Question

I want my code to wait for a couple of seconds before executing. So is there any function similar to sleep in flex?

Answer 1

There is no sleep or delay function in ActionScript. Like JavaScript, you can use setTimeout() instead like this:

function trigger():void { setTimeout(doIt, 1000); }
function doIt():void    { Alert.show("done!"); }

Once you link the trigger() function to any event such as ‘click’, when the event happens alert box will show up after 1 sec.

There is also setInterval() and clearlnterval() functions you can use for repetition. However, it is recommended to use the flash.utils.Timer class in that case.

private var myTimer:Timer;

private function init():void {
    myTimer = new Timer(5000, 1);
    myTimer.addEventListener(TimerEvent.TIMER_COMPLETE, timerHandler);
    myTimer.start();
}

public function timerHandler(event:TimerEvent):void {
    Alert.show("I was delayed!");
}