Implementing a keystroke time measurement function in python

Question

I have a python program that does the following: it aggregates questions for a list of questions that are saved in a text file, then it display the question to the user. After displaying the question, python opens a text box asking the user to input their answer. After they press "enter", the user is asked to rate his confidence with the answer on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being very confident). After all questions are finished, the program saves the results in a text file.

The script for this has been written, but I want to add a time measurement script that measures the time from the moment the question appears, to the moment the user starts typing the first letter of the answer. Then I want the program to measure the time from the first keystroke, to the moment they press enter. So, again, I would like the program to measure two things: time from the moment the question appears to the first keystroke, and then from the first keystroke to the moment the user presses enter. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

In order to answer this, we need more information-- what library did you use to write the textbox system? In Tkinter, bind a callback to the <Key> event, and compare a time delta to when the question was made visible. — Cory Dolphin
– Cory Dolphin, Commented Feb 3, 2012 at 14:53
I'm actually not sure what you mean. I'm quite a beginner in this. The program was written by a student who volunteered to do it a while back, but now he isn't available anymore, and I've tried myself to work with it. — Nico Bellic
– Nico Bellic, Commented Feb 3, 2012 at 16:35

Aleyna · Accepted Answer · 2012-02-03 20:04:03Z

3

If you are using Tkinter (more here):

from Tkinter import *
from time import time

start_time = end_time = 0
master = Tk()
e = Entry(master)
e.pack()
e.focus_set()

def key(event):
    if event.char == '\r':
        e.unbind("<Key>")
        return

    print "pressed", repr(event.char)
    end_time = time()
    print "measured time:", end_time-start_time

e.bind("<Key>", key)

start_time = time()
mainloop()

edit: unbind key listener in case user presses 'enter'

You should bind a key listener(callback function) to capture the key events using bind method and implement logic inside your callback function.

edited Feb 3, 2012 at 20:04

answered Feb 3, 2012 at 17:41

Aleyna

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2 Comments

Nico Bellic Over a year ago

Hi Aleyna. This is the results of that test: ' pressed 't' measured time: 0.796999931335 pressed 'e' measured time: 1.09400010109 pressed 's' measured time: 1.21900010109 pressed 't' measured time: 1.46900010109 pressed '\r' measured time: 5.71900010109' . How can I end the test after I press "enter", and how can the time between '\r' and 't' be measured?

Aleyna Over a year ago

Nico I updated the code above to stop timer when user presses \r. If you want to measure time between \t and \r then start your timer when user presses \t and finalize it in case <enter> is pressed. The time difference is what you are looking for

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