptService("Timer") myTimerA.Start() sleep(1) bas.MsgBox("{} {}".format(myTimerA.Duration, myTimerB.Duration)) myTimerB.Start() sleep(1) bas.MsgBox("{} {}".format(myTimerA.Duration, myTimerB.Duration)) myTimerA.Terminate() myTimerB.Terminate()