Version 5 of idle

Updated 2011-09-19 09:13:34 by MGS

MGS [2003/04/04] - I wanted a way to cache idle commands i.e. to be able to schedule the same command multiple times (before the event loop is re-entered), and then have the command run only once. Following Darren New's code snippet, I came up with this simple solution:

  proc idle {args} {
    eval after cancel $args
    return [eval after idle $args]
  }

AK: In 8.5 or later

  proc idle {args} {
    after cancel {*}$args
    return [after idle {*}$args]
  }

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MGS [2011/09/19] - Ok, nearly 8 1/2 years later, I've just realised this doesn't do what I had originally intended. It only cancels the execution of a single delayed command, NOT all delayed commands with the same args. We need to do a little more work:

  proc idle {args} {
    set scr [eval [linsert $args 0 concat]]
    foreach id [after info] {
      set info [after info $id]
      if { [string equal $scr [lindex $info 0]] &&
           [string equal idle [lindex $info 1]] } {
        after cancel $id
      }
    }
    return [after idle $scr]
  }

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See also:

• after
• every

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