Thread: Exit from program using timer

Hello to all,

I am new to C and am learning on a daily basis. The code below will return a weight from a scales and output the result to a file. The program will only exit from a keyboard execution (Esc key). Is it possible to time out the program after a specified time (eg 5 seconds). Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.

Code:

#include <bios.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <conio.h>

#define COM1       0
#define DATA_READY 0x100
#define TRUE       1
#define FALSE      0

#define SETTINGS ( 0xE0 | 0x18 | 0x04 | 0x02)
/* MODE COM        9600   EVEN   2      7 */

int main(void)
{
   int status, DONE = FALSE,flag=0,j=0,n;
   char rname[10000],in,out;
   FILE *fp=NULL;
   bioscom(0, SETTINGS, COM1);
         cprintf("... BIOSCOM [ESC] to exit .../n");
         fp=fopen("c:\\myfile.txt","w");
         while (flag!=1  || out=='$')
         {
                status = bioscom(3, 0, COM1);
                status = status & DATA_READY;
                if (status & DATA_READY)
                /*if (status!=0)*/
                {
                 out = bioscom(2, 0, COM1);
                 out = (out & 0x007f);

                 if(out!='$')
                 {
                        printf("%c",out);
                        rname[j]=out;
                        j++;
                 }
                }
                if (kbhit())
                 {
                        if ((in = getch()) == 27)
                                 flag = 1;
                 }
         }
         n=j;
        for(j=0;j<n;j++)
         {
        fputc(rname[j],fp);
         }
         fclose(fp);
         return 0;
}

Check your compiler options, you should have a sleep(NumberOfSeconds), or Sleep(NumberOfMilliseconds), or possibly one of these, prepended by an underline: _sleep(), that you can use.

You can use time() function from time.h
Example:

Code:

#include <time.h>

#define TIMEOUT_VALUE 5

time_t startTime = time(NULL);
do
{
  // instructions
} while (time(NULL) < startTime + TIMEOUT_VALUE);

Thankyou. time_t works perfectly.

Yes Salem. Jumped in the Tardis and went back to the late 80's. I've downloaded MS Visual Studio Express and will be back to you soon...........