Question: How do I start my function every 5 minutes and 20 seconds? I used: 

```
self.timer = QtCore.QTimer(self)
self.timer.timeout.connect(self.updateplot)
self.timer.start(310000)

```

But I'd like to set it by the time of my PC - so if I start the program at 3:23, the update track is at 3:25:20, 3:30:20 etc.

Answer: 
Using reflection you can give a try to `get` the value of the fields of object:

```
Dog dog = new Dog("labrador","tarzan","uk"); // sample
List<String> values = Arrays.stream(Dog.class.getDeclaredFields())
        .filter(f ->f.getType().equals(String.class))
        .map(f -> {
  try {
    return (String) f.get(dog); // get the value of field from the object
  } catch (IllegalAccessException e) { 
    return ""; /// handle in a cleaner way
  }
}).collect(Collectors.toList());

```
It is not much different from your solution but at least it controls a bit values being returned as List.

```
private List<String> allValues = new ArrayList<>();

public Dog(String breed, String name, String origin) {
   this.breed = setAndReturn(breed);
   this.name = setAndReturn(name);
   this.origin = setAndReturn(origin);
}

private String setAndReturn(String value) {
   if (value != null) {
      allValues.add(value);   
   }
   return value;
}

public List<String> toList() {
   return allValues;
}

```