timer, when specified and non-zero, causes the field to time-out (returning exitcode=11) after the number of seconds specified (in timer). If type ! is not specified, then timer is not modified on exit from INFLD. This allows you to use a fixed time-out value on every field without having to reset it each time.
However, if type ! code is specified, then the elapsed time (in seconds) is returned in timer. Stand advised that although the elapsed time is quite accurate, the time-out period may become elongated by up to 15% due to heavy system activity. This should not cause any inconvenience, as long as you check for time-out by seeing if exitcode=11 and not by comparing the elapsed time (returned in timer) to the original timer value. For example, if you set timer to 30, and the field times out, the elapsed time (returned in timer) may actually be 29-32 seconds. So check the exitcode to see if time-out occurred, and if you want to know the precise elapsed time, use the returned value of timer.
Comments
| • | See Timer-Related Codes for a complete list of the type codes that affect the timer feature. |
| • | If you only care about the elapsed time (and don't want to time out), then you need to set the initial timer value to something suitably large. The elapsed time feature doesn't work if the initial timer value is 0. You would also probably want to disable the timer displays with the /+ type codes. |
