VB6 Sleep Function

[Derkel]

The sleep function for my VB6 doesn't work, it just freezes up the application. Can anyone give me a sleep function that won't freeze up the application?

[LaVolpe]

How about the API?
In your delcarations section add this

Private Declare Sub Sleep Lib "kernel32.dll" (ByVal dwMilliseconds As Long)

To use it

 Sleep 1000 ' to sleep for 1 second

[Derkel]

How about the API?
In your delcarations section add this

Private Declare Sub Sleep Lib "kernel32.dll" (ByVal dwMilliseconds As Long)

To use it

 Sleep 1000 ' to sleep for 1 second

Yeah, I was talking about that code, the only problem I have after that is that it doesn't seem to want to do all the codes after that sleep function

[LaVolpe]

Then something else is happening. Sleep only pauses your code then the next lines continue on. You may want to be more specific and post some relevant code that we can look at.

[CDRIVE]

The sleep function for my VB6 doesn't work, it just freezes up the application. Can anyone give me a sleep function that won't freeze up the application?

That's because the Sleep API freezes all events and the next line of code in your app until the Sleep period has expired. By it self I find it nearly useless. My favorite sub incorporates the Sleep API (in 2mS increments) and some additional code to create the Pause sub. Just use Pause (Sec or fraction of a second) where you would use Sleep.

Option Explicit
Private Declare Sub Sleep Lib "kernel32" (ByVal dwMilliseconds As Long)

' Credits: (Milk (Sleep+Pause Sub)). (Wayne Spangler (Pause Sub))
Private Sub Pause(ByVal Delay As Single)
   Delay = Timer + Delay
   If Delay > 86400 Then 'more than number of seconds in a day
      Delay = Delay - 86400
      Do
          DoEvents ' to process events.
          Sleep 1 ' to not eat cpu
      Loop Until Timer < 1
   End If
   Do
       DoEvents ' to process events.
       Sleep 1 ' to not eat cpu
   Loop While Delay > Timer
End Sub

[anhn]

CDRIVE, That looks good to overcome the situation when pass midnight, however that has some minor problems:

1. As Timer() never reaches 86400, if Delay = 86400 (rare) then only the second Do...Loop runs 1 round: approx only 1 millisecond delay.
   So, instead of If Delay > 86400 Then , that should be If Delay >= 86400 Then
   
2. Delay may be greater than multiple of 86400, such as Delay = 259210 (=3*86400+10), then after Delay = Delay - 86400 you still have Delay > 86400.

Below is my Pause() function, it uses only one Do...Loop.
As Timer() is only updated every 1/64 sec = 15.625 millisecs, you can give the loop sleep a bit longer before checking Timer() vs TimeOut.
If higher-resolution timing is required then Timer() is not good enough, perhaps we have to use something else such as QueryPerformanceCounter()

Option Explicit

Private Declare Sub Sleep Lib "kernel32" (ByVal dwMilliseconds As Long)

Public Sub Pause(SecsDelay As Single)
   Dim TimeOut   As Single
   Dim PrevTimer As Single
   
   PrevTimer = Timer
   TimeOut = PrevTimer + SecsDelay
   Do While PrevTimer < TimeOut
      Sleep 4 '-- Timer is only updated every 1/64 sec = 15.625 millisecs.
      DoEvents
      If Timer < PrevTimer Then TimeOut = TimeOut - 86400 '-- pass midnight
      PrevTimer = Timer
   Loop
End Sub

[CDRIVE]

Then something else is happening. Sleep only pauses your code then the next lines continue on. You may want to be more specific and post some relevant code that we can look at.

Ah, I thought the TS was referring to what's happening, or not happing, in other events during the Sleep interval.

[CDRIVE]

CDRIVE, That looks good to overcome the situation when pass midnight, however that has some minor problems:
[LIST=1][*]As Timer() never reaches 86400, if Delay = 86400 (rare) then only the second Do...Loop runs 1 round: approx only 1 millisecond delay.

Anhn, thanks for pointing that out. Even though I can't imagine a delay >86400 it's still worth mentioning.