BTT 3.839 - Delay Next Action (blocking) cannot accept more than 999.9 seconds

Bugs or Unexpected Behavior
1

Describe the bug
As a user, you cannot go above 999.9 seconds for the Delay Next Action (blocking) action.

Device information:

  • Type of Mac: MacBook Pro (13-inch, M1, 2020)
  • macOS version: 11.6.8 (20G730)
  • BetterTouchTool version: BTT 3.839

Additional information (e.g. StackTraces, related issues, screenshots, workarounds, etc.):
I am trying to set a delay of 25 minutes (the time of one Pomodoro) which toggles my Do Not Disturb setting in MacOS, and I have to resort to creating 3x 500 second Delay Next Action tasks to accomplish this

2

The blocking delay next action should only be used for very short amounts as it is actively blocking and making BTT unresponsive during that time (and costing some CPU).

//edit: ah sorry I didn't see the detailed description. So you basically want to trigger some action in BTT after 25 minutes?
I think I should add a special action for that use case.

3

Thank you for the reply Andreas!

Yup, that's exactly what I'm looking to do, delay the Do Not Disturb toggle after 25 minutes (end of Pomodoro)

I'm very happy to try another avenue if I've chosen the incorrect way to handle this scenario.

4

For the next version I'll fix the bug with the 999.9 seconds and also add a better way to achieve this. The new action will probably be called "Trigger actions after timeout" or something like that.

I'll also make it more explicit that the "delay next action" helper actions should only be used for short delays.

5

Amazing! Thank you so much :slight_smile:

6

I´m piggybacking this thread for a related question. Is it possible to tell BTT "delay till something happens" or "Pause Until Conditions are Met". For example delay the next action till "all of the following are true: the screen contains Image: button.jpg" Thx

7

No, BTT doesn't have functionality like this. If you have a specific use case in mind please create a feature request.

8

I've found a way to achieve this in the mean time, by using a custom AppleScript that runs in the background which has delay of 1500 seconds before issuing a keystroke combination to system events, that I've mapped to the Do Not Disturb action.

9

It was also added in the latest BTT alphas

"Execute Action Sequence after Timeout" and "Cancel Scheduled Execution of Action Sequence". In contrast to the "delay next action" they allow to trigger an action sequence after longer delays (e.g. after half an hour).

1 Like
10

That was quick! Thank you so much :slight_smile:
I will download the Alpha version and try it out.

11

Thank you so much for this update, it works perfectly!