Can Ethereum execute a function automatically based on a state change?

Question

I'm trying to make a smart contract and have a function executed on state change. In my example below, this function is finish. It must run automatically when the state changes to end. Is this possible with Solidity?

pragma solidity ^0.4.16;

contract SmartContract {
  address owner;
  string state;
  string status;
  function SmartContract() public {
    status = 'Pending';
    owner = msg.sender;
  }

  event update(string _msg, string _state);

  function getState() public constant returns(string) {
    return state;
  }

  function getStatus() public constant returns(string) {
    return status;
  }

  function setState(string _state) public returns(string) {
    state = _state;
    return state;
  }

  function finish() public {
    if (keccak256(state) == keccak256("end")) {
        status = 'Completed';
        update("Completed", state);
        selfdestruct(owner);
    }
  }

  function () public payable {

  }
}

Answer 1

I am quite sure it isn´t possible to use a smart contract like a cron. I will investigate more and return here if I find more about it.

But for now, you may create a job/service that could watch your update event (https://github.com/ethereum/wiki/wiki/JavaScript-API#web3ethfilter) and then execute a transaction calling finish().

Or you can add an if check inside setState. If state == "end", execute finish().