Disable a button UNTIL another Button is Pressed?

Question

Hello and Thank You in advance. I worked on a script, only to realize it has a major flaw.

In this code below BUTTON # 8 calls the schedule. It works very well, until I press the BUTTON # 8 more than once.

 game_state = True
    run = True
    
    while run:
        for event in pygame.event.get():
    
            if event.type == JOYBUTTONDOWN:
                print(event)
    
                if event.button == 8:
                    if game_state == True:
                        schedule.every(3).seconds.until(timedelta(minutes=60)).do(sendCommands)
    
                    else:
                        game_state = True  # schedule on
    
            if event.type == JOYHATMOTION:
                if event.value[1] == 1:
                    game_state = False
    
    
                if event.value[1] == -1:
                    game_state = False
    
    
    
            if event.type == JOYBUTTONDOWN:
                if event.button == 4:
                    game_state = False

if game_state == True:
        schedule.run_pending()

pygame.quit()
sys.exit()

I would like JOYBUTTON # 8 to only call the schedule once, and not again until game_state = False. I noticed that if I accidentally hit the button more than once, the schedule gets called multiple times, running several instances at once. How do I prevent multiple instances from running at once?

Is there a way, once I press BUTTON # 8, to disable it UNTIL I press either JOYHATMOTION or BUTTON # 4?

Answer 1

Read the sentence in your question carefully. The answer is hidden in the question:

I would like JOYBUTTON # 8 to only call the schedule once, and not again until game_state = False.

You need to initialize game_state = False and start the schedule when game_state is False and the button is pressed. Set game_state = True when the schedule is started:

game_state = False
run = True

while run:
    for event in pygame.event.get():

        if event.type == JOYBUTTONDOWN:
            print(event)

            if game_state == False and event.button == 8:
                schedule.every(3).seconds.until(timedelta(minutes=60)).do(sendCommands)
                game_state = True

            if event.button == 4:
                game_state = False

        if event.type == JOYHATMOTION:
            if event.value[1] == 1 or event.value[1] == -1:
                game_state = False