Pause function

Code Sharing
1

Hi, here is a simple pause function I made :



-- TEST

-- Use this function to perform your initial setup
function setup()
    print("Hello World!")
    wait = 5
    i = 0
end

function sectoframes(sec)
    return sec * 60
end

function frametosec(frame)
    return frame / 60
end

function pause(wait)
    
    if frametosec(i) < wait then 
        i = i + 1
        return 0
    end
    
    if i == sectoframes(wait) then
        return 1
    end
    
end
    
-- This function gets called once every frame
function draw()
    -- This sets a dark background color 
    background(40, 40, 50)
    

    -- This sets the line thickness
    strokeWidth(5)

    -- Do your drawing here
    pausenumber = pause(5)
    if pausenumber == 1 then
        text("ok", WIDTH/2, HEIGHT - 100)
    elseif pausenumber == 0 then
        text("wait", WIDTH/2, HEIGHT - 100)
    else
        text("error", WIDTH/2, HEIGHT - 100)
    end
end

What do you think about it ?

2

Hello @eloi67. If you made use of ElapsedTime to keep track of the passage of time, then you would not need to count frames (or assume a constant frame rate of 60 per second).

By using the arg feature of Lua, the pause function could do two things:

(1) called with an argument, it could set the duration of the next pause (if it is not already waiting); and

(2) called with no arguments, it could only return whether or not it is waiting.

For example (touch the viewer for a two-second wait):


function setup()
    fill(255)
    fontSize(64)
    cx = WIDTH/2
    cy = HEIGHT/2
end

local isWaiting = false
local endTime
function pause(...)
    if isWaiting and ElapsedTime > endTime then
        isWaiting = false
    end            
    if arg["n"] > 0 and not isWaiting then
        endTime = ElapsedTime + arg[1]
        isWaiting = true
    end
    return isWaiting
end
    
function draw()
    background(0)
    if pause() then
        text("Waiting", cx, cy)
    else
        text("Not waiting", cx, cy)
    end
end

function touched(touch)
    if touch.state == BEGAN then pause(2) end
end
3

hello. I have found the following function in the forum. I use it in my pushball game, it works very well, once i understood the syntax to pass the callback function. It is not exactly a pause() function, but the usage of a pause function is to start something after the pause, exactly what this timer does.

-- timer class code from Barryrgo on CODEA forum (with minor changes from JMV38)
-- usage syntax for instance to launch myCall() in 2s:
--    timer1 = Timer(function() myCall() end)
--    timer1:start(2)

Timer = class()

function Timer:init(callBackFun)
    -- you can accept and set parameters here
    self.action = callBackFun
    self.startTime = 0
    self.timeDelay = 0
    self.enable = false
end


function Timer:start(time)
    self.startTime = ElapsedTime
    self.timeDelay = time
    self.enable = true
end

function Timer:reset()
    self.enable = false
end

function Timer:update()
    if (self.enable == true) then
        local currentTime = ElapsedTime
        if currentTime - self.startTime >= self.timeDelay then
            self.enable = false
            if type(self.action) == "function" then
                self.action()  
            end
        end
    end
end
4

If you’re after a pause for a game or anything else, then this is pretty simple. But running this leads to a question I have about the draw function. When I run this and hit pause, I constantly show 3 numbers during the pause even though I only draw 1 number per draw cycle. It doesn’t matter how fast or slow I hit pause. Is there a 3 screen buffer being drawn during each draw cycle.
If I add another text line, then I see 6 numbers during the pause. I was expecting to see 1 number per text line, not 3.


function setup()
    count=0
end

function draw()
    if pause then    -- if pause is true, exit the draw function
        return 
    end
    
    -- draw something to show that pause is working
    background(40, 40, 50)
    fill(255)
    count = count + 1
    text(count,math.random(WIDTH),math.random(HEIGHT)) 
end

function touched(t)
    if t.state==BEGAN then
        pause = not pause    -- toggle pause, true or false
    end
end
5

Is there a 3 screen buffer being drawn during each draw cycle.

Yes.

6

I took my pause program one step further by adding pause=true after the text statement. So basically I’m pausing after each draw cycle. Looking at the numbers that are displayed, I see that:

1.) There are 3 screen buffers that I saw earlier.

2.) The buffers don’t change in a regular pattern. Some of the buffers stay around for up to 8 cycles, while other buffers stay for 1 cycle. Interesting how the draw function works.


function setup()
    count=0
end

function draw()
    if pause then    -- if pause is true, exit the draw function
        return 
    end
    
    -- draw something to show if pause is working
    background(40, 40, 50)
    fill(255)
    count = count + 1
    text(count,math.random(WIDTH),math.random(HEIGHT)) 
    pause=true
end

function touched(t)
    if t.state==BEGAN then
        pause = not pause    -- toggle pause, true, false
    end
end