Lua:Class:Timer

{} Class

class Timer : Component

The Timer class represents a timer component.

A Timer inherits from Component and Object. It can repeatedly call an OnTimer function after a given interval, or it can be created as a one-shot timer that executes a callback once and then destroys itself.

Inheritance

Class	Inherits From	Description
Timer	Component	A timer component that can execute code after a delay or repeatedly at an interval.
Component	Object	Base class for components.

Creation

<> Reference

function createTimer(delay, function, ...) : Timer

<> Reference

function createTimer(owner, enabled) : Timer

Creates a Timer object.

The first form creates a one-shot timer that waits for the given delay, executes the given function, and then destroys itself. Do not use the timer object after it has fired.

The second form creates a persistent timer object. If enabled is omitted, it will be enabled by default and starts running as soon as an OnTimer event has been assigned. The owner may be nil, but in that case you are responsible for destroying the timer manually.

Function Parameters

One-Shot Timer

Parameter	Type	Description
delay	Integer	The delay in milliseconds before the callback is executed.
function	Function	The function to execute when the timer fires.
...	Any (optional)	Additional arguments that are passed to the callback function.

Persistent Timer

Parameter	Type	Description
owner	Component or nil (optional)	The owner of the timer. If nil or omitted, the timer must be destroyed manually.
enabled	Boolean (optional)	If true, the timer is enabled. If omitted, the timer is enabled by default.

Returns

Timer — The created Timer object.

Properties

Property	Type	Description
Interval	Integer	The number of milliseconds between timer executions. 1000 equals one second.
Enabled	Boolean	If true, the timer is active. If false, the timer is paused.
OnTimer	Function	The function to call when the timer triggers. The timer object is passed as the parameter.

Methods

Method	Return Type	Description
getInterval()	Integer	Returns the timer interval in milliseconds.
setInterval(interval)	void	Sets how often the timer should trigger, in milliseconds.
getOnTimer()	Function	Returns the current OnTimer function.
setOnTimer(function(timer))	void	Sets the function that is called when the timer triggers.
getEnabled()	Boolean	Returns whether the timer is currently enabled.
setEnabled(boolean)	void	Enables or disables the timer.

Examples

local timer = createTimer(nil, false)

timer.Interval = 1000
timer.OnTimer = function(timer)
  print("Tick")
end

timer.Enabled = true

local timer = createTimer()
timer.Interval = 1000

local count = 0

timer.OnTimer = function(timer)
  count = count + 1
  print("Count: " .. tostring(count))

  if count >= 5 then
    timer.Enabled = false
    timer.destroy()
  end
end

createTimer(2000, function()
  print("This runs once after 2 seconds")
end)

createTimer(1500, function(name, value)
  print(name .. ": " .. tostring(value))
end, "Health", 100)

local form = createForm()
form.Caption = "Timer Example"

local timer = createTimer(form)
timer.Interval = 500
timer.OnTimer = function(timer)
  form.Caption = os.date("%H:%M:%S")
end

form.show()

See Also

Main Pages

Lua
Script Engine