Add a child timer node

src/marshconnector.cpp

@@ -1,17 +1,39 @@
 #include "marshconnector.h"
-#include <godot_cpp/core/class_db.hpp>
+
+#include "godot_cpp/classes/engine.hpp"
+#include "godot_cpp/core/memory.hpp"
+#include "godot_cpp/core/print_string.hpp"
 
 using namespace godot;
 
-void MarshConnector::_bind_methods() {}
+void MarshConnector::_bind_methods() {
+  ClassDB::bind_method(D_METHOD("send_heartbeat"),
+                       &MarshConnector::send_heartbeat);
+}
 
 MarshConnector::MarshConnector() {
-  // Initialize any variables here.
+  // Initialize member variables
   time_passed = 0.0;
+
+  heartbeat_timer = memnew(Timer);
+  add_child(heartbeat_timer);
+  heartbeat_timer->set_wait_time(1.0);
+  heartbeat_timer->set_one_shot(false);
+  heartbeat_timer->set_autostart(true);
+  heartbeat_timer->connect("timeout", Callable(this, "send_heartbeat"));
+
+  if (Engine::get_singleton()->is_editor_hint()) {
+    // Don't run _process() in the editor
+    set_process_mode(Node::ProcessMode::PROCESS_MODE_DISABLED);
+  }
 }
 
 MarshConnector::~MarshConnector() {
-  // Add your cleanup here.
+  // Free only manually managed member variables
 }
 
 void MarshConnector::_process(double delta) { time_passed += delta; }
+
+void MarshConnector::send_heartbeat() {
+  print_line("Sending HEARTBEAT at ", time_passed, " seconds");
+}

src/marshconnector.h

@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 #ifndef MARSHCONNECTOR_H
 #define MARSHCONNECTOR_H
 
-#include <godot_cpp/classes/node.hpp>
+#include "godot_cpp/classes/node.hpp"
+#include "godot_cpp/classes/timer.hpp"
 
 namespace godot {
 
@@ -10,6 +11,7 @@ class MarshConnector : public Node {
 
 private:
   double time_passed;
+  Timer *heartbeat_timer;
 
 protected:
   static void _bind_methods();
@@ -19,6 +21,8 @@ public:
   ~MarshConnector();
 
   void _process(double delta) override;
+
+  void send_heartbeat();
 };
 
 } // namespace godot