In normal applescript, the script is executed down the page, and so any code in loops for every 5 seconds will only run while the loop is running - there is no way to have a single function run every few second regardless of what the script is currently doing or where it is in the script (that I know of). In cocoa-applescript, however, is there a way to run a handler every 5 seconds, at all times, no matter what it is currently doing? Here is what it should be doing in my cocoa-applescript app:
on checkInternetStrength()
do shell script "/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Apple80211.framework/Versions/Current/Resources/airport -I | grep 'agrCtlRSSI:'" -- this being the script which returns the line containing the signal strength
set SignalStrength to result
set RSSIcount to (count of characters in SignalStrength)
set SignalStrength to ((characters 18 thru RSSIcount of SignalStrength) as string) as integer -- this to turn SignalStrength into just the number and not the whole output line
set SignalStrength to (100 + SignalStrength) as integer
set SignalBar's setIntValue_(SignalStrength) -- SignalBar being the Level Indicator described below
end checkInternetStrength
Summed up, it runs the airport command to check internet connection, turns this into a number from 1 to 100 and uses this on an NSLevelIndicator (100 maximum) to show current signal strength graphically. Now, there is no point having this run once or when you hit a button - that is an option, but it would be nice if it updated itself every, say, 5 seconds with the realtime value. So is there any way to have a process which runs every 5 seconds to do this, while still enabling full functionality of the rest of the script and interface - i.e. as a background process? Comment if you need more extracts from the script.
Example
In Unity-C# scripting, the 'void Update() {code}' will run the code within it every frame while doing everything else simultaneously, so a cocoa-applescript version of this might be an answer, if anyone knows.