If your NeoBook application needs to display a count up (or down) of time elapsed (or remaining) ... in hours, minutes and seconds ... formated as HH:MM:SS ... the idea/subroutine described below will help you to do this.

First, create a Timer object called tc ... configure it so ...

• Start: is set to Wait for "TimerStart" action
• Variable: (to store elapsed time) is set to [tcElapsed]

... and its Timer Interval section contains ...

... forced stop ? If "[tcEndIt]" "=" "True" TimerStop "tc" If "[tcDoneRoutine]" "<>" "" GoSub "[tcDoneRoutine]" EndIf Return EndIf ... counting up or down ? If "[tcStart]" "<" "[tcStop]" SetVar "[tcMove]" "Up" Else SetVar "[tcMove]" "Down" EndIf If "[tcMove]" "=" "Up" ... [tcStop] exceeded ? Math "trunc([tcElapsed]/1000)" "0" "[tcElapsedSeconds]" Math "[tcStart]+[tcElapsedSeconds]" "0" "[tcNow]" If "[tcNow]" ">" "[tcStop]" TimerStop "tc" If "[tcDoneRoutine]" "<>" "" GoSub "[tcDoneRoutine]" EndIf Return EndIf Else ... [tcStop] exceeded ? Math "trunc([tcElapsed]/1000)" "0" "[tcElapsedSeconds]" Math "[tcStart]-[tcElapsedSeconds]" "0" "[tcNow]" If "[tcNow]" "<" "[tcStop]" TimerStop "tc" If "[tcDoneRoutine]" "<>" "" GoSub "[tcDoneRoutine]" EndIf Return EndIf EndIf ... format [tcNow] Math "trunc([tcNow]/60)" "0" "[tcMM1]" Math "[tcNow]-([tcMM1]*60)" "0" "[tcSS1]" If "[tcSS1]" "<" "10" SetVar "[tcSS]" "!0[tcSS1]" Else SetVar "[tcSS]" "[tcSS1]" EndIf Math "trunc([tcMM1]/60)" "0" "[tcHH]" Math "[tcMM1]-([tcHH]*60)" "0" "[tcMM1]" If "[tcMM1]" "<" "10" SetVar "[tcMM]" "!0[tcMM1]" Else SetVar "[tcMM]" "[tcMM1]" EndIf Return

Then, create a Text object called TimeCounterDisplay to display the time counter ... define its content as ...

[tcPrefix] [tcHH]:[tcMM]:[tcSS] [tcSuffix]

Case 1: Count Up

Insert this set of commands where you want the counter to be initiated ...

... prefix text ; leave blank if not required SetVar "[tcPrefix]" "Elapsed Time:" ... suffix text ; leave blank if not required SetVar "[tcSuffix]" "" ... starting value (normally 0) SetVar "[tcStart]" "5" ... refresh rate (number of seconds between updates) SetVar "[tcRefresh]" "2" ... ending value (stop count when this value is reached) SetVar "[tcStop]" "72000" ... variable to force termination before [tcStop] is reached SetVar "[tcEndIt]" "False" ... subroutine to be called when display is stopped ... leave blank if not required SetVar "[tcDoneRoutine]" "gkAllDone" ... now start the display TimerStart "tc" "1000*[tcRefresh]"

In this case, the count up will begin at 0:00:05 ... refresh every 2 seconds ... and if not forced earlier, stop at 2:00:00 ... and will trigger an external subroutine called gkAllDone when terminated.

If your applications need to invoke this facility frequently, you could create a NeoBook function like ...

Call "gkTC" "Elapsed Time:" "" "5" "2" "99000" "False" "gkAllDone"

And here is the code for the (optional) gkAllDone subroutine that you would place in the SubRoutines section of your publication ...

:gkAllDone AlertBox "All Done" "[tcPrefix] [tcHH]:[tcMM]:[tcSS] [tcSuffix]" Return

That is all.

If your application requires that the display count be prematurely terminated, all you need is a command like ...

SetVar "[tcEndIt]" "True"

Case 2: Count Down

Insert this set of commands where you want the counter to be initiated ...

... prefix text ; leave blank if not required SetVar "[tcPrefix]" "Counting Down:" ... suffix text ; leave blank if not required SetVar "[tcSuffix]" "remaing ..." ... starting value (1 hour 1 minute and 15 seconds) SetVar "[tcStart]" "3675" ... refresh rate (number of seconds between updates) SetVar "[tcRefresh]" "1" ... ending value (stop count when this value is reached) SetVar "[tcStop]" "1" ... variable to force termination before [tcStop] is reached SetVar "[tcEndIt]" "False" ... subroutine to be called when display is stopped ... leave blank if not required SetVar "[tcDoneRoutine]" "" ... now start the display TimerStart "tc" "1000*[tcRefresh]"

In this case, the count down will begin at 1:01:15 ... refresh every 1 second ... and if not forced earlier, stop at 0:00:01 ... and will not trigger any external subroutine when terminated.