# Check if trigger happened without wait() **URL:** \ **Category:** Uncategorized\ **Created:** [August 5, 2024, 10:13am UTC](https://discuss.saleae.com/t/check-if-trigger-happened-without-wait/3011 "2024-08-05T10:13:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ngblume](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/discuss.saleae.com/ngblume/32/1654_2.png) [@ngblume](https://discuss.saleae.com/u/ngblume)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2024, 10:13am UTC](https://discuss.saleae.com/t/check-if-trigger-happened-without-wait/3011/1 "2024-08-05T10:13:50Z")
Hello, quick questions from the digitalTriggeredCapture perspective… I am used to being able to check, if a trigger occured, without being stuck until the trigger occured. Sofar the wait() fujnction seems to be blocking with no option for timeout… Is there another function, that just allows me to check, if the trigger occured, maybe even after calling stop on a maybe triggered capture? That way I can just discard the capture, if no trigger occured, or proceed with adding analyzer, etc. if the trigger occured as expected… Thanks ! Cheers Niels Göran ---
**Author:** ![BitBob](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/discuss.saleae.com/bitbob/32/2292_2.png) [@BitBob](https://discuss.saleae.com/u/BitBob)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2024, 11:48pm UTC](https://discuss.saleae.com/t/check-if-trigger-happened-without-wait/3011/2 "2024-08-05T23:48:58Z")
Suggest this post may answer your question: > [@Detect Saleae Run State For Failed Trigger](https://discuss.saleae.com/t/detect-saleae-run-state-for-failed-trigger/2718/2): > > As far as I know, the WaitCapture API is a blocking call, and won’t return until the capture has met the criteria defined in the [wait() API documentation](https://saleae.github.io/logic2-automation/automation.html#saleae.automation.Capture.wait): TimedCaptureMode, this will wait for the capture duration to complete DigitalTriggerCaptureMode, this will wait for the digital trigger to be found and the capture to complete So, you might need a separate thread to detect DUT failure and restart the DUT instead? Otherwise, I’ll defer to Saleae to comment on how to clean-up or cancel a pen… … but as far as I know, the status hasn’t changed since then. ---
**Author:** ![simon1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@simon1](https://discuss.saleae.com/u/simon1)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2024, 5:04pm UTC](https://discuss.saleae.com/t/check-if-trigger-happened-without-wait/3011/3 "2024-12-17T17:04:34Z")
I’ll support/repeat the request for an ‘abort’ method, what would be nice if ‘wait()’ could accept a ‘timeout=Xms’ parameter and then return a success/failure value - maybe just an empty capture object. I guess it is (also) possible for user interaction on the GUI to cancel a capture, but that’s not helpful when you are attempting automation of 1000’s of cycles. _I recently had an overnight run stall waiting for a trigger…_ ---
**Author:** ![timreyes](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/discuss.saleae.com/timreyes/32/108_2.png) [@timreyes](https://discuss.saleae.com/u/timreyes)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2024, 2:05am UTC](https://discuss.saleae.com/t/check-if-trigger-happened-without-wait/3011/4 "2024-12-18T02:05:55Z")
@simon1 Thanks for your vote on this, and sorry this isn’t yet possible via our Automation API (our software doesn’t support this natively yet either). I went ahead and added a comment for you in the idea post below so we can track your need for this to be implemented. > **[Automation API - Set a timeout when looking for trigger - Logic 2 - Ideas and...](https://ideas.saleae.com/b/feature-requests/automation-api-set-a-timeout-when-looking-for-trigger/)** > > (Original request in ticket 77203) > Implement a way to call wait() with a timeout, or set a timeout trigger in addition to the digital trigger. > That way, a trigger-mode capture can stop if a certain amount of time has passed by. > Workaround (Untested):... ---
**Author:** ![BitBob](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/discuss.saleae.com/bitbob/32/2292_2.png) [@BitBob](https://discuss.saleae.com/u/BitBob)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2024, 2:54pm UTC](https://discuss.saleae.com/t/check-if-trigger-happened-without-wait/3011/5 "2024-12-18T14:54:09Z")
Another possible work around: ```auto import time : with manager.start_capture(...) as capture: time.sleep(timeout) capture.stop() ``` Instead of using `capture.wait()`, and I suggest setting a `timeout` value as long as (or longer than): - `DigitalTriggerCaptureMode`: `after_trigger_seconds` (plus longest time to wait for a trigger event) - `ManualCaptureMode`: `trim_data_seconds` - `TimedCaptureMode`: `duration_seconds` Note: I think this method makes the most sense to use with `DigitalTriggerCaptureMode` as the other `capture_mode` options already have a stop condition based on time vs. depending on a trigger event that may not occur. Also, this method uses host-based timing, so you may want to add a little extra margin in the `timeout` value to avoid clipping anything at the end of a capture (in case the PC timing isn’t fully sync’d with the Logic). ---
**Author:** ![simon1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@simon1](https://discuss.saleae.com/u/simon1)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2024, 7:04pm UTC](https://discuss.saleae.com/t/check-if-trigger-happened-without-wait/3011/6 "2024-12-18T19:04:17Z")
Work around is OK, but it would be nice to know whether the trigger occurred, ie something within the ‘capture’ object that would confirm? ---
**Author:** ![BitBob](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/discuss.saleae.com/bitbob/32/2292_2.png) [@BitBob](https://discuss.saleae.com/u/BitBob)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2024, 8:37pm UTC](https://discuss.saleae.com/t/check-if-trigger-happened-without-wait/3011/7 "2024-12-18T20:37:44Z")
> [@simon1](#): > > it would be nice to know whether the trigger occurred, ie something within the ‘capture’ object that would confirm? I agree, but it doesn’t look like the current API provides such a trigger status indication. However, the `*.sal` capture file is in zip format, so you could parse the `meta.json` file embedded within. After a quick look, the `captureProgress` property includes a `processedInterval.begin`, `processedInterval.end` and/or a `triggerProgress` that might be used to infer if a capture file triggered or not. E.g., if `triggerProgress` value is significantly less than `processedInterval.end` and/or if the `processedInterval.end` - `processedInterval.begin` time difference is close to the `timeout` specified in the `sleep()` function, then maybe you can infer a trigger was missed? Maybe Saleae can comment on a more robust criteria to detect triggered capture files vs. trying to reverse engineer it?