Article # 638, added by Geoworks, historical record
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TIMER_EVENT_ONE_SHOT vs. TIMER_EVENT_CONTINUAL



Q. We were told to use lots of TIMER_EVENT_ONE_SHOT instead of one
   TIMER_EVENT_CONTINUAL. Why? I use a timer that updates seconds
   on-screen. If I used lots of ONE_SHOT timers instead of one
   CONTINUAL, wouldn't the timing get wrong?

A. I think the concern here is that if the thread receiving the
   continual timer events blocks for a long period of time, a lot
   of events will get placed in the queue.  When the thread continues
   processing, it will get bombarded with timer events, possibly
   causing problems with the logic of the program, or causing a lot
   of flickering updates or something.

   If you use one shot timers, you know that you are going to receive
   exactly one event. But you're right, you shouldn't use a series of
   one one-shots for precision timing. If you need to know the precise
   time when one of these events go off, query it from the system
   instead of counting timer events.