Timer API

Overview

MatrixOS.Timer() creates a lightweight timer for app-loop work. It is useful when an app should do something every few milliseconds without blocking the whole loop.

import MatrixOS

timer = MatrixOS.Timer()

if timer.tick(100):
    print("100 ms tick")

Time values are in milliseconds.

MatrixOS.Timer

MatrixOS.Timer()

Creates a timer object and records the current Matrix OS time as its starting point.

Returns:

• Timer: Timer object with the methods below.

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timer.tick

tick(ms: int, continuous: bool = False) -> bool

Checks whether at least ms milliseconds have passed since the timer's previous recorded tick.

Parameters:

• ms: Interval in milliseconds.
• continuous: When False, record the current time after a tick. When True, advance the previous tick by exactly ms, which keeps repeating timers steadier.

Returns:

• bool: True when the interval has elapsed and the timer has advanced.

---

timer.is_longer

is_longer(ms: int) -> bool

Checks whether the timer has been running longer than ms milliseconds without changing the recorded time.

Parameters:

• ms: Duration in milliseconds.

Returns:

• bool: True when the elapsed time is at least ms.

---

timer.since_last_tick

since_last_tick() -> int

Returns the elapsed time since the timer's previous recorded tick.

Returns:

• int: Elapsed milliseconds.

---

timer.record_current

record_current() -> None

Records the current Matrix OS time as the timer's previous tick.

App Loop Example

import MatrixOS

blink = MatrixOS.Timer()
on = False

def loop():
    global on

    # continuous=True keeps the blink interval steady across repeated ticks.
    if blink.tick(500, True):
        on = not on
        MatrixOS.LED.set_xy(0, 0, (0, 255, 255) if on else (0, 0, 0))
        MatrixOS.LED.update()