Show active current date and time in a Form continuously

Question

Hi,
I am use Oracle Form 10.1.2 in Windows 2000.
Can we show an active current date and time in a Form continuously?
Perhaps in the main menu form.
So the user can see the moving time, instantly when the time change (withour pushing F5 for refreshing the form)
23-Sep-2006 06:00
-- one minute later will show
23-Sep-2006 06:01
-- one minute later will show
23-Sep-2006 06:02
-- and so on
Any help is appreciated.
Many thanks,
Buntoro

Answer 1

Here is a quick, untested suggestion that sketches out one way of approaching this.
If you only require updates every 60 seconds, you can use the TIMER built-in to create a repeating timer with a sixty-second delay. Each time the timer expires, update a text item to reflect the current time (obtained by selecting SYSDATE from DUAL on the database.)
If the time is to be updated precisely when the minute changes, use two timers -- the same one described above, and a one-shot. Before you create either timer, run the following query:
   SELECT 60-TO_NUMBER(TO_CHAR(SYSDATE, 'ss')) FROM DUALThis will give the number of seconds remaining until the minute changes. Use this value to set the duration of the one-shot timer. When it expires, create the repeating sixty-second timer.
There is a good possibility that this method will not be terribly precise, depending on factors like server resources, user load and network distance. A more network-friendly approach would be to use a JavaBean that relies on the PC's system timer to track the passage of time, and calculates server time based on the observed time difference between PC & server.
Hope this helps,
Eric Adamson
Lansing, Michigan