use-cg-timer

Generic Function

Package: common-graphics

Arguments: configuration

This configuration property determines whether the built-in cg-timer will run all the time, never, or whenever the mouse cursor is over a Common Graphics window. The default is nil, meaning never.

In addition to the general timers facility (See About the Common Graphics timer facility in cgide.htm), Common Graphics by default automatically starts up one particular timer instance called the cg-timer. This timer is used internally by both CG and the IDE, and applications can use it as well (see cg-timer and handle-cg-timer). It runs both in the IDE and in standalone applications.

Here are the possible values of this property and things to consider for each value:

:under-mouse: this option (which was the default in release 5.0.1 but not in release 6.0) indicates that the cg-timer will run whenever any Common Graphics window is under the mouse cursor. (This includes all IDE windows, but not the Console window.) A small inconvenience of this option in the IDE is that the red "Tracing" and "Sampling" reminders that appear in the upper right corner of the IDE will be updated only when the mouse cursor is over a lisp window. For these flags to update at all times, change use-cg-timer to t.

t: the cg-timer will run at all times, even when the IDE or standalone application is shrunk or buried by other applications. Note that this option potentially could interfere with time-critical applications. You probably want to use this option only if you have added a custom handle-cg-timer method to some window that needs to run even when the mouse is not over any lisp windows, though using a custom timer instance rather than the cg-timer may allow more flexible control in this case.

nil: the cg-timer will never run. This is the default, starting in release 6.0. The main drawback with this option is that no mouse-out message will be generated by Common Graphics when the mouse moves from a CG window directly onto another application or the desktop. (The mouse-out message will still be generated once the mouse moves onto another Common Graphics window though.) For a standalone application that does not depend on mouse-out messages when the mouse is not over the application, you may want to use this option simply to eliminate unneeded message processing. Prior to multithreaded Common Graphics, the saving was usually not noticeable, but in a multithreading environment, it can be significant, which is why the default was changed to nil.

use-cg-timer is a property of the configuration class.

Common Graphics and IDE documentation is described in About Common Graphics and IDE documentation in cgide.htm.

The documentation is described in introduction.htm and the index is in index.htm.

Created 2000.10.5.