SEtting timer for specific time

[thomasantony]

Hi,
   How do I make a program do something at a specific time, say 6:00 pm. one wya I see is to take the current time, converts it to milliseconds, takes the specific time also in ms. Finds difference. Then use sleep(). Any better ideas?

Thomas :U

[Mark Jones]

Try SetTimer/KillTimer for setting a running timer (in milliseconds.) Seems to be pretty accurate once started and uses very little system resources. On the down side, the thread must remain running as it counts down.

To cause something to happen at a specific time, how about GetCurrentTime? Then compare that result to whatever your set time is. You could even create a second timer to check every second to see if GetTime has arrived. Maybe you could expand on this very experimental code:

Code Select Expand


.data
        szStopped       db  'MyApp v0.01',0,0
        szRunning       db  'MyApp Time Remaining: ',0,0,0,0,0,0
        szTime          dq  0
        iTitleUpd       dd  0
        szTitleUpd      dq  0
.code
    .elseif eax==WM_HOTKEY                      ; when our hotkey is pressed
        invoke UnregisterHotKey,hWnd,1100       ; needed to prevent looping!
        invoke GetDlgItemText,hWnd,IDC_EDT1,addr szTime,4   ; limit 4 chars
        invoke atodw,addr szTime                ; ascii to dword
        mov [iTitleUpd],eax                     ; title timer value (single seconds)
        mov ecx,1000
        mul ecx                                 ; multiply eax by 1000 to get milliseconds
        invoke SetTimer,hWnd,111,eax,0          ; primary timer
        invoke SetTimer,hWnd,113,1000,0         ; title-update timer, 1 second
        invoke SetWindowText,hWnd,addr szRunning
        mov [active],1                          ; timer active flag

    .elseif eax==WM_TIMER                       ; timers expired
        mov eax,wParam
        .if eax==111                            ; primary timer
            invoke Beep,500,1000                ; hey we're done!
            invoke KillTimer,hWnd,111
            invoke RegisterHotKey,hWnd,1100,hVKradicals,hVKey
            invoke SetWindowText,hWnd,addr szStopped
            mov [active],0                      ; flag as done
        .elseif eax==113                        ; "update title" timer
            dec [iTitleUpd]                     ; decrement counter
            invoke dwtoa,[iTitleUpd],addr szTitleUpd
            mov ecx,offset szRunning            ; pointer as ecx
            mov edx,offset szTitleUpd
            add ecx,23                          ; go to first null
            call lpszCPY                        ; copy number
            mov word ptr [ecx],0073h            ; output "s" and null
            .if [iTitleUpd]>0                   ; while above zero sec remain
                invoke SetWindowText,hWnd,addr szRunning
                invoke SetTimer,hWnd,113,1000,0 ; restart timer
            .else
                invoke SetWindowText,hWnd,addr szStopped
                invoke KillTimer,hWnd,113
            .endif
        .endif


'lpszCPY' is part of a slew of simple string-and-byte functions I'm building.

Code Select Expand


lpszCPY     proc                                ; copies edx string to ecx string
@@:
    mov al, byte ptr [edx]                      ; input offset as edx
    mov byte ptr [ecx],al                       ; copy byte
    inc edx
    inc ecx
    test al,al                                  ; was it a null?
    jnz @B
    dec ecx                                     ; land on nulls, not after
    dec edx
    ret
lpszCPY     endp


[PBrennick]

Thomas,
Here is an alarm clock program.  Originally coded by Roman Nowicki and rewritten using Radasm by Ranma_at.

Paul


[attachment deleted by admin]

[thomasantony]

Hi,
  Thanx Mark, Thanx Paul. Those examples are very good. Thanx again

Thomas :U