|
ccrpTmr6.zip
ccrpTmr.zip
 I
wrote this little ditty one afternoon after, for the 101st time, I became
frustrated that I needed to add a form to my project just to support a timer.
After passing it along to my friends at the Common
Controls Replacement Project, they convinced me to release it as part of
their (totally free) toolset.
The ccrpTimers library is an axDLL that currently exposes
Timer, Countdown, and Stopwatch objects. You can sink fired events, using
either the classic WithEvents method or via (non-blocking) implemented
interfaces, into any form or class module. All objects use the multimedia
timer, thus enabling true 1 millisecond resolution and intervals.
Swing on over to the CCRP site for all the latest details.
I've now fully converted over to HtmlHelp. If you'd like to try this online
documentation, or
download it, I'd be
most interested in your feedback! Note that the downloaded version (124K)
requires IE4 to be installed. The online version works best with IE4, but will
work with IE3 if you allow a small OCX from Microsoft to be installed. The VB6
build of this library uses CHM exclusively for help, since all VB6 developers
have IE4 installed.
Download
From the CCRP Website:
CCRP High
Performance Timer Objects, created by CCRP member Karl E. Peterson, provide
much more robust options than Visual Basic's intrinsic Timer control ever has.
For years, the only option available to VB developers was to add a form to
their project if they wanted to use a timer. This had the effect of totally
destroying any hope of encapsulation if, for example, a class module needed
periodic timer events.
No more superfluous forms!
This library provides ccrpTimer, ccrpStopWatch, and ccrpCountdown objects that
may be instantiated anywhere, at any time. All three objects use the
multimedia timer, thus providing true 1ms resolution (if supported by the
hardware). Taking advantage of the WithEvents method of declaring an object
instance, Timer and Tick events may be sunk in either forms or class modules.
Alternatively, use Implements for more efficient notification and non-blocking
event notification.
Release
Updates
November 24, 1998
Version 2.00 (build 171)
Important
Note: An initial VB6 build of the CCRP High Performance Timer Objects
(version 2.0 Build 167) was mistakenly made available prematurely. Issues
affecting the ability to install (and even use from the same project) both VB5
and VB6 builds of the library hadn't been thoroughly worked out at the time
this archive was placed on the web site.
If you have already downloaded Build 167 -- Please unregister
this build immediately, and replace it with build 171 which was made available
late yesterday. I urge you to download the new library from the
CCRP download page at your earliest convenience. Build 167 is incompatible
with the current, and all future, VB6 versions of this library.
November 23, 1998
Version 2.00 (build 171)
- Upgraded the
library to VB6. This build uses Service Pack 1 to avoid a terribly nasty
issue with the initial drop (Q192653 ,"FIX: Eight or More ActiveX
DLLs in Compiled Project Cause Error"). See Service Pack Issues for
more details.
- Binary
compatibility was broken, thus allowing either or both VB5 and VB6
libraries to be present on a single machine. To update existing projects
just open the References dialog, uncheck the old VB5 reference, and check
the new VB6 reference.
- New ProgIDs were
employed to allow both VB5 and VB6 libraries to be present on a single
machine. This means that if you do have References to both libraries
within a single project, you must fully qualify all object references with
the library name. Use "ccrpTimers6" to specify a VB6 library
object.
- The default value
for the .Stats.Frequency property was changed to accomodate slower
hardware that choked on the performance enhancements made in build 163.
The default for this property is now 20 milliseconds. Please update
any projects which rely on the former defaults. ***
- The old-style HLP
file was abandoned for good! Since all VB6 developers have IE4 (or better)
installed, there was no need to hang onto the old ways when this
new-fangled HtmlHelp offers the developer (me, in this case <g>) so
much more.
- The underlying
behavior of the library was altered so that no multimedia system timer is
started until the first ccrpTimer or ccrpCountdown object is enabled.
Previously, the system callbacks were initiated during the Initialization
event of the first instantiated object. ***
*** These fixes were also applied to Version 1.23 for VB5.
Past Release
History
October 26, 1998
- Patched an
extremely nasty bug that caused a GPF when the timers were used from an
ActiveX EXE with specific Threading Model settings (either Thread Per
Object or a Thread Pool set to a value greater than 1). In the process of
hunting down this bug, it was determined that the very design of Visual
Basic itself was responsible. If you build a DLL that makes use of system
callbacks, and the client is an ActiveX EXE, expect big trouble (speaking
nicely).
- Patched another bug
that presented when the code within a Timer event lasted for a measureable
period. In those cases, the next Timer event would be delayed by that
length of time that the previous Timer event consumed. This has been fixed
and will no longer be an issue.
August 19, 1998
- Added a build of
the Timer Objects library specifically for the Alpha
platform, in addition to the original i386 Intel version.
August 6, 1998
- Fixed a bug that
caused a "Runtime Error 6 -- Overflow" in very unique
situations. Not likely to have wide ranging impact, but update is
encouraged.
April 30, 1998
- Added the
ccrpTimer.NotifyEx and ccrpCountdown.NotifyEx properties. These properties
have been declared As Object, in anticipation of accommodating both two
new secondary interfaces as well as any new interfaces added in the
future. Currently supported are two new additions -- ICcrpTimerNotifyEx
and ICcrpCountdownNotifyEx. These interfaces vary from the original in
that they also pass references to the object firing their methods. With
this identification available, it is easy to simulate control arrays with
class objects.
- A new demo,
ObjArray.vbp, was added to illustrate simulated control array syntax via
the new NotifyEx property and secondary interface event notification.
- Fixed a limitation
on the maximum value accepted for Interval properties. Previously, the
Interval was restricted to the maximum supported by the operating system
(typically 1,000,000ms in NT and 65,535ms in Win95/98). This restriction
is no longer enforced, and you may set an Interval to any positive value
within the range of a Long (1 to 2,147,483,647ms).
April 11, 1998
- Version 1.11.130
adds Tag properties to all three timer objects, and updates the help file
to include documentation on this and the previous release. Previous
downloaders of the Timer Objects should update to this file.
March 29, 1998
- Version 1.10.113
added a Notify property to the ccrpTimer and ccrpCountdown objects. This
addition provides significant new functionality by exposing two new
interfaces, ICcrpTimerNotify and ICcrpCountdownNotify. Client programs may
choose to use Implements to add this secondary interface to their forms,
usercontrols, or classes. The advantage of using the secondary interface
over the classic event model is two-fold. Foremost, interface notification
is significantly faster than raised events. Also, raised events may be
blocked within the Visual Basic IDE by message boxes or modal dialogs,
while interface notifications continue to come through, thus making
debugging significantly easier. A new demo, Notify.vbp, was also added to
demonstrate the new interface usage.
High
Resolution Timer Objects - Alpha Edition Notes
The CCRP High
Resolution Timer Objects download zip (for VB5 only) now contains an
additional folder with a version of the Timer Objects library that was built
on and for the DEC Alpha platform.
DO NOT USE THIS FILE ON INTEL MACHINES.
Please see the help for support policies regarding the Alpha platform. From
all reports received to date, it appears this DLL functions just fine, however
the author doesn't have direct access to such a machine so is unable to
independently confirm these reports.
USE AT YOUR OWN RISK.
This build shares the same version information, and is binary-compatible, with
the i386 build. The only way to determine which is which is by size (the Alpha
build is larger) and the "Product Name" version resource.
All demos reportedly work fine when run from the VB IDE, however the EXEs
must be rebuilt (recompiled from the supplied source) as they originated on
i386 machines.
While support for this build is virtually non-existent, your reports of
success or failure using it would be appreciated. This cumulative knowledge
can then be summarized for succeeding updates to the documentation, and to
foster Alpha releases of other CCRP controls.
Service Pack
Issues for the ccrpTimer Objects
The VB6 Timer DLL was compiled under VB6 Service Pack 1, but has been reported
successfully run on 'original' VB6 systems.
The VB5 Timer DLL
requires that either VB5 Service Pack 2 or 3 be installed. A non-service pack
version of the Timer Objects is not currently available. This amends previous
information for this library which stated that separate zip files were
available for SP0 and SP2/3 machines.
About
Multimedia Timers
Multimedia timer raise a number of interesting issues. Some of them are dealt
with in more detail in the About Multimedia Timers section of this help file.
Installing and
Registering the Library
Understanding that the great bulk of CCRP's users will be sophisticated
developers themselves, it has been decided that you're quite capable of manual
installation of these components. See the Installation topic for complete
details.
The CCRP High
Performance Timer Objects library will function without regard to what version
of the common controls you have installed, since it uses system multimedia
timer services and does not use any features of comctl32.dll.
Included Demos
Three demos are included with the ccrpTimers library. Their files may be
placed anywhere you find convenient.
- TimerTest
demonstrates most of the standard features of all the CCRP Timer objects.
This project consists of four files (TimerTest.vbp, FTimerTest.frm,
FTimerTest.frx, and TimerTest.exe).
- Notify demonstrates
proper implementation of the ICcrpTimerNotify and ICcrpCountdownNotify
interfaces, and how they can be used to avoid event blocking while running
within the Visual Basic IDE. This project consists of four files (Notify.vbp,
FNotify.frm, FNotify.frx, and Notify.exe).
- ObjArray
demonstrates both the use of Implemented interfaces as opposed to more
traditional Events, and how to work with an array of event sinking
objects. This project consists of four files (ObjArray.vbp, FTmrArray.frm,
FTmrArray.frx, and ObjArray.exe).
Videosoft
have kindly provided CCRP with a copy of their VSDOCX software for documenting
ActiveX controls. The bundled help file was created using VSDOCX. CCRP would
like to extend their sincere thanks to Videosoft for their generosity.
VB Common Controls
Replacement Project Timer Objects
Copyright © 1995-2005, Karl E. Peterson, CCRP
karl@mvps.org
http://ccrp.mvps.org/
|
