I would use an UnsignedInteger (UInt) variable, since the argument value must be a whole number of seconds greater than or equal to zero. I've verified that the compiler accepts a UInt.

I checked the Browser window and it says the argument to the Idle function is integer. 

I tried using uint but it fails with any value that exceeds 32767, which leads me to believe it's using an integer.

But if I use a literal, eg: Idle(65535) it works.

Another example of the powerbuilder help file not being informative enough. It's a basic requirement to describe the types of arguments when documenting a function.

Hi.

First of all, I believe that Roland's Smith answer is accurate. The argument must be an integer. Of course, this isn't clearly documented. But the object browser shows: idle ( integer s ) retrurns integer.

Second, even if Idle(65535) returns 1 (in 2022 R3 3356 this isn't the case), what make you think that the timer of idle has been set to the value you provided? The only way to check if the value was set is to let the application trigger the event, and check when this happened.

Another point, while I used Idle in the past, I never had such a need to set it to a value > than the max value an integer can store (32767). Even 32767 = 32767/60/60=9.102 -> near 9 hours.

You can use a variable (of integer datatype). In that case the overflow can happen when assigning a value to the variable. If you use a variable, with larger capacity than integer, again an overflow will occur.

By the way, in PB 2022 R3 3356, Idle(65535) returns -1. Also:

integer li_err, li_value

li_value = 65539
messagebox("li_value", li_value) // returns 3

// I believe that idle(65539) is equal to:

idle(li_value)

// Which will set idle to 3 seconds.

Andreas.