Problem pausing or starting & stopping a countdown (Pomodoro) timer

Support
1

Hi all,

I’m asking for some ‘basic’ help here, or a least a guide in the right direction!

I’m wanting to build a pomodoro timer using the Touch pHAT with a Unicorn pHAT (or Blinkt but they don’t play nicely together yet).

I’d like to be able to pause the timer for when I’m interrupted; so essentially the same controls as a stopwatch, ‘stop, start, reset’.

I don’t know if I’m even using the correct or best approach, but I currently have a nested loop:

@touchphat.on_release('A')
def handle_touch(event):
    endTime = datetime.datetime.now() + datetime.timedelta(minutes=20)
    while True:
        for t in range (20):         # 20 x 60 seconds
            for t in range (60):     # 60 seconds
                    time.sleep(1)    # 1 second
        if datetime.datetime.now() >= endTime:
            break		# this loop locks up, and needs some kind of interrupt

My problem is that I don’t know the terminology or key words to search for with regards to this. I have found endless examples of timers of various kinds, but I can’t find answers to the questions I’m trying to ask!!

Could someone help please?

Thanks,
Craig.