A better way to run code for a period of time

Question

I need to run some code for a predefined length of time, when the time is up it needs to stop. Currently I am using a TimerTask to allow the code to execute for a set amount

Answer 1

It should also be noted that generally you only need to create one Timer(). From the code snippet I would guess you are creating multiple Timer() objects.

The time in the schedule method is the time to run at, not how long to run for.

Consider putting a start time before the for loop & putting a break in the for loop if you have exceeded the time limit.

long startedAt = System.currentTimeMillis();
long finishedCorrectly = true;
for (int j = 0; j < Coords.size(); j++) {
  newCoOrds += Coords.get(j) + " ";
  if ((System.currentTimeMillis() - startedAt) > MAX_TIME_TO_RUN) {
    finishedCorrectly = false;
    break;
  }
}