Timer on GUI

[addy9908]

Hi folks,
I am very happy with the Bonsai GUI, and use it a lot to start and stop my workflows. However, when I click the 'start' button, the button does not change color or show the indicator, and sometimes I get lost whether I have started it or not.
Here is the question: do we have a way to put a timer on the GUI that when I click 'start' button, it will count the running time as a timer, when I click 'stop' button, it will reset to 00:00:00.
The least: if the timer function is not possible, can we at least have something to put in GUI to change the color with each button?

Thanks,
Zengyou

[addy9908]

Update:
I found a way to do it, but may not be the best way

inside the pythonsource:

import time
starttime = time.time()

#@returns(TimeSpan) #I do not know the type name I need here, so just comment it but yeild number to combine with timestamp later
def generate():
    while True:
      time.sleep(1)
      timing=round(time.time()-starttime,0)
      yield timing

Please let me know if anyone has better idea. Thanks.

[banchan86]

Looks good actually - minor point, since it seems like the PythonSource is just issuing periodic notifications, it can be replaced by a Timer and you can set the Period parameter to 00:00:00.1 for a more responsive stopwatch

[addy9908]

Thanks for the input. The Timer indeed works better for me.

[bruno-f-cruz]

You can also use the new Bonsai.Gui package:

Edit: There is an extra format there for some reason. Sorry >,<

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<WorkflowBuilder Version="2.8.5"
                 xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
                 xmlns:rx="clr-namespace:Bonsai.Reactive;assembly=Bonsai.Core"
                 xmlns:wie="clr-namespace:Bonsai.Windows.Input;assembly=Bonsai.Windows.Input"
                 xmlns:gui="clr-namespace:Bonsai.Gui;assembly=Bonsai.Gui"
                 xmlns="https://bonsai-rx.org/2018/workflow">
  <Workflow>
    <Nodes>
      <Expression xsi:type="Combinator">
        <Combinator xsi:type="rx:Timer">
          <rx:DueTime>PT0S</rx:DueTime>
          <rx:Period>PT0.1S</rx:Period>
        </Combinator>
      </Expression>
      <Expression xsi:type="Combinator">
        <Combinator xsi:type="rx:Timestamp" />
      </Expression>
      <Expression xsi:type="Combinator">
        <Combinator xsi:type="rx:Take">
          <rx:Count>1</rx:Count>
        </Combinator>
      </Expression>
      <Expression xsi:type="Combinator">
        <Combinator xsi:type="rx:WithLatestFrom" />
      </Expression>
      <Expression xsi:type="Combinator">
        <Combinator xsi:type="rx:Timestamp" />
      </Expression>
      <Expression xsi:type="MemberSelector">
        <Selector>Timestamp</Selector>
      </Expression>
      <Expression xsi:type="MemberSelector">
        <Selector>Value.Item2.Timestamp</Selector>
      </Expression>
      <Expression xsi:type="Combinator">
        <Combinator xsi:type="rx:Zip" />
      </Expression>
      <Expression xsi:type="Subtract" />
      <Expression xsi:type="Format" />
      <Expression xsi:type="Combinator">
        <Combinator xsi:type="wie:KeyDown">
          <wie:Filter>S</wie:Filter>
          <wie:SuppressRepetitions>false</wie:SuppressRepetitions>
        </Combinator>
      </Expression>
      <Expression xsi:type="Combinator">
        <Combinator xsi:type="rx:TakeUntil" />
      </Expression>
      <Expression xsi:type="Combinator">
        <Combinator xsi:type="rx:Repeat" />
      </Expression>
      <Expression xsi:type="rx:BehaviorSubject">
        <Name>Lap</Name>
      </Expression>
      <Expression xsi:type="SubscribeSubject">
        <Name>Lap</Name>
      </Expression>
      <Expression xsi:type="Format" />
      <Expression xsi:type="PropertyMapping">
        <PropertyMappings>
          <Property Name="Text" />
        </PropertyMappings>
      </Expression>
      <Expression xsi:type="gui:ButtonBuilder">
        <gui:Enabled>false</gui:Enabled>
        <gui:Visible>true</gui:Visible>
        <gui:Font>Microsoft Sans Serif, 20pt, style=Bold, Italic</gui:Font>
        <gui:Text>00:00:06.6745600</gui:Text>
      </Expression>
    </Nodes>
    <Edges>
      <Edge From="0" To="1" Label="Source1" />
      <Edge From="0" To="3" Label="Source1" />
      <Edge From="1" To="2" Label="Source1" />
      <Edge From="2" To="3" Label="Source2" />
      <Edge From="3" To="4" Label="Source1" />
      <Edge From="4" To="5" Label="Source1" />
      <Edge From="4" To="6" Label="Source1" />
      <Edge From="5" To="7" Label="Source1" />
      <Edge From="6" To="7" Label="Source2" />
      <Edge From="7" To="8" Label="Source1" />
      <Edge From="8" To="9" Label="Source1" />
      <Edge From="9" To="11" Label="Source1" />
      <Edge From="10" To="11" Label="Source2" />
      <Edge From="11" To="12" Label="Source1" />
      <Edge From="12" To="13" Label="Source1" />
      <Edge From="14" To="15" Label="Source1" />
      <Edge From="15" To="16" Label="Source1" />
      <Edge From="16" To="17" Label="Source1" />
    </Edges>
  </Workflow>
</WorkflowBuilder>

[addy9908]

Thanks bruno. I am a big fan of GUI now, with the button as start and stop to control the sessions. I did use a Label rather than a Button to show the Lap, which should not be a big deal here.
I also like your "format", which is easier than my using of python transform to convert it as a string.

BTW: will there be any difference when publish the Lap after format or after repeat?

[bruno-f-cruz]

For this particular example, I do not believe it matters. In other examples, it may matter since "Repeat" assumes that all sequences have been completed and will force re-subscription. If you change the Subject type from Behavior to Publish, funny things will happen I believe (i.e. the subscribers will only observe the first subscription and close. But give it a try :P).