Running Python WebSocket While Concurrently Checking Other Unrelated Information with a Function Call Every Minute

Question

I have a WebSocket I run generally as follows:

import websocket

def on_message(ws, message):
    ...

ws = websocket.WebSocketApp(socket, on_open=on_open, on_message=on_message,
                        on_close=on_close)
ws.run_forever(ping_interval=5, ping_timeout=-1)

I want this to run but also perform another check from a function on every minute that elapses. Is there any way I can do this. I have heard of maybe threading or asyncio but have never used either. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

The simplest approach would be using threading

import websocket
import threading

def runs_every_minute():
    while True:
        # do something
        time.sleep(60)


def on_message(ws, message):
    ...


t = threading.Thread(target=runs_every_minute)
t.start()  # starts the thread

ws = websocket.WebSocketApp(socket, on_open=on_open, on_message=on_message,
                        on_close=on_close)
ws.run_forever(ping_interval=5, ping_timeout=-1)