How to programmatically set the value of a timer? - c#

I tried reading the documentation for the WinForms Timer class but I didn't understand it well enough. I want to have a timer that counts down from 60 to 0 seconds and a button that manually adds 10 seconds to the timer whenever pressed. My question is: "what do I need to do to programmatically set the 'value' of a timer"?
I realize this is a simple question, but the answer to it has eluded me. I would be really thankful if I could get some help.
Thanks in advance.

You need another variable to hold the time. The timer will be responsible for the ticking and it will update the time in your variable. So like this:
int timeLeft = 60;
private void timer1_Tick(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (timeLeft > 0)
{
timeLeft = timeLeft - 1;
}
else
{
timer1.Stop();
}
textBox1.Text = timeLeft.ToString();
}
private void StartTimer_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
timer1.Interval = 1000;
timer1.Start();
}
private void AddTimeButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
timeLeft = timeLeft + 10;
}
timer1 would be the timer, textBox1 for showing the time left, and the buttons should be self-explanatory.

The timer measures time in milliseconds (1000 = 1 second). If you want something to update every second set the .Interval to 1000. You will need a variable initially set to 60. In the timer's Tick event you will want to decrement that counter by one and update your UI. When you want to start counting down enable the timer with .Enabled = True. When the counter hits 0 disable the timer.
If you let us know what language you are writing this in (C#, VB, etc) someone can probably give you some actual code.

Related

Visual Studio 2015 c# Timer problems

Hey just wondering if anyone could help me out with a problem I'm encountering with a timer in my windows form application. Here is the code I'm using:
private void game_Timer_Tick(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
while (true)
{
int count = 0;
count++;
timeLabel.Text = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(count).ToString();
}
}
The problem I'm having is that whenever the window that this applies to opens and then after that nothing happens and I'm unable to do anything. When removing this code the window works fine so I'm unsure why its not working in relation to this section of code. Any thoughts? Thanks
If you want to display number of seconds since timer start, then declare field for holding start time:
private DateTime startTime;
Assign this field when you are starting timer:
game_Timer.Interval = 1000; // fire event each second
startTime = DateTime.Now;
game_Timer.Start();
And use it in Tick handler:
private void game_Timer_Tick(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
timeLabel.Text = (DateTime.Now - startTime).ToString();
}
What is wrong with your code? You have infinite loop inside Tick event handler. So when event fires first time, you are entering this loop and never exit it. And you are unable to do anything, because your application is busy with constant updating time label.
You can also use counter instead of saving timer start time. But you will need field anyway:
private int count = 0;
And event handler:
private void game_Timer_Tick(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
timeLabel.Text = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(++count).ToString();
}

C# get current system time

So I have a program that I need to be able to get the current time. This is a winform and I have a timer that starts up when the winform is loaded and the interval is 1000. Every tick it checks the time and sets a label on the winform to display that time. I use DateTime.Now.Hour; to determine the hour (which is just what I need). My problem is even though this code is on a timer it only displays the time that was when the winform started and doesnt update it. What do I do to get the current and updating hour of the day?
EDIT:
Here is the code
//code for hour variable
private int time = DateTime.Now.Hour;
//Code for timer
private void mainTimer_Tick(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
//code run every time mainTimer gets a tick
label1.Text = time.ToString();
}
Your class field won't be re-evaluated again until you set it explicitly.
This is how you should do it:
label1.Text = DateTime.Now.Hour.ToString();
private void Clock(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
DateTime dtn = DateTime.Now.Hour;
label1.Text = dtn.ToString();
}
then put timer tick on it

building a stop watch with help of timer

I want to add functionality to my WinForms so that when it starts a counter starts which will be in hh:mm. I know this can be done using a timer. I have made a time label which displays the current time, but I don't know how to start the timer when the form is loaded. Is there any method or class for that?
Place Timer component to your form (drag it from ToolBox - it's imporant, because timer should be registered as form's component to be disposed correctly when form closes). Set timer's Interval property to 60000 (that's equal to one minute). And subscribe to Tick event:
void timer1_Tick(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (endTime < DateTime.Now)
{
MessageBox.Show("Time is out!");
timer1.Stop();
return;
}
timeLabel.Text = (endTime - DateTime.Now).ToString(#"hh\:mm");
}
On Form_Load event handler start timer and save countdown end time:
private DateTime endTime; // field to store end time
void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
endTime = DateTime.Now.AddMinutes(120); // set countdown to 120 minutes
timer1.Start();
}
The creation of a timer is very simple and straight forward:
Timer t1 = new Timer();
t1.Interval = 100;
t1.Tick+=new EventHandler(t1_Tick);
t1.Start();
void t1_Tick(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
}
For more information see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.timers.timer(v=vs.80).aspx

Raise event after 30 seconds of no user interaction

I'm programming a WPF application, and I'd like to raise an event if the user has not interacted with the program for 30 seconds. That is to say, no keyboard or/and mouse events.
The reason I want do do this is because I want to bring attention to the screen if a variable alertstate has been set to true.
I'm thinking of using something along the lines of BackgroundWorker but I really don't know how I can get the time a user has not interacted with the program. Can someone point me in the right direction?
I guess this question basically comes down to checking if a user has interacted with the screen. How do I do this?
One way you could do this is to use GetLastInputInfo. This information will give you the time elapsed (in ticks) since last user interaction on mouse/keyboard.
You can have information here :
http://www.pinvoke.net/default.aspx/user32.GetLastInputInfo
So have a timer which checks for the last time an interaction went on. If you need accuracy, you can either check each 5 second for example OR you can, when you see that idle is ongoing for y seconds (y<30), setup a one-time timer that will check for idle time after (30-y) seconds.
You need to record the last time the user moved the mouse or pressed a key and then check if that time is greater than your threshold.
So you need to add mouse move, mouse click and keyboard handlers to your application (this is Silverlight code so you might have to change namespaces etc.):
private void AttachEvents()
{
Application.Current.RootVisual.MouseMove += new MouseEventHandler(RootVisual_MouseMove);
Application.Current.RootVisual.KeyDown += new KeyEventHandler(RootVisual_KeyDown);
Application.Current.RootVisual.AddHandler(UIElement.MouseLeftButtonDownEvent, (MouseButtonEventHandler)RootVisual_MouseButtonDown, true);
Application.Current.RootVisual.AddHandler(UIElement.MouseRightButtonDownEvent, (MouseButtonEventHandler)RootVisual_MouseButtonDown, true);
}
Then in the handlers have code like this for the mouse move:
private void RootVisual_MouseMove(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
timeOfLastActivity = DateTime.Now;
}
and a similar one for the KeyDown event handler.
You will have to set off a timer:
idleTimer = new DispatcherTimer();
idleTimer.Interval = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1);
idleTimer.Tick += new EventHandler(idleTimer_Tick);
// Initialise last activity time
timeOfLastActivity = DateTime.Now;
Then in the tick event handler have something like this:
private void idleTimer_Tick(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (DateTime.Now > timeOfLastActivity.AddSeconds(30))
{
// Do your stuff
}
}
Use ComponentDispatcher.ThreadIdle and DispatcherTimer to achieve this.
DispatcherTimer timer;
public Window1()
{
InitializeComponent();
ComponentDispatcher.ThreadIdle += new EventHandler(ComponentDispatcher_ThreadIdle);
timer = new DispatcherTimer();
timer.Interval = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(30);
timer.Tick += new EventHandler(timer_Tick);
}
void timer_Tick(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
//Do your action here
timer.Stop();
}
void ComponentDispatcher_ThreadIdle(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
timer.Start();
}

Using a timer to display text for 3 seconds?

Is it possible to use a timer to show text in a label for like 3 sec ?
F.E. When you saved something and it was successful, you'd get a text message "success!" for 3 second and then return to the original page.
Anyone knows how to do this using a label or a messagebox ?
Yes, it s possible...
You may start the timer at where you set the text of the label to "succcess" and set it to tick after 3 seconds and then at the timer_ticks event, you may redirect to the page you want.
Edit: the code to start the timer - This is a simple windows form having one button and one label
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
//Create the timer
System.Windows.Forms.Timer myTimer = new System.Windows.Forms.Timer();
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
//Set the timer tick event
myTimer.Tick += new System.EventHandler(myTimer_Tick);
}
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
//Set the timer tick interval time in milliseconds
myTimer.Interval = 1000;
//Start timer
myTimer.Start();
}
//Timer tick event handler
private void myTimer_Tick(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
this.label1.Text = "Successful";
//Stop the timer - if required
myTimer.Stop();
}
}
sure, that is possible. your going to want to do it with javascript/jquery on the client side to avoid a page refresh, i am thinking. here is a link to how to run javascript on a timer.

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