Creating a timer using Lua

Question

I would like to create a timer using Lua, in a way that I could specify a callback function to be triggered after X seconds have passed.

What would be the best way t

Answer 1

On my Debian I've install lua-lgi packet to get access to the GObject based libraries.

The following code show you an usage demonstrating that you can use few asynchronuous callbacks:

local lgi = require 'lgi'
local GLib = lgi.GLib

-- Get the main loop object that handles all the events
local main_loop = GLib.MainLoop()

cnt = 0
function tictac()
     cnt = cnt + 1
     print("tic")
     -- This callback will be called until the condition is true
     return cnt < 10
end

-- Call tictac function every 2 senconds
GLib.timeout_add_seconds(GLib.PRIORITY_DEFAULT, 2, tictac)

-- You can also use an anonymous function like that
GLib.timeout_add_seconds(GLib.PRIORITY_DEFAULT, 1,
                         function()
                            print( "There have been ", cnt, "tic")
                            -- This callback will never stop
                            return true
                         end)

-- Once everything is setup, you can start the main loop
main_loop:run()

-- Next instructions will be still interpreted
print("Main loop is running")

You can find more documentation about LGI here