The "delete" wouldn't work, Andy - Sean's "upd" variable goes out of scope
immediately, and you need to use clearTimeout, not just delete the variable.
Sean, you can change your code to:
var upd;
$("input").keyup(function(){
var self = this;
clearTimeout( upd );
upd = setTimeout( function() {
updateField( $(self) );
},6000);
});
You could also use an updated version of the $.expire plugin I posted a
couple of days ago:
(function( $ ) {
$.expire = function( fn, callback, interval, start ) {
var timer;
function set() {
timer = setTimeout( callback, interval );
}
if( start ) set();
return function() {
clearTimeout( timer );
set();
return fn && fn.apply( this, arguments );
};
};
})( jQuery );
Then your code would be:
$("input").keyup( $.expire( null, function(){
updateField( $(this) );
}, 6000 ) );
That's more code overall, but it nicely encapsulates the timer logic in case
you need to do anything similar elsewhere in your code.
For this particular task, a simpler version of the plugin would also do the
trick:
(function( $ ) {
$.expire1 = function( callback, interval ) {
var timer;
return function() {
clearTimeout( timer );
timer = setTimeout( callback, interval );
};
};
})( jQuery );
with your code being:
$("input").keyup( $.expire1( function(){
updateField( $(this) );
}, 6000 ) );
As you can see, this version of the plugin is basically the same code as in
the standalone case.
-Mike
> From: Andy Matthews
>
> Since you're setting the value of upd to a function
> containing the setTimeout, you should be able to just
>
> delete upd;
> From: Sean O
>
> I'm trying to implement an autoSave function on my web application.
> Something that automatically saves the contents of the
> current field 6 seconds after the last keyUp. It works, but
> I can't clear the multiple setTimeouts triggered on each keyUp event.
> Example:
>
> $("input").keyup(function(){
> var self = this;
> var upd = setTimeout( function() {
> updateField( $(self) ); // function outside $ scope
to update field contents in dB
> },6000);
> });
>
> I must've tried about 27 permutations of clearTimeout,
> setting flag variables, nullifying variables, etc. Nothing
> has worked.
>
> To be clear, I need to "restart the countdown" to update the
> field if a user presses another key within 6 seconds of the
> previous letter. I'd rather not be shooting off POSTs on
> every keystroke ;)
