Clockmaker

Flexible timers for Javascript which can be paused and modified on-the-fly.

Clockmaker is inspired by Mozilla's MiniDaemon and provides an alternative to the built-in setTimeout and setInterval functions. It is especially useful when you are running multiple timers and wish to exercise better control over them.

Demo: http://hiddentao.github.io/clockmaker/

Features:

• Stop and restart timers.
• Change the timer interval in real-time.
• Start and stop multiple timers in one go.
• Robust error handling.
• Uses method chaining for ease of use.
• Works in node.js and in the browser.
• Has no other dependencies.
• Small: <1 KB minified and gzipped.

Installation

node.js

Install using npm:

$ npm install clockmaker

Browser

Use bower:

$ bower install clockmaker

How to use

These examples are all running in node.js. At the top of each example assume you have the following:

var Timer = require('clockmaker').Timer,
    Timers = require('clockmaker').Timers;

Single-run timer

The basic Timer works in the same way as setTimeout:

Timer(function(timer) {
  console.log(timer.getDelay() + ' millseconds done');
}, 2000).start();

Notice how start() needs to be called to kick-off the timer. Also notice how the Timer instance is passes as an argument to the handler, allowing us to query and control the timer from within our handler.

You can also explicitly construct the Timer object:

var timer = new Timer(function() {
  console.log('2 seconds done');
}, 2000);
 
timer.start();

Once a basic timer has ticked and invoked its handler it cannot be started again:

var timer = new Timer(function() {
  console.log('2 seconds done');
}, 2000);
 
timer.start();
timer.isStopped();  // false
 
// ... >2 seconds later
 
timer.start();      // has no effect
timer.isStopped();  // true

And you can stop a timer from executing its handler in the first place:

var timer = new Timer(function() {
  console.log('You should never see this line');
}, 2000);
 
timer.start();
timer.isStopped();  // false
 
// ... <2 seconds later
 
timer.stop();
timer.isStopped();  // true

Repeating timer

You can simulate setInterval behaviour by setting repeat: true in the options.

Timer(function(timer) {
  console.log('Another 2 seconds passed. Number of ticks so far: ' + timer.getNumTicks());
}, 2000, {
  repeat: true
}).start();

The getNumTicks() method tells you how many times the timer has ticked. Let's stop the timer after 10 ticks:

Timer(function(timer) {
  console.log('Another 2 seconds passed');
 
  if (10 === timer.getNumTicks()) {
    timer.stop();
  }
}, 2000, {
  repeat: true
}).start();

You can change the delay interval in real-time:

Timer(function(timer) {
  console.log('Next tick will take 1 second longer');
 
  timer.setDelay(timer.getDelay() + 1000);
}, delayMs, {
  repeat: true
}).start();

Let's stop and restart the timer using a second timer:

var timer = new Timer(function() {
  console.log('Another 2 seconds done');
}, 2000, {
  repeat: true
});
 
timer.start();
 
 
// This second timer which will stop/start the first timer every 5 seconds
Timer(function() {
  if (timer.isStopped()) {
    timer.start();
  } else {
    timer.stop();
  }
}, 5000, {
  repeat: true
}).start();

A timer does not keep track of how much time has elapsed when it gets stopped. So when it gets started again it resumes with the full time delay.

Asynchronous handlers

The timer waits for the handler to finish executing before scheduling the next tick. But what if the handler is asynchronous? you can inform the timer of this and be given a callback:

var timer = new Timer(function(timer, cb) {
  // ... do some stuff
  cb();
}, 2000, {
  repeat: true,
  async: true
});
 
timer.start();

In this case, until your handler invokes the cb() callback (see above) the timer will not schedule the next tick. This allows you to decide whether you want to schedule the next tick straight away (i.e. calling cb() straight away) or once all necessary work inside the handler is done (i.e. calling cb() at the end).

You can also use the callback to handle errors.

This context

The this context for the handler function can be set:

var ctx = {
  dummy: true
};
 
new Timer(function() {
  console.log(this.dummy);  // true
}, 2000, {
  thisObj: ctx
}).start();

Synchronize to now

Sometimes you may want to reset a timer that's already running, i.e. stop and then restart it without actually having to do so:

/*
In this example the second timer keeps 'resetting' the first one every 100ms. 
The net effect is that the first timer never actually completes a tick.
 */
var timer = new Timer(function() {
  console.log('hell world');  // this never gets executed
}, 2000);
 
timer.start();
 
Timer(function() {
  timer.synchronize();
}, 100).start();

Handling errors

You can pass in an onError handler to be informed of errors:

new Timer(function() {
  throw new Error('A dummy error');
}, 2000, {
  onError: function(err) {
    console.error(err);  // A dummy error
  }
}).start();

Error handling works for asynchronous handlers too:

new Timer(function(timer, cb) {
  cb(new Error('A dummy error'));
}, 2000, {
  async: true,
  onError: function(err) {
    console.error(err);  // A dummy error
  }
}).start();

Note: If you don't pass in an onError handler then errors are ignored.

Multiple timers

You can control multiple timers at a time by using the Timers interface.

var timers = new Timers();
 
var timer1 = timers.create(handlerFn, 2000, { repeat: true });
var timer2 = timers.create(aletFn, 1000);
var timer3 = ...
 
timer1.start(); // you can start them one a a time, or...
 
timers.start(); // ...start them all at once
 
... // some time later
 
timers.stop();  // stop all timers

noConflict

If you're using Clockmaker in a browser app and are not using an AMD or CommonJS module system then it will add two new items into the global scope:

• Timer
• Timers

If these clash with existing values in your global scope then you can use the .noConflict() method calls to restore your existing values:

// assume we're running in browser global scope, i.e. window
 
var Timer = 'my timer class';
var Timers = 'my timers class';
 
// ... load clockmaker ...
 
console.log(Timer); // Function
console.log(Timers); // Function
 
// restore my definitions
 
var ClockmakerTimer = Timer.noConflict();
var ClockmakerTimers = Timers.noConflict();
 
console.log(Timer); // 'my timer class'
console.log(Timers); // 'my timers class'

Building

To build the code and run the tests:

$ npm install -g gulp
$ npm install
$ gulp build

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md.

License

MIT - see LICENSE.md