Timer
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Description
The Timer component is an invisible button that can be used to create repeated events in a window. This is often used for animations or repetitive scripts within a window. When running, the timer's Valueproperty is incremented by the Step By value, until the value tis the Bound, at which point it repeats. It is often useful to bind other values to a timer's Value property.
For instance, if you set the timer's Bound property to 360, and bind an object's rotation to the Value property, the object will spin in a circle when the timer is running. How fast the timer counts is up to the Delay property, which is the time between counts in milliseconds.
Want to run a script every time the timer counts? First, make sure you don't actually want to write a project Timer Script, which will run on some interval whenever the application is running. In contrast, a script that works via a Timer component will only run while the window that contains the Timer is open, and the Timer is running. The way to do this is to attach an event script to the actionPerformed event.
Properties
| Name | Description | Property Type | Scripting | Category |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bound | The value is always guaranteed to be less than this upper bound. | int | .max | Data |
| Delay (ms) | The delay in milliseconds between timer events. | int | .delay | Behavior |
| Initial Delay (ms) | The delay in milliseconds before the first event when running is set to true. | int | .initialDelay | Behavior |
| Name | The name of this component. | String | .name | Common |
| Running? | Determines whether or not the timer sends timer events. | boolean | .running | Behavior |
| Step by | The amount added to the value each time this timer fires for use as a counter. (should be positive) | int | .step | Data |
| Value | The current value of this timer, for use as a counter. At each iteration, this value will be set to ((value + step) MOD bound) | int | .value | Data |
Scripting
Scripting Functions
This component does not have scripting functions associated with it.
Extension Functions
This component does not have extension functions associated with it.
Event Handlers
Event handlers allow you to run a script based off specific triggers. See the full list of available event handlers on the Component Events page
Customizers
This component does not have any custom properties.
Example
//Suppose that you have images that make up frames of animation.
//Name your images: "Frame0.png", "Frame1.png", "Frame2.png". Set the timer's Bound to be 3, then bind the image path of animate component to the following expression:
"Frame" + {Root Container.Timer.value} + ".png"