initial attribute

Specifies whether the timer should be started when the element is started.

Content Type

string

Parent

Remarks

Options	Description
true	The timer will be started when the element is started.
false	The timer will not be started when the element is started. This allows you to dynamically start the timer by performing an action.
random=startvalue:endvalue	Use this option to avoid that all timers are started simultaneously. In this case, the timer will be started a random number of seconds after the start of the element. The random value will be a value between startvalue and endvalue, for example random=0:300.Note: When multiple timers in the same protocol have the same random value, they will all start at the same random time. If you do not want this, use non-overlapping random times. The seed of the random function is elementId * getTickCount() and the wait is (Rand()%(to-from)+from.

By default, this attribute is omitted. As a consequence, the groups will be executed the moment the element is started.

Note

Any timer with a “random” time will have its random start disregarded if the element card is open in a client. The random option should therefore not be used to try to enforce timer startup order.

Examples

In the following example, the timer will be started within 300 seconds (depending on the random number) every 60000 milliseconds: