"TIME" as an integer..

Rod N

Does anyone know how to display/convert a masters TIME to a number..?
I need to 'timestamp' some communications between systems and have a measurable number to calculate with.
Any ideas??

Joe Hebert

The keywords TIME_TO_HOUR, TIME_TO_MINUTE, and TIME_TO_SECOND should get you where you want to go.

DEFINE_VARIABLE _

VOLATILE INTEGER nHours
VOLATILE INTEGER nMinutes
VOLATILE INTEGER nSeconds

DEFINE_START

nHours = TYPE_CAST(TIME_TO_HOUR(TIME))
nMinutes = TYPE_CAST(TIME_TO_MINUTE(TIME))
nSeconds = TYPE_CAST(TIME_TO_SECOND(TIME))

Rod N

Thx Joe.. but I should have been more explicit. I need the time as one variable to log events down to the millisecond (if possible).

I was sure there was a internal variable that each master uses to interpret the current time, date etc..

I know I could write a function based on the "TIME_TO..." integers but I'm hoping for more precision.

Joe Hebert

How about GET_TIMER? It returns to the tenth of a second but I think the time is measured from boot up

Joe Hebert

If you telnet into the master and do a ‘msg on’ each message is time stamped with the number of milliseconds since the program has been running but that number has nothing to do with the time of day.

I don’t know of any variable we can get at with Netlinx to obtain the time of day with the precision you’re looking for. Maybe Duet has something?

vining

For single variable just use a function to convert from 24 hour time, just pass the function the "TIME" keyword.

DEFINE_FUNCTION LONG fnConv_24HrTimeToSeconds(CHAR iTime[])

     {
     RETURN ((((ATOI(REMOVE_STRING(iTime,"':'",1)) * 60) + ATOI(REMOVE_STRING(iTime,"':'",1))) * 60) + ATOI(iTime)) ;
     }

or if you have the individual values from "TIME_TO_xxx" do this:

sMyTime.nTime = ((((sMyTime.n24Hour * 60) + sMyTime.nMinute) * 60) + sMyTime.nSecond) ;

I don't know how you would get a more precise time though unless you create a timeline and restart (sync it) every day at midnight. Run it at the precision you need and then do math on your timeline.repition or the global variable you use to hold that value.

[Deleted User]

Rod,
A need for something similar came up recently and the code below is as close as I could get - but it isn't 100%. To create the millisecond field, I essentially created a repeating timeline that would occur more than once a second. Your testing will show the sweetspot of the timeline results in 60 passes and is repeatable. At its smallest time interval, the master (under no other load) can do this more than 1500 times per second, but that number goes down as load on the processor increases to do the rest of your system program. I was never able to achieve 100 steps (a true millisecond) reliably. There are too many unknown variables affecting the results - but 60 is achievable.

PROGRAM_NAME='test_code'

DEFINE_DEVICE

(***********************************************************)
(*               CONSTANT DEFINITIONS GO BELOW             *)
(***********************************************************)
DEFINE_CONSTANT
INTEGER TL_TimeStamp	=	1

(***********************************************************)
(*               VARIABLE DEFINITIONS GO BELOW             *)
(***********************************************************)
DEFINE_VARIABLE
VOLATILE FLOAT 			  fMilliTracker
VOLATILE SLONG 				slInitialSecond
VOLATILE SLONG 				slCurrentSecond
VOLATILE LONG 				tlTimes_TimeStamp[1] = 	10;
VOLATILE FLOAT				fIncrementer = 1.68;//step rate

(***********************************************************)
(*                STARTUP CODE GOES BELOW                  *)
(***********************************************************)
DEFINE_START
TIMELINE_CREATE(TL_TimeStamp, tlTimes_TimeStamp, 1, TIMELINE_ABSOLUTE, TIMELINE_REPEAT);
(***********************************************************)
(*                THE EVENTS GO BELOW                      *)
(***********************************************************)

DEFINE_EVENT
TIMELINE_EVENT [TL_TimeStamp]
{
		slCurrentSecond = TIME_TO_SECOND(TIME)
		fMilliTracker = (fMilliTracker+fIncrementer)
	IF(slInitialSecond<>slCurrentSecond)
	{
		//reset the tracker
		fMilliTracker = 0
		//reset the initial second
		slInitialSecond = slCurrentSecond
	}
	SEND_STRING 0, "TIME,'.',ITOA(fMilliTracker)"
}

Rod N

Thanks Chris ! Thats as precise as I would ever need..
and thanx to Joe and vining

true

If you need UNIX timestamps, I wrote an include that is a part of the NetLinx Common Library to handle conversion to/from AMX time and to format time strings using UNIX timestamps. Not sure if you may need that in addition to sub-tenth-second timing.