How to interrupt a loop with a hotkey

Question

This should be easy! I've checked out this thread , but it doesn't help.

I can't seem to break out of the loop using the hotkey. The idea is that you can start and stop the looping process with a single hotkey.

It seems like the value of timeron never gets into the the loop once it's begun.

Here is a sample script:

#singleinstance force

timeron = 0
return

!f7::
    if(timeron){
        timeron = 0
        msgbox Okay, the loop is off.
    }else{
        timeron = 1 ;if this is not set to one, the loop will not begin
        msgbox Turning on the loop.
        gosub, STARTLOOPING
    }
RETURN


STARTLOOPING:
    ;do this over and over
    loop{
        if(!timeron)
            break   
        ;now wait for the right length of time before continuing the loop
        msgbox, The loop yet continues....
        Sleep, 5000
        if(!timeron)
            break
    }
RETURN

What am I missing here?

Answer 1

Since your !F7 never ends, a second press of !F7 is ignored. Per default there is only one thread for each hotkey allowed at one time.

Add

#MaxThreadsPerHotkey 2

as a second line to your script then the second !F7 press can deactivate the loop.

Answer 2

Why don't you use timers instead? They allow your script to do other stuff in between timer runs, thus allowing hotkeys to interrupt them:

timeron := false
Exit
!F7::
    if(timeron) {
        timeron := false
        SetTimer, MyTimer, Off
    } else {
        timeron := true
        ; Call GoSub once if you want the subroutine
        ; to fire immediately at the beginning
        GoSub, MyTimer
        ; Then let the timer repeat it
        SetTimer, MyTimer, 5000
    }
return

MyTimer:
    Msgbox, Looping like crazy!
return

You can always replace a loop's functionality with a timer. If you have some kind of for loop/counter, you can use global variables instead.