Non blocking timer for Propeller 2 (Ported from Arduino)
When you use a waitms() function in a Spin program, the processor stops everything it is doing until this delay is completed. That is called a blocking delay, because it blocks the processor until it finishes.
Many times we don't want this to happen. This timer provides a way to use time delays without blocking the processor, so it can do other things while the timer ends up. This is called a non-blocking delay timer.
The timer provides basic functionality to implement different ways of timing in a Spin program. You can use the timer in the following ways:
A) Start-Stop-Restart Timer - You can start, stop and restart the timer until done.
start() will reset the time (counting time) and set is_started and is_waiting true.
done() will return true if the timer has reached the preset
done_one_shot() will return true only the first time it detects timer has reached preset
stop() will set is_started and is_waiting false.
It will also return the elapsed milliseconds since it was started
restart() will set the timer to is_started and is_waiting but will not reset the time.
B) Periodic trigger - The following example will toggle pin 56 every 500ms
timer1.init(500)
repeat
if(timer1.repeat_execution())
pintoggle(56)
C) Debouncer for signals - The following example shows how to debounce a signal
coming from pin 10. Will only return true if more than 50ms have passed since
last time it was read.
pushbutton := 10
timer1.init(50)
repeat
if(timer1.debounce( pinread(pushbutton) ))
pintoggle(56)