javascript to execute ajax function every 30 seconds

[inetquestion]

How do you enable javascript to execute a given function every X
seconds, which is not dependant on any user input?

-Inet

 

[Peter]

setInterval(yourfunction,milliseconds);

 

[Peter Michaux]

setInterval(yourfunction,milliseconds);

Please quote the message to which you are replying or state enough so
your message is sufficient to explain the context of your response.

----

Using setInterval to execute a given function every x seconds can be
dangerous. If the function's execution takes longer than x seconds
than the executions of the function "stack up" and dominate the system
because they are always executing.

I prefer to use setTimeout so that there is a specified period of time
between the end of the function's execution and the beginning of its
next execution.

function foo() {
// do stuff
// ...

// make a delayed recursive call to foo
setTimeout(foo, 3000);
}

Peter

 

[Dr J R Stockton]

In comp.lang.javascript message <ab5db72a-bd6c-48ae-8ba2-5b01b0937cbb@34
g2000hsf.googlegroups.com>, Sat, 12 Jul 2008 10:20:32, Peter Michaux

I prefer to use setTimeout so that there is a specified period of time
between the end of the function's execution and the beginning of its
next execution.

function foo() {
// do stuff
// ...

// make a delayed recursive call to foo
setTimeout(foo, 3000);
}

And one can call new Date() within function foo and from it calculate
a suitably-varied delay to replace the fixed 3000.

 

[seani]

Please quote the message to which you are replying or state enough so
your message is sufficient to explain the context of your response.

----

Using setInterval to execute a given function every x seconds can be
dangerous. If the function's execution takes longer than x seconds
than the executions of the function "stack up" and dominate the system
because they are always executing.

I prefer to use setTimeout so that there is a specified period of time
between the end of the function's execution and the beginning of its
next execution.

function foo() {
// do stuff
// ...

// make a delayed recursive call to foo
setTimeout(foo, 3000);
}

Peter

A tiny point of order / question: the call to setTimeout isn't
actually recursive here, is it?

 

[Henry]

Peter Michaux wrote:

A tiny point of order / question: the call to setTimeout
isn't actually recursive here, is it?

No it is not.

 

[Peter Michaux]

No it is not.

If we are nit picking, foo is defined in terms of itself so it is a
recursively defined function. It does not evolve a recursive process,
however, as the return path is not growing with each call to foo in
the cycle.

Peter

 

[seani]

If we are nit picking, foo is defined in terms of itself so it is a
recursively defined function. It does not evolve a recursive process,
however, as the return path is not growing with each call to foo in
the cycle.

Well, nitpicking wasn't the intention

I've used setTimeout in exactly the manner suggested for a number or
reasons and wanted to be certain I wasn't missing some behaviour that
would catch me out in long-running / short timeout scenarios.

But to give nitpicking a spin for a bit, I didn't refer to the
definition of foo itself, but explicitly to the nature of the call in
the body of the function. These seem like different things to me, but
is that ignorance on my part (always a fair bet).

 

[Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn]

If we are nit picking, foo is defined in terms of itself so it is a
recursively defined function.
Nonsense.

It does not evolve a recursive process, however, as the return path is
not growing with each call to foo in the cycle.

The correct explanation for non-recursiveness in any way is that `foo' is
but a reference to a Function object that is passed to setTimeout(), which
is [[Call]]ed in the global execution context of the view after the
specified number of milliseconds.


PointedEars