Format
spawn(Delay=0) Statementspawn(Delay=0) Statement
Args
Delay: The amount of time (in 1/10 seconds) before Statement is executed.
Run Statement after a delay. Statement may be a single statement or a code block enclosed in (optional) braces and indented. If delay is negative, the spawned code is executed before continuing in the main code. If it is zero, the spawned code is scheduled to happen right after other existing events that are immediately pending.
spawn(30) storm()
usr << "Storm clouds are brewing!"This will display "Storm clouds are brewing!" and then call the storm() proc after 3 seconds.
A spawned statement or block is a copy of the current proc. The current proc keeps running and the copy waits its turn. The copy stops at the end of the statement/block, and its return value is discarded.
In the case of spawn(-1), the original proc keeps running the statement/block and then stops, while the copy runs everything after that.
The important feature of spawn() is that the caller does not have to wait around for the spawned code to finish.
Any vars you have defined in the proc itself, including arguments, will be copied between the spawned code and the code that runs right away. This means that if one part modifies one of those vars, the other part will not see that change. Changes made to objects, lists, datums, etc. however will be visible to both code blocks.
Pointers to any vars that belong to the proc will stay with the original proc, not the copy.