Timers in MIDP 2.0 question

Question

elo! i have a question regarding using timers in midp 2.0.. i have a series of frames for my player in order to show its "walking effect" on the screen. i used timer.shedule(TimerTask, long, long) and it showed the "walking effect" almost perfect. now, i have series of frames for my attack sequence (a player holding a sword for example).. is it possible to use different time delays between my frames? for example, i have 4 frames for my attack sequence, first frame for .5ms, second frame for 1ms, third frame for .7ms and so on..?
i really am wondering..

Answer 1

TimerTasks are not a very good way to control animations in MIDP. You should learn how to use a thread to run a game loop, and control the animation from there. For example:
class MyCanvas extends Canvas implements Runnable {
  boolean running, paused;
  void start() {
    running = true;
    paused = false;
    (new Thread(this)).start();
  void pause(boolean pause) {
    paused = pause;
  void stop() {
    running = false;
  public void run() {
    long lastTime = System.currentTimeMillis(), time, deltaTime;
    while (running) {
      time = System.currentTimeMillis();
      deltaTime = lastTime - time;
      // update all your variables. deltaTime is the time since the last update, so this way you can control
      // everything timed whatever way you want
      update(deltaTime);
      repaint();
      serviceRepaints();
      lastTime = time;
      Thread.yield(); // let other threads run so the app is not unresponsive
}But in general, having frames taking different amounts of time is not a very good idea. It will complicate the code too much. Instead have a frame sequence where if one frame has to take longer, you just repeat it. So if your walking animation has 4 frames that need to be displayed for 20 ms each, and your attack frame has one frame that needs to be displayed for 15 ms, a second frame for 30 ms, and a third frame that needs to be displayed for 35 ms - you can time your frames for each 5 ms. and have the following frame sequences:
walking: {1,1,1,1,2,2,2,2,3,3,3,3,4,4,4,4}
attaking: {1,1,1,2,2,2,2,2,2,3,3,3,3,3,3,3}
Every 5 ms you update the screen and look into the frame sequence array to decide which frame to draw. Check out the Sprite class' documentation (javax.microedition.lcdui.game.Sprite), as it has a good explanation of this technique.
(btw, unless the game is very very simple, one frame every 5 ms is not a very realistic figure on real phones)
shmoove