The MPLAB XC8 and XC16 compilers have built-in delay functions or macros for when users need to tell the MCU to wait for a certain amount of time. For these delay functions, time is measured in microseconds or milliseconds, and for PIC32 devices, in timer ticks as well. Format for invoking the macros will vary from device to device but this delay driver can help abstract these format differences.
To use the delay drivers, just include the delay.h file wherever you intend to use the delay function and call the DELAY_milliseconds(time) or DELAY_microseconds(time) function where time is the number of milliseconds or microseconds to delay.