Conditional setTimeout call

Question

As far as a I know, there is no way to get setTimeout to run synchronously.

I have this code, where foo is a decently long function (20 lines or so).

if(delay == null){
  function foo(){

  }()
}
else {
   setTimeout(function(){
     function foo(){

     }()
   }, delay);
 }

what would very convenient, would be if setTimeout would accept an delay argument of -1, and then would just run synchronously/immediately, something like this:

var delay = delay || -1;

   setTimeout(function(){
     function foo(){

     }()
   }, delay);  // if delay is -1, will run immediately.

I don't think this functionality works with setTimeout, is there another way I can prevent having to write out the foo function twice? The only good solution I have is to create a helper function, but that's not as convenient :)

You could change foo to run accordingly ? Passing a variable in it ? — Harshal Carpenter, Mar 14 '16 at 19:01

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 14 '16 at 19:03

3

Try this:

function foo(){

}
if(delay == null){
  foo();
}
else {
   setTimeout(foo, delay);
 }

answered Mar 14 '16 at 19:03

JCOC611

19,111
14
69
90

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 14 '16 at 19:03

Is there another way I can prevent having to write out the foo function twice?

Yep.

Define foo:

function foo() {

}

And then run it immediately if delay === -1, otherwise in a setTimeout:

if (delay === -1)
    foo();
else
    setTimeout(foo, delay);

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 21 '19 at 19:12

0

This is really old, but you can simply just use an inline condition for the time delay.

setTimeout(foo, isDelay ? delay : 0)

answered Mar 21 '19 at 19:12

mlangwell

335
1
3
12

`setTimeout(foo, 0);` might have an undesired effect. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/779379/why-is-settimeoutfn-0-sometimes-useful – krzasteka Mar 30 '22 at 20:40

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 22 '22 at 19:18

0

Mention "delay" time at least 1000 milisec.


setTimeout(foo, isDelay ? delay : 1000)

answered Sep 22 '22 at 19:18

saifulmasud

9
2

Conditional setTimeout call

4 Answers4