Timer - Read
Declaration
<AMTIMER ACTIVITY="read" RESULTVARIABLE="text" SCALE="tezt (options)" SESSION="Text" />
Description: Calculates the time that elapsed since execution of a prior Start Timer activity and populates a variable with the result without stopping the timer.
Practical Usage
This activity is primarily used in the middle of a Start Timer and Stop Timer step to gauge the execution time up to a specific point in the task. It is ideal for calculating the elapsed time between the start and end of a particular process or operation within a task, in contrast to the actual time needed to perform the task entirely.
General Parameters
|
Property |
Type |
Required |
Default |
Markup |
Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Populate variable with elapsed time |
Text |
Yes |
(Empty) |
RESULTVARIABLE="myVar" |
The name of an existing variable to populate with the elapsed time. Note: Calculation is based on the total amount of time that passed between the start of a previous Start Timer activity and the start of this activity. |
|
Time Scale |
Text (options) |
No |
Seconds |
SCALE="minutes" |
The time scale to be used in calculating the elapsed time. The available options are:
|
|
Session |
Text |
Yes |
TimerSession1 |
SESSION="TimeSess2" |
The session name previously established by a Start Timer step that this activity should associate with. Timer sessions allow several timer-based operations to run simultaneously within a single task. This parameter's default value is TimerSession1. |
Description tab - A custom description can be provided on the Description tab to convey additional information or share special notes about a task step.
Error Causes tab - Specify how this step should behave upon the occurrence of an error. (Refer to Task Builder > Error Causes Tab for details.)
On Error tab - Specify what AWE should do if this step encounters an error as defined on the Error Causes tab. (Refer to Task Builder > On Error Tab for details.)
Example
The sample AML code below can be copied and pasted directly into the Steps panel of the Task Builder.
Description: This sample task illustrates execution of the Start Timer, Stop Timer and Read Timer activities.
<AMVARIABLE NAME="timeVar"></AMVARIABLE> <AMTIMER SESSION="myTime" /> <AMSHOWDIALOG MESSAGE="This step is used primarily to increase the elapsed time. Press Ok to proceed." /> <AMTIMER ACTIVITY="read" RESULTVARIABLE="timeVar" SESSION="myTime" /> <AMMESSAGEBOX>The task execution time to this point is %timeVar% seconds.</AMMESSAGEBOX> <AMSTOPTIMER SESSION="myTime" RESULTVARIABLE="timeVar" /> <AMMESSAGEBOX>The total task execution time is %timeVar% seconds.</AMMESSAGEBOX>