System - Kirix Documentation

Developer Resources

System

Overview

The System class provides basic system functionality, such as the sleep() function for waiting, or the clock() function for timing functionality.

Methods

System.beep
Creates a system beep.
System.clock
Returns the CPU clock value.
System.execute
Execute a system command; Run a program
System.getClocksPerSecond
Returns number of CPU clock ticks per second.
System.sleep
Pauses execution for a specified number of milliseconds
System.time
Returns the number of seconds elapsed since January 1, 1970 UTC.

Example

// sleep (pause) for two and a half seconds
System.sleep(2500);

// now measure the time it takes for the user to press ok
var clock1, clock2;
clock1 = System.clock();
alert("Press Ok.");
clock2 = System.clock();
alert("It took " + (clock2-clock1)/System.getClocksPerSecond() +
                  " seconds to click Ok.");

// now launch notepad
System.execute("notepad");

System.beep

static function System.beep(frequency : Integer, duration : Integer)

Arguments

frequency
The frequency of the beep in hertz.
duration
The duration of the beep in milliseconds.

Description

Creates a system beep. If no parameters are specified, the function creates a default system beep. If parameters are specified, the function creates a beep having the given frequency and duration.

System.clock

static function System.clock() : Number

Returns

The value of CPU clock.

Description

Returns the CPU clock value. This is useful for measuring how long a piece of code takes to run. It is a basic tool for performance testing. By calling the getClocksPerSecond() function, the user can determine how many seconds have elapsed, to a high degree of accuracy.

System.execute

static function System.execute(command : String) : Integer

Arguments

command
The command line to execute, including the program path and command line parameters.

Returns

The process id of the new process, or zero if the operation failed.

Description

Calling execute runs another program. The program is launched asynchronously, meaning that execution in the calling scope is not blocked, and the program will be run in the background. The command parameter represents the entire command line, including program path and command line parameters.

System.getClocksPerSecond

static function System.getClocksPerSecond() : Number

Returns

The number of clock ticks per second.

Description

Returns number of CPU clock ticks per second. This is useful in conjunction with the clock() method.

System.sleep

static function System.sleep(milliseconds : Number)

Arguments

milliseconds
The number of milliseconds to sleep.

Description

Pauses execution in a thread-friendly manner for the specified number of milliseconds.

System.time

static function System.time() : Number

Returns

The number of seconds elapsed since January 1, 1970 UTC.

Description

Returns the number of seconds elapsed since 00:00 hours, January 1, 1970 UTC.