VBA pausing by tenths of seconds (or milliseconds)

[ms9]

I want to pause for a value < of 1 sec

this is my routine for 1 sec
Sub Macro1()
Range("C15").Se lect
ActiveCell.Form ulaR1C1 = "12"
Range("E26").Se lect
Application.Wai t (Now + TimeValue("0:00 :01"))
End Sub


I tried with "0:00:00:10 " arguments (to set the pause to 1/10 seconds)
Application.Wai t (Now + TimeValue("0:00 :00:10"))
this is not working !

any idea ?

[QVeen72]

Hi,

Try this for (1/10th of second) :

[code=vb]
Application.Wai t (Now + 0.000001)
[/code]

Regards
Veena

[ms9]

Back to the 1/10e sec issue, I did replace the line

Application.Wai t (Now + ("00:00:01") ) - works fine for 1sec
by
Application.Wai t (Now + 0.00001) - works fine for 1sec

then I tried
Application.Wai t (Now + 0.000001) - 1/10sec the macro does execute (no bugs) but no action at all 1/10sec perhaps to fast

then I tried any other digits eg.
Application.Wai t (Now + 0.000005) - 5/10sec the macro does not execute



Range("C15").Se lect
ActiveCell.Form ulaR1C1 = "12"
Range("E26").Se lect
Application.Wai t (Now + 0.00001)

So still the same problem no way to get shorter than 1 sec ! (although your syntax works fine for 1sec)

Hi,

Try this for (1/10th of second) :

[code=vb]
Application.Wai t (Now + 0.000001)
[/code]

Regards
Veena

[QVeen72]

Hi,

May it is too quick to notice any kind of difference....
But that is how Milliseconds are passed for Wait..


Regards
Veena

[ms9]

Trust you but why :
-the only digit working is 1 ?
-The routine is used to make a shape moving in excel whith a pause, 1 sec is working (the shape does move) and 1/10sec have no action at all on the shape ?
Regards

Hi,

May it is too quick to notice any kind of difference....
But that is how Milliseconds are passed for Wait..


Regards
Veena

[Killer42]

I think we have established in prior threads that Wait and OnTime functions only have a "resolution " of one second.

For finer control, I think you'll need to use API calls.

[tonyk]

run a time wasting loop

quick fix .

write a for loop that does pretty nothing but takes a few milliseconds to run. e.g
for i = 1 to 100,000
blah blah blah do some stuff
next for

.. then get back to your graphics code. the loop should kill a milisecond or so.
hide whatever ranges the loop stuff is acting on

[Tage]

Option Explicit
Private Declare Function timeGetTime Lib "winmm.dll" () As Long
Public lngStartTime As Long   'time in msec
Public Sub StartTimer()
    lngStartTime = timeGetTime()
End Sub
Public Function EndTimer() As Double
    EndTimer = timeGetTime() - lngStartTime
End Function
Public Sub delay(msdelay As Long)
   ' creates delay in ms
   Dim temp As Double
   StartTimer
   Do Until EndTimer > (msdelay)
   Loop
End Sub

[Killer42]

Nice.

But shouldn't lngStartTime be a Double?

[twinnyfo]

How about something as simple as this:

Public Function PauseEvent(Delay As Double)
    Dim dblTimer As Double
    dblTimer = Timer
    Do While Timer - dblTimer < Delay
    Loop
End Function

It's a function you can call from anywhere, just include the pause (in seconds) that you want the application to wait.

Usage:

PauseEvent(2.5)

Will cause whatever you are doing to wait for 2.5 seconds. It may not be 100% perfect regarding time, but the timer call takes time in and of itself.

[Killer42]

Looks good.

I do have a couple of small suggestions, though.

First, put a DoEvents inside that loop to allow Windows to do other things.

Also, while the impact would be tiny in this case, as a general rule I recommend avoiding unnecessary calculations. In other words, rather than doing a calculation every time around the loop to determine the elapsed time, I'd just calculate the ending time once, and check that. Something long these lines...

Public Function PauseEvent(ByVal Delay As Double)
  Dim dblEndTime As Double
  dblEndTime = Timer + Delay
  Do While Timer < dblEndTime
    DoEvents
  Loop
End Function

[twinnyfo]

Great suggestions, Killer! I put about three minutes thought into my Function. Now that I've put five in, it makes much better sense!

Thanks!

[Killer42]

Yeah, I find that if you make a habit of putting in that little extra effort up front to keep your code tight, you often save time fussing with it later.

A bit like the old "measure twice, cut once" rule in building. :-)

[xklownx]

Thank you killer42 for the great suggestion. Works like a charm.

[trystan4861]

Public Declare Sub Delay Lib "kernel32" Alias "Sleep" (ByVal dwMilliseconds As Long)

'to use it where you want to wait... delay X 
'where X is the amount of milliseconds to wait for
'only one thing, while the program is waiting... nothing will be executed until the time selected to delay
delay 50