timer.md

Timer

• timer
  • timeout
  • interval
  • schedule
  • cancel

timer

The timer library provides timeouts, intervals, and schedules.

local tmr = require("timer");

timer.timeout( fn, time )

Calls the function fn after the specified time in milliseconds. Returns a timer ID which can be used to cancel the timeout before it gets called.

tid = tmr.timeout(function ()
	print("3 seconds later");
end, 3000);

The function can either be inlined or a named function, which ever is most convenient.

function foobar()
	print("3 seconds later");
end

tmr.timeout(foobar, 3000);

timer.interval( fn, time )

Calls the function fn every time milliseconds. Returns a timer ID which can be used to cancel the interval at a later point in time.

tid = tmr.interval(function ()
	print("tick");
end, 1000);

timer.schedule( fn, time )

Calls the function fn at the specified ISO 8601 time. Returns a timer ID which can be used to cancel the schedule before it gets called.

tmr.schedule(function ()
	print("good morning!");
end, "2014-05-06T08:00:00Z");

timer.cancel( id )

All timer functions return a timer ID. This ID is used to cancel the timer events.

tid = tmr.timeout(...);
tmr.cancel(tid);

You should ensure that your timers are started and then canceled appropriately. For example:

local tid;

events.focus = function ()
	tid = timer.interval(function ()
		print("hello world!");
	end, 1000);
end

events.blur = function ()
	timer.cancel(tid);
end