Loop Timer

Hello everybody! I need to create a simple timer that loops so that every 20 seconds a function executes. I know this is a fairly simple task, but I have never done it before and have no idea what to do. Thanks so much!

 

InvokeRepeating

 

Coming to the forums for help is absolutely fine, but you'll find our assistance much more useful once you have a firm grasp on the basics. Take some unity tutorials, some programming tutorials and try to do a couple of things on your own. You'll soon find that a task as simple as this is a breeze. Besides, learning programming is fun!

As BoredMormon said, you could use InvokeRepeating. Or you could build your own component.
Here's some code. There's a bunch of different lessons at work in here, try to turn it into a learning exercise:

Code (CSharp):

1. using UnityEngine;
2. using UnityEngine.Events;
3.  
4. /// <summary>
5. /// The Timer component executes a custom event every set interval.
6. /// Timer can loop.
7. /// </summary>
8. public class Timer : MonoBehaviour {
9.  
10.     //Regions are handy ways to seperate your code into sections.
11.     #region Inspector
12.  
13.     //[SerializeField] is what makes fields editable in the inspector. Look up Unity serialization for more information.
14.     //Any public field that CAN be serialized is serialized by default. We don't want the interval property to be public,
15.     //because if other scripts or code are going to change the interval property at runtime, we want to be able to validate it.
16.     //See the OnValidate method and Interval property below.
17.     [SerializeField] float interval = 1f;
18.  
19.     public bool destroyOnExpire = false;
20.  
21.     //A unity event is something that can be set in the inspector or programatically.
22.     //You can tell an event to run one function, many, or none. Learn about them because
23.     //they are extremely handly.
24.     public UnityEvent onExpire;
25.  
26.     #endregion
27.  
28.     #region Runtime Data
29.  
30.     float remaining;
31.  
32.     #endregion
33.  
34.     #region Unity Callers
35.  
36.     //OnValidate is called when changes are made in the inspector.
37.     //We don't want the interval to be below zero, so if a user
38.     //sets it as such, we fix it here.
39.     void OnValidate()
40.     {
41.         if (interval < 0f)
42.             interval = 0f;
43.     }
44.  
45.     void Start()
46.     {
47.         remaining = interval;
48.     }
49.  
50.     void Update()
51.     {
52.         remaining -= Time.deltaTime;
53.  
54.         if (remaining > 0f)
55.             return;
56.  
57.         onExpire.Invoke ();
58.  
59.         //Maybe a timer is only intended to execute once. If so, we'll disable it to ensure the update function
60.         //wont run again next frame, and we'll Destroy the component.
61.         if (destroyOnExpire) {
62.             enabled = false;
63.             Destroy (this);
64.  
65.         } else     //Otherwise we reset the amount remaining, and continue as normal
66.             remaining = interval;
67.     }
68.  
69.     #endregion
70.  
71.     #region API
72.  
73.     public float Interval {
74.         get {
75.             return interval;
76.         }
77.         set {
78.             interval = value;
79.  
80.             //Call OnValidate manually during runtime.
81.             OnValidate();
82.         }
83.     }
84.  
85.     public float Remaining {
86.         get {
87.             return remaining < 0f ? 0f : remaining;
88.         }
89.     }
90.  
91.     //We want to be able to pause the timer by disabling it. If a component is 'enabled' it will run
92.     //all of it's Unity-nested callers, like Update, Start, LateUpdate, etcetera. If you disable a timer, it
93.     //will be paused weather or not you call the pause function, disable the component,
94.     //disable the gameObject or disable the gameObjects parent, ect. As such, the following are just convenience
95.     //properties and methods. They're the same as changing the 'enabled' member.
96.     public bool Paused {
97.         get {
98.             return !enabled;
99.         }
100.     }
101.  
102.     public void Pause()
103.     {
104.         if (Paused)
105.             Debug.LogWarning ("Timer on " + name + " is already paused.");
106.  
107.         enabled = false;
108.     }
109.    
110.     public void Unpause()
111.     {
112.         if (!Paused)
113.             Debug.LogWarning ("Timer on " + name + " is already running.");
114.        
115.         enabled = true;
116.     }
117.  
118.     //This is a convienience method that we can use to create timers quickly. A UnityAction can either be a method
119.     //or a lambda expression. Add Lambdas to your list of things to learn about, they're very handy.
120.     public static Timer Create(GameObject gameObject, float interval, UnityAction onExpire, bool destroyOnExpire = false)
121.     {
122.         var timer = gameObject.AddComponent<Timer> ();
123.         timer.interval = interval;
124.         timer.destroyOnExpire = destroyOnExpire;
125.  
126.         timer.onExpire = new UnityEvent ();
127.         timer.onExpire.AddListener (onExpire);
128.  
129.         return timer;
130.     }
131.  
132.     #endregion
133.  
134. }
135.  

So you add this component in the editor, subscribe a bunch of methods to it's event, or you can also create it easily at runtime:

Code (CSharp):

1. using UnityEngine;
2. using System.Collections;
3.  
4. public class Bomb : MonoBehaviour {
5.  
6.     void Start () {
7.         Timer.Create (this.gameObject, 10f, Explode);
8.     }
9.    
10.     void Explode()
11.     {
12.         Destroy (gameObject);
13.         Debug.Log ("KABLOOIE!");
14.     }
15. }
16.