setTimeout and setInterval not working

Question

I want to be able to call the function work() every 6 seconds. My jQuery code is

function looper(){
  // do something
  if (loopcheck) {           
    setInterval(work,6000);
    }
  else {
    console.log('looper stopped');
  }
}

The problem I am running into is that it loops over work twice quickly, and then it will wait for 6 seconds. i tried using setTimeout with similar results.

What could be causing work to be called twice before the delay works?

show full js code and when you call looper. Maybe this function is called twice — Kokers, Jan 01 '12 at 20:51
You're certain work isn't being called elsewhere in your code? — kinakuta, Jan 01 '12 at 20:51

score 1 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:27

1

setInterval should be avoided. If you want work to be repeatedly called every 6 seconds, consider a recursive call to setTimeout instead

function loopWork(){
    setTimeout(function () {
        work();
        loopWork();
    }, 6000);
}

Then

function looper(){
  // do something
  if (loopcheck) {           
    loopWork()
  }
  else {
    console.log('looper stopped');
  }
}

And of course if you ever want to stop this, you'd save the value of the last call to setTimeout, and pass that to clearTimeout

var timeoutId;
timeoutId = setTimeout(function () {
    work();
    loopWork();
}, 6000);

Then to stop it

clearTimeout(timeoutId);

edited May 23 '17 at 12:27

Community

1
1

answered Jan 01 '12 at 20:51

Adam Rackis

82,527
56
270
393

Noting of course that this doesn't run the function every six seconds, it runs the function and then schedules the next one for six seconds later - so if the function takes one second to run it will run every seven seconds. (Of course most _sensible_ JS code doesn't take a whole second to run, but still...) – nnnnnn Jan 01 '12 at 22:28

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 01 '12 at 20:59

0

Use old-style setTimeout()

        var i=0;
        function work(){
            console.log(i++);
        }
        function runner(){
            work();
            setTimeout(runner, 6000);
        }            
        runner();

answered Jan 01 '12 at 20:59

omakoleg

539
4
6

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 01 '12 at 21:43

I prefer the following pattern myself I find it easier to follow:

function LoopingFunction() {
    // do the work

    setTimeout(arguments.callee, 6000); // call myself again in 6 seconds
}

And if you want to be able to stop it at any point:

var LoopingFunctionKeepGoing = true;
function LoopingFunction() {
    if(!LoopingFunctionKeepGoing) return;
    // do the work

    setTimeout(arguments.callee, 6000); // call myself again in 6 seconds
}

Now you can stop it at any time by setting LoopingFunctionKeepGoing to false.

setTimeout and setInterval not working

3 Answers3