run a method with timer that only runs when nothing is happening

[D.Calladine]

Hi guys im looking or anyone that can point in the right direction when it come to timers

i have a method that closes one window and opens another.

but im looking to make it so this methods only runs after a certain amount of time has passed

and this times only starts when nothing is happening

for example, i want this method to run after 1 minute.

so i press a button, then this timer starts because nothing is happening but if another button is pressed the timer is restarted but if nothing is pressed for that whole minute it runs the afore mentioned method.

Thank you for any info

[jammas615]

Have you looked into using System.currentTimeMillis();

You could record the start time and once every pass of a loop have another variable(timePassed) that is equal to the current time minus the start time.
Then check that timePassed was not more than 1 minute's worth of milliseconds.

[ozzyman]

Keep a class field for the last time the user was active
private long lastActive;

Create a setter to update the field
private void setLastActive() { lastActive = Calendar.getInstance.getTimeInMillis(); }

Add the setter at the end of each action
public void ActionMethod() {
...
setLastActive();
}

Add a class field to define the timeout after which the user is deemed inactive
private final long inactivePeriod = 1*60*1000; //1min

Create a method to check for inactivity
private boolean isActive() {
return (lastActive-Calendar.getInstance().getTimeInMillis() >= inactivePeriod);
}

Create a method to deal with inactivity
private void ifInactiveStart() {
if (!isActive()) {
//create a timer
...
}
}

Listen for inactivity.... this could be done in any method called regularly but probably best done whenever the value is changed, so we alter the setter
private void setLastActive() {
...
ifInactiveStart();
}

Create a timer task
Timer t = new Timer(); //java.util.Timer
t.schedule(new TimerTask() {
public void run() { ... }
}, inactiveTimerDelay);