Change in threading.Timer class: Continue periodical execution until action returns True.

Author: slytomcat

Doc/library/threading.rst

@@ -831,29 +831,41 @@ method.  The :meth:`~Event.wait` method blocks until the flag is true.
 Timer Objects
 -------------
 
-This class represents an action that should be run only after a certain amount
-of time has passed --- a timer.  :class:`Timer` is a subclass of :class:`Thread`
+This class represents an action that should be run after a certain amount
+of time has passed --- a timer. It also can run periodically: each run happens
+after specified time that passed since previous run until the action returns True.
+:class:`Timer` is a subclass of :class:`Thread`
 and as such also functions as an example of creating custom threads.
 
 Timers are started, as with threads, by calling their :meth:`~Timer.start`
 method.  The timer can be stopped (before its action has begun) by calling the
-:meth:`~Timer.cancel` method.  The interval the timer will wait before
-executing its action may not be exactly the same as the interval specified by
-the user.
+:meth:`~Timer.cancel` method.  If action has returned True then next run is
+scheduled after the timer interval. The interval the timer will wait before
+executing its action may not be exactly the same as the interval specified
+by the user. 
+
 
 For example::
 
-   def hello():
-       print("hello, world")
+   def star():
+       global cnt
+       print("*")
+       cnt -= 1
+       if cnt > 0:
+           return True
+
+   cnt = 5
+   t = Timer(1.0, star)
+   t.start()  # it prints five "*" with 1 sec waiting between prints
 
-   t = Timer(30.0, hello)
-   t.start()  # after 30 seconds, "hello, world" will be printed
+   
 
 
 .. class:: Timer(interval, function, args=None, kwargs=None)
 
    Create a timer that will run *function* with arguments *args* and  keyword
-   arguments *kwargs*, after *interval* seconds have passed.
+   arguments *kwargs*, after *interval* seconds have passed and continues
+   periodically run *function* until *function* returns True.
    If *args* is ``None`` (the default) then an empty list will be used.
    If *kwargs* is ``None`` (the default) then an empty dict will be used.
 

Lib/test/test_threading.py

@@ -1067,6 +1067,7 @@ class TimerTests(BaseTestCase):
     def setUp(self):
         BaseTestCase.setUp(self)
         self.callback_args = []
+        self.callback_cnt = 3
         self.callback_event = threading.Event()
 
     def test_init_immutable_default_args(self):
@@ -1081,13 +1082,20 @@ def test_init_immutable_default_args(self):
         timer2 = threading.Timer(0.01, self._callback_spy)
         timer2.start()
         self.callback_event.wait()
-        self.assertEqual(len(self.callback_args), 2)
-        self.assertEqual(self.callback_args, [((), {}), ((), {})])
+
+    def test_continuous_execution(self):
+        timer = threading.Timer(0.01, self._callback_cont)
+        self.callback_event.wait(0.1)
+        self.assertEqual(self.callback_cnt, 0)
 
     def _callback_spy(self, *args, **kwargs):
         self.callback_args.append((args[:], kwargs.copy()))
         self.callback_event.set()
 
+    def _callback_cont(self):
+        self.callback_cnt -= 1
+        return self.callback_cnt > 0
+
 class LockTests(lock_tests.LockTests):
     locktype = staticmethod(threading.Lock)
 

Lib/threading.py

@@ -1177,9 +1177,10 @@ def cancel(self):
         self.finished.set()
 
     def run(self):
-        self.finished.wait(self.interval)
-        if not self.finished.is_set():
-            self.function(*self.args, **self.kwargs)
+        """Continue execution after wait until function returns True"""
+        while(not self.finished.wait(self.interval)):
+            if not self.function(*self.args, **self.kwargs):
+                break
         self.finished.set()
 
 # Special thread class to represent the main thread