Provided by: libipc-run-perl_0.92-1_all 
NAME
IPC::Run::Timer -- Timer channels for IPC::Run.
SYNOPSIS
use IPC::Run qw( run timer timeout );
## or IPC::Run::Timer ( timer timeout );
## or IPC::Run::Timer ( :all );
## A non-fatal timer:
$t = timer( 5 ); # or...
$t = IO::Run::Timer->new( 5 );
run $t, ...;
## A timeout (which is a timer that dies on expiry):
$t = timeout( 5 ); # or...
$t = IO::Run::Timer->new( 5, exception => "harness timed out" );
DESCRIPTION
This class and module allows timers and timeouts to be created for use by IPC::Run. A
timer simply expires when it's time is up. A timeout is a timer that throws an exception
when it expires.
Timeouts are usually a bit simpler to use than timers: they throw an exception on
expiration so you don't need to check them:
## Give @cmd 10 seconds to get started, then 5 seconds to respond
my $t = timeout( 10 );
$h = start(
\@cmd, \$in, \$out,
$t,
);
pump $h until $out =~ /prompt/;
$in = "some stimulus";
$out = '';
$t->time( 5 )
pump $h until $out =~ /expected response/;
You do need to check timers:
## Give @cmd 10 seconds to get started, then 5 seconds to respond
my $t = timer( 10 );
$h = start(
\@cmd, \$in, \$out,
$t,
);
pump $h until $t->is_expired || $out =~ /prompt/;
$in = "some stimulus";
$out = '';
$t->time( 5 )
pump $h until $out =~ /expected response/ || $t->is_expired;
Timers and timeouts that are reset get started by start() and pump(). Timers change state
only in pump(). Since run() and finish() both call pump(), they act like pump() with
repect to timers.
Timers and timeouts have three states: reset, running, and expired. Setting the timeout
value resets the timer, as does calling the reset() method. The start() method starts (or
restarts) a timer with the most recently set time value, no matter what state it's in.
Time values
All time values are in seconds. Times may be specified as integer or floating point
seconds, optionally preceded by puncuation-separated days, hours, and minutes.\
Examples:
1 1 second
1.1 1.1 seconds
60 60 seconds
1:0 1 minute
1:1 1 minute, 1 second
1:90 2 minutes, 30 seconds
1:2:3:4.5 1 day, 2 hours, 3 minutes, 4.5 seconds
Absolute date/time strings are *not* accepted: year, month and day-of-month parsing is not
available (patches welcome :-).
Interval fudging
When calculating an end time from a start time and an interval, IPC::Run::Timer instances
add a little fudge factor. This is to ensure that no time will expire before the interval
is up.
First a little background. Time is sampled in discrete increments. We'll call the exact
moment that the reported time increments from one interval to the next a tick, and the
interval between ticks as the time period. Here's a diagram of three ticks and the
periods between them:
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-2-...
^ ^ ^
|<--- period 0 ---->|<--- period 1 ---->|
| | |
tick 0 tick 1 tick 2
To see why the fudge factor is necessary, consider what would happen when a timer with an
interval of 1 second is started right at the end of period 0:
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-2-...
^ ^ ^ ^
| | | |
| | | |
tick 0 |tick 1 tick 2
|
start $t
Assuming that check() is called many times per period, then the timer is likely to expire
just after tick 1, since the time reported will have lept from the value '0' to the value
'1':
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-2-...
^ ^ ^ ^ ^
| | | | |
| | | | |
tick 0 |tick 1| tick 2
| |
start $t |
|
check $t
Adding a fudge of '1' in this example means that the timer is guaranteed not to expire
before tick 2.
The fudge is not added to an interval of '0'.
This means that intervals guarantee a minimum interval. Given that the process running
perl may be suspended for some period of time, or that it gets busy doing something time-
consuming, there are no other guarantees on how long it will take a timer to expire.
SUBCLASSING
INCOMPATIBLE CHANGE: Due to the awkwardness introduced by ripping pseudohashes out of
Perl, this class no longer uses the fields pragma.
FUNCTIONS & METHODS
timer
A constructor function (not method) of IPC::Run::Timer instances:
$t = timer( 5 );
$t = timer( 5, name => 'stall timer', debug => 1 );
$t = timer;
$t->interval( 5 );
run ..., $t;
run ..., $t = timer( 5 );
This convenience function is a shortened spelling of
IPC::Run::Timer->new( ... );
. It returns a timer in the reset state with a given interval.
If an exception is provided, it will be thrown when the timer notices that it has
expired (in check()). The name is for debugging usage, if you plan on having multiple
timers around. If no name is provided, a name like "timer #1" will be provided.
timeout
A constructor function (not method) of IPC::Run::Timer instances:
$t = timeout( 5 );
$t = timeout( 5, exception => "kablooey" );
$t = timeout( 5, name => "stall", exception => "kablooey" );
$t = timeout;
$t->interval( 5 );
run ..., $t;
run ..., $t = timeout( 5 );
A This convenience function is a shortened spelling of
IPC::Run::Timer->new( exception => "IPC::Run: timeout ...", ... );
. It returns a timer in the reset state that will throw an exception when it expires.
Takes the same parameters as "timer", any exception passed in overrides the default
exception.
new
IPC::Run::Timer->new() ;
IPC::Run::Timer->new( 5 ) ;
IPC::Run::Timer->new( 5, exception => 'kablooey' ) ;
Constructor. See "timer" for details.
check
check $t;
check $t, $now;
$t->check;
Checks to see if a timer has expired since the last check. Has no effect on non-
running timers. This will throw an exception if one is defined.
IPC::Run::pump() calls this routine for any timers in the harness.
You may pass in a version of now, which is useful in case you have it lying around or
you want to check several timers with a consistent concept of the current time.
Returns the time left before end_time or 0 if end_time is no longer in the future or
the timer is not running (unless, of course, check() expire()s the timer and this
results in an exception being thrown).
Returns undef if the timer is not running on entry, 0 if check() expires it, and the
time left if it's left running.
debug
Sets/gets the current setting of the debugging flag for this timer. This has no
effect if debugging is not enabled for the current harness.
end_time
$et = $t->end_time;
$et = end_time $t;
$t->end_time( time + 10 );
Returns the time when this timer will or did expire. Even if this time is in the
past, the timer may not be expired, since check() may not have been called yet.
Note that this end_time is not start_time($t) + interval($t), since some small extra
amount of time is added to make sure that the timer does not expire before interval()
elapses. If this were not so, then
Changing end_time() while a timer is running will set the expiration time. Changing
it while it is expired has no affect, since reset()ing a timer always clears the
end_time().
exception
$x = $t->exception;
$t->exception( $x );
$t->exception( undef );
Sets/gets the exception to throw, if any. 'undef' means that no exception will be
thrown. Exception does not need to be a scalar: you may ask that references be
thrown.
interval
$i = interval $t;
$i = $t->interval;
$t->interval( $i );
Sets the interval. Sets the end time based on the start_time() and the interval (and
a little fudge) if the timer is running.
expire
expire $t;
$t->expire;
Sets the state to expired (undef). Will throw an exception if one is defined and the
timer was not already expired. You can expire a reset timer without starting it.
is_running
is_reset
is_expired
name
Sets/gets this timer's name. The name is only used for debugging purposes so you can
tell which freakin' timer is doing what.
reset
reset $t;
$t->reset;
Resets the timer to the non-running, non-expired state and clears the end_time().
start
start $t;
$t->start;
start $t, $interval;
start $t, $interval, $now;
Starts or restarts a timer. This always sets the start_time. It sets the end_time
based on the interval if the timer is running or if no end time has been set.
You may pass an optional interval or current time value.
Not passing a defined interval causes the previous interval setting to be re-used
unless the timer is reset and an end_time has been set (an exception is thrown if no
interval has been set).
Not passing a defined current time value causes the current time to be used.
Passing a current time value is useful if you happen to have a time value lying around
or if you want to make sure that several timers are started with the same concept of
start time. You might even need to lie to an IPC::Run::Timer, occasionally.
start_time
Sets/gets the start time, in seconds since the epoch. Setting this manually is a bad
idea, it's better to call "start"() at the correct time.
state
$s = state $t;
$t->state( $s );
Get/Set the current state. Only use this if you really need to transfer the state
to/from some variable. Use "expire", "start", "reset", "is_expired", "is_running",
"is_reset".
Note: Setting the state to 'undef' to expire a timer will not throw an exception.
TODO
use Time::HiRes; if it's present.
Add detection and parsing of [[[HH:]MM:]SS formatted times and intervals.
AUTHOR
Barrie Slaymaker <barries@slaysys.com>