timererlangperiodic-taskperiodic-processing

How to perform actions periodically in Erlang

-define(INTERVAL, 1000).

init([]) ->
    Timer = erlang:send_after(?INTERVAL, self(), tick),
    {ok, Timer}.

handle_info(tick, OldTimer) ->
    erlang:cancel_timer(OldTimer),
    io:format("Tick ~w~n", [OldTimer]),
    Timer = erlang:send_after(?INTERVAL, self(), tick).
    {noreplay, Timer}.

start_clock() ->
    {_, Timer} = init([]),
    spawn(clock, handle_info, [tick, Timer]).

My codes is as above, but the output is not what I want. How can I integrate init() and handle_info() into the main function(start_clock)?

Solution

  • I think you need something like this:

    start_timer() ->
    gen_server:start_link({local, clock}, ?MODULE, [], []).