MATLAB Programming

Using a MATLAB Timer Object
Using a MATLAB Timer Object
To use a timer, perform these steps:
1 Create a timer object.
You use the timer function to create a timer object. See “Creating Timer
Objects” on page 10-5 for more information.
2 Specify which MATLAB commands you want executed when the timer fires
and control other aspects of timer object behavior.
You use timer object properties to specify this information. To learn about
all the properties supported by the timer object, see “Working with Timer
Object Properties” on page 10-7. (You can also set timer object properties
when you create them,instep1.)
3 Start the timer object.
After you create the timer object, you must start it, using either the start
or startat function. See “Starting and Stopping Timers” on page 10-10
for more information.
4 Delete the timer object when you are done with it.
After you are finished using a timer object, you should delete it from
memory. See “Deleting Timer Objects from Memory” on page 10-23 for
more information.
Note The specified execution time and the actual execution of a timer can
vary because timer objects work in the MATLAB single-threaded execution
environment. The length of this time lag is dependent on what other
processing MATLAB is performing. To force the execution of the callback
functions in the event queue, include a call to the drawnow function in your
code. The drawnow function flushes the event queue.
10-3