How to Add a Timer in Visual Basic

Last Updated: November 16, 2021

One of the processes you should learn as a beginner in Visual Basic is how to add a timer. A timer can be useful when creating games, quizzes, or to limit the time a certain page is viewed. Here are some simple steps in how to add a timer to your Visual Basic application. Please note, you can change and adapt this process to suit the needs of your Visual Basic application. The numbers and layout i have used is only for example.

Steps

1
Add a label to your form. This will hold the number that you want to be linked with the timer.
2
Add a button to your form. This will initiate the timer to start.

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3
Add a timer to your form. You can find the timer function in the toolbox -> components -> timer
4
Change the properties for the Timer1 component. Under "Behavior" change "Enabled" to "False" and "Interval" to "1000".
5
Double-click the Timer1 component and add the correct coding.
6
Double-Click the button you have used to commence the timer and add the correct coding.
7
Start debugging. Test your timer, making sure it works correctly and stops at 0.

Community Q&A

Question

What is the max time a timer can take? Can I make something pop up every 4 hours, or is that too long?

Community Answer

Max time for a timer is 60000 milliseconds, or 30 minutes, so you can't make it for 4 hours.