Topics: The Tick Counter

	Topics: The Tick Counter

Description

The Environment class provides a special property used to count a specific number of lapses that have occurred since you started your computer. This information or counter is available through the TickCount property. This property counts the number of milliseconds that have elapsed since you started your computer. Just like the timer control, what you do with the result of this property is up to you and it can be used in various circumstances.

After retrieving the value that the Environment.TickCount property, you can display it in a text-based control. Here is an example:

Imports System.Drawing
Imports System.Windows.Forms

Module Exercise

    Public Class Starter
        Inherits Form

        Dim components As System.ComponentModel.Container

        Public Sub New()
            InitializeComponent()
        End Sub

        Public Sub InitializeComponent()

        End Sub

        Private Sub FormLoaded(ByVal sender As Object, _
            ByVal e As EventArgs) Handles Me.Load
            Text = CStr(Environment.TickCount)
        End Sub
    End Class

    Function Main() As Integer

        Dim frmStart As Starter = New Starter

        Application.Run(frmStart)

        Return 0
    End Function

End Module

Practical Learning: Counting the Computer's Ticks

Start a new Windows Application named CompAppElapsedTime1
Design the form as follows:
From the Components section of the Toolbox, click the Timer control and click the form
Change the timer's properties as follows:
Interval:20
Enabled: True
Right-click the form and click View Code

Declare an integer variable named CompTime

Public Class Form1
    Private CompTime As Integer
End Class

In the Class Name combo box, select (Form1 Events)

In the Method Name combo box, select Load and initialize the variable in the Load event as follows:

Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As Object, _
                           ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _
                           Handles Me.Load
        CompTime = Environment.TickCount
End Sub

In the Class Name combo box, select timer1

In the Method Name combo box, select Tick and implement the event as follows:

Private Sub timer1_Tick(ByVal sender As Object, _
                            ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _
                            Handles timer1.Tick
    Dim CurTickValue As Integer = Environment.TickCount
    Dim Difference As Integer = CurTickValue - CompTime

    label1.Text = "This computer has been ON for " & CStr(CurTickValue)
    label2.Text = "This application has been running for " & CStr(Difference)
End Sub

In the Class Name combo box, select btnClose

In the Method Name combo box, select Click and implement the event as follows:

Private Sub btnClose_Click(ByVal sender As Object, _
                               ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _
                               Handles btnClose.Click
        End
End Sub

Test the application
After testing the application, close it

To make the values easier to read, change the code of the OnTimer event as follows:

Private Sub timer1_Tick(ByVal sender As Object, _
                            ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _
                            Handles timer1.Tick
        Dim CurrentTickValue As Integer
        Dim Difference As Integer

        Dim ComputerHours As Integer
        Dim ComputerMinutes As Integer
        Dim ComputerSeconds As Integer
        Dim ApplicationHours As Integer
        Dim ApplicationMinutes As Integer
        Dim ApplicationSeconds As Integer

        CurrentTickValue = Environment.TickCount
        Difference = CurrentTickValue - CompTime
        ComputerHours = (CurrentTickValue / (3600 * 999)) Mod 24
        ComputerMinutes = (CurrentTickValue / (60 * 999)) Mod 60
        ComputerSeconds = (CurrentTickValue / 999) Mod 60

        ApplicationHours = (Difference / (3600 * 999)) Mod 24
        ApplicationMinutes = (Difference / (60 * 999)) Mod 60
        ApplicationSeconds = (Difference / 999) Mod 60

        label1.Text = "This computer has been ON for " & _
                      CStr(ComputerHours) & _
                      " hours, " & _
                      CStr(ComputerMinutes) & _
                      " minutes, " & _
                      CStr(ComputerSeconds) & _
                      " seconds"

        label2.Text = "This application has been running for " & _
                      CStr(ApplicationHours) & _
                      "  hours, " & _
                      CStr(ApplicationMinutes) & _
                      "  minutes " & _
                      CStr(ApplicationSeconds) & _
                      "  seconds"
End Sub

Execute the application to test it:
After testing the application, close the form


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