ON IDLE block
Syntax
ON IDLE seconds
instruction [...]Usage
The ON IDLE seconds clause defines a set of instructions that must be
executed after a given period of user inactivity. This interaction block can be used, for example,
to quit the dialog after the user has not interacted with the program for a specified period of
time.
Do not mix ON TIMER and
ON IDLE clauses.
If the UNBUFFERED option is used in an input dialog, ON IDLE and ON TIMER will flush and validate the
current field content. If the field contains invalid data, an error message is displayed, and the
corresponding code block is not executed. Therefore, ON IDLE and ON
TIMER are not recommended in input dialogs using the UNBUFFERED
option.
When implementing multiple dialogs with DIALOG block, do not mix several
ON IDLE clauses in different sub-dialog blocks: specify a unique ON
IDLE clause at the DIALOG block level.
The parameter of ON IDLE must be an integer literal or variable. If the value is
zero, the dialog timeout is disabled.
ON IDLE trigger with a short timeout period
such as 1 or 2 seconds; The purpose of this trigger is to give the control back to the program after
a relatively long period of inactivity (10, 30 or 60 seconds). This is typically the case when the
end user leaves the workstation, or gets a phone call. The program can then execute some code before
the user gets the control back.ON IDLE 30
IF ask_question(
"Do you want to reload information from the database?") THEN
-- Fetch data back from the db server
END IFThe timeout value is taken into account when the dialog initializes its internal data structures. If you use a program variable instead of an integer constant, any change of the variable will have no effect if the variable is changed after the dialog has initialized. If you want to change the value of the timeout variable, it must be done before the dialog block.