basic timer setup

[human fly]

sorry guys: just cannot seem to get my head round
setting up a timer and timer callback. seem to have
a mental block on it. i would like to look at it in
it’s most basic form (i think i’ll be ok after that).

let’s say i just want 1 timer, with a 300ms interval,
a ‘start timer’, and a ‘stop timer’. and an output:
say, a 1 to 16 count that loops while the timer is
running.

so i will have a ‘run/stop’ button: 0 is ‘stop’, 1 is ‘run’.
while it is at 1, counter runs.

do i need 2 methods? one to ID the timer, and another
to define its action? (the ‘callback’?)

or can i do it all within one method?
(if only one timerID, i won’t need to do ‘if timerID == (number) then ..’

– – – – – –

if i have:

function runSeqCallback(timerId)
--start and stop a count
local runSeq = panel:getModulatorByName("runSeq"):getValue()
if runSeq == 1 then 
console(String("count start"))
--start timer
	--timer:setCallback (1, runSeqCallback)
	--timer:startTimer(1, 300)
panel:getComponent("display"):setPropertyString("uiLabelText","run")

elseif	runSeq == 0 then 
console(String("count stop"))
--stop timer
	--timer:stopTimer(timerId)
panel:getComponent("display"):setPropertyString("uiLabelText","stop")
end
end

is this the correct form? so far this just prints to console, start/stop.
i suppose i need a second function that defines an incrementing, looping
count.

i have these arguments working on another thing, where i just click a
button to fake my timer, and it ‘loops’:

if runStop == 1 and count1_16 <= 15 and value == 1 then add1step(value) end 
if runStop == 1 and count1_16 == 16 and value == 1 then reset(value) end
if runStop == 1 and count1_16 <= 16 then sequence(value) end

-not sure i need ‘value’ in my variable there; i have 3 little functions:

function add1step(value)
panel:getModulatorByName("count1_16"):setModulatorValue((count1_16)+1, false, true, true)
end
--
function sub1step(value)
panel:getModulatorByName("count1_16"):setModulatorValue((count1_16)-1, false, true, true)
end
--
function reset(value)
panel:getModulatorByName("count1_16"):setModulatorValue((count1_16)-15, false, true, true)
end

and see this sort of thing elsewhere:

--	local count = 1
--	local count=count+1
--	if count==16 then count=1 end

[Puppeteer]

You can’t call the callback function from within itself.

You need to so something like have a button trigger a method.

In that method use the timer:setCallback and timer:startTimer

Whatever the name of the callback, in that function you do the stuff that you want executed each time the timer is called.

You need a way, inside the callback to stop the timer, so each time the timer runs, it checks to see if it’s still meant to be running, and if it’s not, it will stop the timer.

The Puppeteer
http://godlike.com.au

[human fly]

ok, thanks.
did think so, needed confirmation.
major doh moment.
will try again.

(been having fun locking up Ctrlr with ‘while’ this morning,
sussed that now – > other learning exercise … as i’ve now
figured out ways to replicate online tutorials : ) )

[Puppeteer]

Yeah, save before you run. I’ve crashed cntrl good and proper a few times with runaway feedback loops

The Puppeteer
http://godlike.com.au

[goodweather]

Human fly, let me repeat what I already mentioned in other posts. I add the code for a counter as example.

A timer is a loop that performs itself automatically a a specific time interval until it is stopped.
So, if you estimate that it takes 200ms to perform a lot of operations before showing a message on the screen or performing a certain action (for example) then you start a timer.

if LoadedProgramData:getSize() == 1024 then
	bLoadingProgram = true
	LoadProgramData(LoadedProgramData)
 	-- Starting a timer to reset bLoadingProgram to false after that all modulators have processed their OnChange function
	timer:setCallback (1, timerCallback)
	timer:startTimer(1, 200)
end

In this case, LoadProgramData is setting all modulators to a value which is triggering their OnChange methods. In each OnChange method I’m checkng for bLoadingProgam==True and if this is the case, the OnChange method content is bypassed. Of course, I should reset bLoadingProgram to False when all OnChange methods are treated and this is what the timer 1 is doing.

The code above is thus telling which callback method to call (timerCallback) and which timer to start at what interval (timer 1 at 200ms.
So, you put this under a button for example.
The code within the callback method and concercing timer 1 will execute every 200ms unless you stop it.

So, here comes the loop aspect. Either you stop it directly or you count the number of times it runs and stop it when a certain number of loops has been reached.
If you plan to have a loop and count, you have to initialize the counter variable in the method calling the timer just before starting it.

function timerCallback(timerId)
   --Load program timer
   if timerId == 1 then	-- run once
      --blablabla whatever you want to do
      timer:stopTimer(timerId)
   elseif timerId == 8 then -- run 99 times
      -- here is some code to tell what to do with each loop
      iCounter = iCounter + 1
	if iCounter == 99 then 
		timer:stopTimer(timerId) 
		iCounter = 0
		-- some code here to perform something with the 99 loops data
         end
   end
end

[human fly]

ok – i’m about to get back to that now, thanks.
i’ve been practising/familiarising myself with loops basics today:

Lua basics: Loops

[human fly]

(*i now see that a ‘loop’ such as ‘for..’, ‘while..’, ‘repeat…until’
will not do, because it spits out the series of operations in
one go.*)

i had difficulty looking at your example because you are ID’ing
several timers, and these are linked to conditions.

i just want to use an on/off button to start/stop a single timer
(for this exercise), that will perform the kind of operation you
show with ‘iCounter’, except it starts again, until the button
is set ‘off’. ie: it reaches 16 (…) and then goes back to 1,
and starts the count again, as long as the button is ‘on’.
i’ll see how i do with this in the morning 🙂

[human fly]

on closer inspection: (*total* basics…)

first off, i’ve been having a problem with simple ‘increment’ operation.
if i do:

function incCount()

local count = 0
	
count=count+1
console(String(count))
end

i only ever get ‘1’ returned.
but if i change it to:

local count = 0

function incCount()

count=count+1
console(String(count))
end

it increments the way i expect: 1,2,3,4,etc.

so what’s going on here? not used to having anything
in a method preceding the function header…

EDIT: *of course*: ‘count’ is global. if i put that in
a ‘when panel is loaded’ method, it does the same thing.
okaaay..

[human fly]

ok so here’s a little panel with increment, restarting
at the end of the count, with run/stop and reset.
(next step: add timer+callback stuff)
>>

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[Puppeteer]

In your first example, when you call inCount the first thing that you do is set count = 0. That is run every time you run that function.

You need to set it to zero outside of the loop and function

ie

count = 0

while count <10 do
stuff
count = count+1
end

The Puppeteer
http://godlike.com.au

[human fly]

re timer: can i do this?

function runStop(timerId)

runstop = panel:getModulatorByName("runstop"):getValue()

if runstop == 1 then 
--console(String("count start"))	

panel:getComponent("label_runstop"):setPropertyString("uiLabelText","run")
reset() -- to make it restart at first count each time it runs

--start timer
timer:setCallback (1, runCallback)
timer:startTimer(1, 300)

elseif	runstop == 0 then 
--console(String("count stop"))
	
panel:getComponent("label_runstop"):setPropertyString("uiLabelText","stop")

--stop timer
timer:stopTimer(timerId)
end
end

and my callBack is:

function runCallback()

count=count+1
if count == 9 then count = 1
	end
--console(String(count))	

panel:getComponent("label_count"):setPropertyString("uiLabelText",""..count)
end

going to try it without the reset() because it doesn’t do anything.
but i get a callback error on ‘stop’ anyway.

[human fly]

ah, well how about that: next time i ran that,
it’s upcounting 🙂 – but the method crashes on
panel load, too, on account of the stopTimer
causing a callback error (no matching candidate).

[human fly]

solved: stopTimer(TimerId) needs to be stopTimer(1)
since that’s the value of the variable ‘TimerId’ (if that’s
the correct way to put it?) that is specified in the ‘start’
part. working now (at last..).

[human fly]

Puppeteer wrote:

In your first example, when you call inCount the first thing that you do is set count = 0. That is run every time you run that function.

You need to set it to zero outside of the loop and function

ie

count = 0

while count <10 do
stuff
count = count+1
end

got it .. yes, see what you meant.
so my interpretation was wrong, in fact.
still: interesting to see i could put the count=0
before the function …

got it running nicely now, resetting on stop – not
start, it introduces a delay. i’m resetting to 1
at the moment, although i think it should reset to 0
at off/stop. first count has to ‘play’/clock, if not,
‘first’ clock will be 2..
i’m messing around making a chaselight UI: now i have
to ‘get’ the ‘count’ value and use it to set the logic
states of a row of corresponding leds…

[human fly]

got flashing lights 🙂

[Author]

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