Countdown timer starting and ending time issue.

[Simply Me]

My countdown timer code

Private Sub CountDownTimer()
        Dim stopTime As DateTime = DateTime.Now.AddSeconds(timerStopTime)

        While timerRunning ' Run while the timer is running
            Dim remainingTime As TimeSpan = stopTime - DateTime.Now

            ' Update the timer label with the remaining time
            UpdateTimerLabel(remainingTime)

            If remainingTime <= TimeSpan.Zero Then
                ' Call the common method to handle button properties and other common tasks
                UpdateUIOnTimerStop()
                Exit While ' Exit the loop if the remaining time is negative or zero
            End If

            Thread.Sleep(100) ' Adjust sleep time for smoother execution
        End While

        ' Ensure the timer label displays the stop time when timer stops
        UpdateTimerLabel(TimeSpan.Zero)

        PlayStopSound() ' Play stop sound when the timer reaches the stop time
        timerRunning = False
    End Sub

I noticed this, that when I set the count down to say 5 seconds, and timer label shows 00:00:00.0. When I click the btnStart, the countdown starts immediately in 00:00:04.9 and starts counting down. I want it to start in 00:00:05.9, 00:00:05.8, 00:00:05.7, 00:00:05.6, 00:00:05.5, 00:00:05.4, 00:00:05.3, 00:00:05.2, 00:00:05.1, 00:00:04.0, and so on. And I also noticed that when the timer already counting at 00:00:01.9, 00:00:01.8, 00:00:01.7, 00:00:01.6, 00:00:01.5, 00:00:01.4, 00:00:01.3, 00:00:01.2, 00:00:01.1, 00:00:00.0, the timer milliseconds still countinues counting down from 9-0 (00:00:00.9, 00:00:00.8, 00:00:00.7, 00:00:00.6, 00:00:00.5, and so on) before it stops. It should stop already 00:00:00.0.

[Shaggy Hiker]

I don't see what the problem is. For example, if you want to count down from 5 seconds, then the first interval will be less than 5. In fact, it will be 4.9. You'd only see the count down of 5.9, 5.8, etc, if you were counting down from 6 seconds.

Also, why would you NOT expect 0.9, 0.8, 0.7, etc. on the way to 0.0? Those are just the values between 1 and 0 if you are counting down by 0.1 per interval. You can't very well skip over them.

[Poppa Mintin]

Hi,
I guess that you set timerRunning to true with your btnStart. Setting timerRunning to false will leave the first and last two statements running. To stop that I would suggest this slight ammendment:

 Dim stopTime As DateTime
 Dim remainingTime As TimeSpan

        While timerRunning ' Run while the timer is running
            stopTime = DateTime.Now.AddSeconds(timerStopTime)
            remainingTime   = stopTime - DateTime.Now

        '    etc

Poppa