timexe

Timexe - Timer and scheduler

To be used with node or in a browser

Features

• Improved cron-like syntax (Not compatible)
• Milliseconds resolution
• Recalculate long running timers, to improve accuracy
• No dependencies
• Written for both node JS and browser inclusion
• Time expressions include ranges, sets, timestamps, weekdays, yeardays and more

Timexe is based on the setTimeout function.

Precission

At present it seems to have an accuracy within 2 ms in node and up to 25 ms i most browsers. It seems that execution is defered somewhat during process load.

Example

To add a timed job every day at noon:

timexe(”* * * 12”, function(){console.log(“hello - it is noon again”)});

Time expression Syntax

---

The basic syntax is a series of fields specifying the time(s):

<year> <month> <day> <hour> <minute> <second> <millisecond> <microsecond> ...

or a time stamp.

Each field contain wild-cards, ranges, sets, not flags and every flags. Plus some special flags for year days and week days.

The epoch timestamp is seconds since 1970-01-01 UTC with fractions of second as decimal part:

@<epoch>[.<faction of second>]

Field syntax: [!][-]<value>[-<value>]|[,<value>] | /<value> | *

space : field separator
*     : all values. Flags will be ignored.
!     : not
/     : every (can not be combined with ! and range)
-     : Negative values are counted back from the maximum value
a-b   : range. both a and b included.
a,b   : set of values

Day field can have the one of the following flags as well
y: day of year
w: day of week 1-7  (1 is Monday)

Unspecified minor fields are assumed to have the lowest possible value

Note:

• Time expression are in local time where as time stamps are in UTC

• Month and weekday use another offset then the javascript Date function:

• Month 1 is January

• Week day 1-7 starting with Monday

Examples:

| Every hour| * * * *| | Every day at noon| * * * 12 | Every 3th Hour on work days| * * w1-5 /3 | At a specific epoch time|@1422821601.123 | At a specific time| 2014 5 13 18 53 7 300 230 | 2th to last day of the month at noon| * * -2 12 | 3th last day of the year| * * y-3 | 3 times an hour during work time| * * w1-5 9-17 0,20,40 | Every morning at 7:30 but not on a weekend| * * !6-7 7 30 | Every 10 minutes in the day time| * * * 8-18 /10

API

---

timexe(timeExpression, callBack [,parameterToCallBack])

Returns a result object:

{
  result: “ok” or null
  error:  A failure explanation or null
  id:	  integer used to identify the timer
}

timexe.remove(id)

where id is the value returned from timexe

Returns a result object:

{
  result: “ok” or null
  error:  A failure explanation or null
}

timexe.get([id])

where the optional id is the value returned from timexe

Returnes either a chronos timer object if id is given, or an array of all active timer objects.

Settings

timexe.timeResolution (integer)

This is the minimum time resolution for an expression. Minimum value is 1 ms. default is 2 ms. This should be more the the execution time and delays do to load, of the intepreter.

timexe.maxTimerDelay (integer)

Maximum run time of a setTimeout call. Some javascripts engines cant handle more then 32 bit = 0x7FFFFFF. thats about 28 days. default is 86400000 = 1 day. When this time have elapsed, the time expression are reevaluated.

With node JS

---

Install

$ npm install timexe

Use

var timexe = require('timexe');

// Add
var res1=timexe(”* * * 12”, function(){console.log(“hello wolrd”)});

// Remove
var res2=timexe.remove(res1.id);

With HTML & javascript

---

Install

Copy files to folder.

Use

<script type="text/JavaScript" src="timexe.js"></script>
<script>
// Add
var res1=timexe(”* * * 12”, function(){alert(“hello wolrd”)});

// Remove
var res2=timexe.remove(res1.id);
</script>

Change log

0.9.13 Minor changes to timex.js 0.9.12 Minor changes to comments and reamne.md 0.9.11 Minor changes to comments and reamne.md 0.9.10 Adapted example to runkit 0.9.9 Minor bugfix. timexe.list made into a regular array.

####Help Please don't hesitate to submit an issue on github! It's the only way to make it better.

But please be prepared to present a test case.

Contributions of almost any kind are welcome.