Question

I am developing an app in python with pyGtk+Glade.

I want to execute a function every N seconds (just like in javascript the function setTimeout()). If the user perform a click, some action must be done, and the timer must be reset.

I was trying with threading.Timer, something like this:

def callback():
    print "callback executed"

t = threading.Timer(10.0, callback)
t.start()

but it doesn’t work for me because it blocks everything for the N secs and doesn’t capture the user click.

Any other option?

Answer 1

This creates a timer which calls MainWin.update() every second. When the button is pressed, the current timer is killed and a new timer is started.

import pygtk
pygtk.require('2.0')
import gtk
import gobject
import time

class MainWin(object):
    def destroy(self, widget, data=None):
        gtk.main_quit()
    def __init__(self):
        self.window = gtk.Window(gtk.WINDOW_TOPLEVEL)
        self.window.connect("destroy", self.destroy)
        self.window.set_border_width(10)
        self.button = gtk.Button("Reset")
        self.button.connect("clicked", self.onclick)
        self.window.add(self.button)
        self.button.show()
        self.window.show()
        self.reset_timer = False
        self.count = 0
        self.duration = 1000
        self.timer = gobject.timeout_add(self.duration, self.update)
    def reset(self):
        print('Resetting timer')
        gobject.source_remove(self.timer)
        # start a new period call to update
        self.count = 0        
        self.timer = gobject.timeout_add(self.duration, self.update) 
    def onclick(self, widget):
        # Every action which resets the timer should call self.reset_timer().
        self.reset()
    def update(self):
        print('{t:.1f}: count = {i}'.format(t=time.time() % 100, i=self.count))
        self.count += 1
        return True
    def main(self):
        gtk.main()

if __name__=='__main__':
    MainWin().main()