How does one apply a timeout to read()

basically what the titles says how does one apply a timeout to read

Make a copy of the read function that starts a timer at the beginning, then listens for the event to fire.

or try this out, I got it to work but it is fairly complicated

a=coroutine.wrap(function() result=read() end)
local evts={}
os.startTimer(5)
while true do
if evts[1]=='timer' or result then break end
a(unpack(evts))
evts={os.pullEvent()}
end

the variable 'result' gets the read value

Edit: argh… doen't break when result has a value. does anyone know why this is?

ahah. got it. it was waiting for an event. if you submit the result and then press a key it finishes. I figured a better way though. compiled into a function too

local function readFor(time,char)
result=nil
a=coroutine.wrap(function() result=read(char) os.queueEvent('timer') end)
local evts={}
os.startTimer(time)
while true do
  a(unpack(evts))
  evts={os.pullEvent()}
  if evts[1]=='timer' then break end
end
return result
end

EDIT: I made a function for running anything for a certain amount of time. go ahead and try it

local function runfor(func,timeout,tArgs)
  local result=nil
  local co=coroutine.wrap(function() os.queueEvent('done',func(unpack(tArgs or {}))) end)
  local evt={}
  local timer=os.startTimer(timeout)
  while true do
   co(unpack(evt))
   evt={os.pullEvent()}
   if evt[1]=='timer' then return 'timed out' elseif evt[1]=='done' then return evt[2] end
  end
end

KaoS, on 30 October 2012 - 08:22 AM said:

ahah. got it. it was waiting for an event. if you submit the result and then press a key it finishes. I figured a better way though. compiled into a function too

local function readFor(time,char)
result=nil
a=coroutine.wrap(function() result=read(char) os.queueEvent('timer') end)
local evts={}
os.startTimer(time)
while true do
  a(unpack(evts))
  evts={os.pullEvent()}
  if evts[1]=='timer' then break end
end
return result
end

EDIT: I made a function for running anything for a certain amount of time. go ahead and try it

local function runfor(func,timeout,tArgs)
  local result=nil
  local co=coroutine.wrap(function() os.queueEvent('done',func(unpack(tArgs or {}))) end)
  local evt={}
  local timer=os.startTimer(timeout)
  while true do
   co(unpack(evt))
   evt={os.pullEvent()}
   if evt[1]=='timer' then return 'timed out' elseif evt[1]=='done' then return evt[2] end
  end
end

is there a way for it to end or break? as soon as someone inputted something?

parallel.waitForAny(result=read(), sleep(timeout))

Try this, continues then one of read or sleep finnish.

Duster, on 26 March 2016 - 11:33 AM said:

is there a way for it to end or break? as soon as someone inputted something?

That seems to be what it's built to do. External timers may mess up the code you quoted, though.

Stekeblad, on 27 March 2016 - 10:02 AM said:

parallel.waitForAny(result=read(), sleep(timeout))

Try this, continues then one of read or sleep finnish.

Methinks you should take your own advice about "trying it".

Here's what you were going for:

local result

parallel.waitForAny(
  function()
    result = read()
  end,

  function()
    sleep(30)  --# Or whatever timeout you want.
  end
)

if result then
  --# Got input before the timeout.
else
  --# Didn't.
end

If you wanted to gather whatever the user typed before the timeout, you'd indeed need a custom version of read(). But really it may be better to cancel the timeout if the user starts typing:

local result

parallel.waitForAny(
  function()
    result = read()
  end,

  function()
    local myTimer = os.startTimer(30)

    while true do
      local myEvent = {os.pullEvent()}

      if myEvent[1] == "timer" and myEvent[2] == myTimer then
        break

      elseif myEvent[1] == "char" then
        os.pullEvent("yield forever")

      end
    end
  end
)

if result then
  --# Got input before the timeout.
else
  --# Didn't.
end