Pausing/resuming a timer

Support
1

Hi Chris,

Is there any way to pause/resume a timer?
Specifically, I want a timer (for a fixation duration) to run when in a specific state, pause when leaving that state (when fixation is broken), and then resume (without restarting completely) when re-entering the state (re-fixation).
What would be the best way to do something like this? Some options that come to mind are using render_actions or explicitly getting times with now(), but if I could pause/resume timers directly that seems more straightforward.

Thanks,
Sol

2

Hi Chris,

I implemented this as a schedule action:
%define start_fixation_timer ()
if (fix_timer_off) {
fix_timer_off = false
schedule (
delay = 0ms
duration = 10ms
repeats = -999
cancel = fix_timer_off
) {
total_fix_time += 10
}
}
%end

I pause the timer by setting fix_timer_off = true, reset it with total_fix_time = 0, and check for a completed fixation with total_fix_time >= fixation_duration.

While a bit of error in the timing is fine for my purposes, I get a lot of the following errors printed in the console:
03:26:01: WARNING: Scheduled action is starting 780us behind intended schedule

03:26:01: ERROR: Scheduled action is starting 2206us behind intended schedule

How would you recommend dealing with these errors? Is there a way to suppress them below some threshold?

Thanks,
Sol

3

Hi Sol,

No, timers can’t be paused, but that does seem like a good idea. I’ll add it to my to-do list.

In the meantime, explicitly getting times with now() is probably the best approach.

Cheers,
Chris

4

That seems like it would be more accurate than scheduled actions, so I’ll do that instead actually. Thanks!