Develop Reference

How can one reset one variable in Javascript and playing an alert after a specific time?

I am trying to program a little game that should reload after 5 seconds and tell people that they were too slow. Moreover, the variable points should be reset, so that they can start from new.
With
setInterval(function(){
window.location.href = "javascript:window.top.location.reload(true)";
}, 5000);
the whole website is loaded and people have to begin from scratch. The same happens when they press command+R.
I tried now to reset the variable points and show the alert that they were too slow.
setInterval(function(){
alert("You were too slow!");
points = 0;
}, 5000);
If I use this code, then the alert keeps on popping up very quickly. How can I reset everything and only get the alert every 5 seconds?

Depending on the browser the internal timer will continue running while the modal is displayed like in Firefox, or freez like in Chrome. So in Firefox if the modal stays open longer then 5 seconds, then the next one will be showed immediatily after the current one is closed.
There are only rare cases where you really want to use setInterval even if you have events that happen in regular intervals you most of the time should use setTimeout instead.
var roundTimeoutTimer;
function tookToLong() {
alert("You were too slow!");
points = 0;
}
function startTask() {
roundTimeoutTimer = setTimeout(tookToLong, 5000)
}
function finishedTask() {
clearTimeout(roundTimeoutTimer)
}

Javascript: How to speed up setTimeout function on website?

I am working on a website that asks me to complete a task, then once I complete that task it asks me to wait 1 hour before completing the next task.
What I am looking for here is to speed up the timer on this website instead of waiting for 1 hour.
How it works:
On Website I simply have to click on 'Roll' button then a timer start in descending order like (1:00)...(45:00)...(00:05) so on till it reach (00:00). Once it reach (00:00) it replace this timer to Roll button.
This timer only display Minutes and Second column.
It does not take computer time.
Changes I need:
Since it run in descending order or backward in seconds, I want to speedup this process so that instead of waiting for 1 hour I just have to wait for 20 or 30 minutes.
What I can't do:
Since this is a third party website so I cannot make changes in the website code I can only use browser console to run javascript code so I can override existing code on it.
Here is the Javascript for this timer:
<script>
$(function() {
$('#time_remaining').countdown({
until: +3600,
format: 'MS'
});
});
setTimeout(function() {
RefreshPageAfterFreePlayTimerEnds();
}, 3600 * 1000);
</script>

Looks like RefreshPageAfterFreePlayTimerEnds is global. So, you may try to override it like
var myTimeout = 3600; // 1 min
RefreshPageAfterFreePlayTimerEnds = function(speedUp) {
if(!speedUp) { // just to cancel "legal" call
return;
}
RefreshPageAfterFreePlayTimerEnds();
}
setTimeout(function(){ RefreshPageAfterFreePlayTimerEnds(true); }, myTimeout);

If you can't access to the website code, to change the code that doesn't allow you to reduce the time coding. You can change your IP address and use the website again.
If you have to sing in to use the website, forget, else you use another account and IP you will need to wait the time restricted to use again.

Stopping a Ajax Loop JQuery

I use a ajax code to monitor a folder to count the number of files in that folder that are being copied with a external batch that I didn't have access. I have the following infinite loop that is working quite fine:
function loadProgWav(files){
$("#wav").load("progress_wav.php?file=<?=$row[2]?>");
}
setInterval(function(){ loadProgWav(files) }, 10000);
The ajax return to me a formatted string with a message of how many files have in that folder. But now I need to be able to stop that loop if the progress_wav.php returns false, and show a submit button to redirect to another page of code, but have no idea on how do so.
I'm running the program in a Windows Server 2003 machine with Xaamp.

To stop it, first create it like this:
var interval = setInterval(function(){ loadProgWav(files) }, 10000);
Later, when you want to stop it, simply do:
clearInterval(interval);
This method also applies to setTimeout, just use clearTimeout the same way.

Delaying window.open inside click event handler

For some days now I've been trying (without success) to open new window with delay without Chrome blocking it most of the time. Delay is crucial for my task, because some animation must take place before window is opened and I can not afford browsers to block new tabs from opening. Here is sample from my code:
element.on("click", function(e){
e.preventDefault();
var self = $(this),
url = self[0].href;
window.setTimeout(function(){
window.open(url);
}, 1000);
});
element is jQuery object (anchor element to be more precise). I have noticed that I have bigger success rate if I pass string directly like this
window.open("http://example.com");
I've tried this solution in Explorer(no problem), Chrome(problem), Firefox(no problem) and Opera(problem). I am loosing my mind, because I've tried everything I can remember. Synchronous ajax calls, artificially triggering click, creating fake anchor elements and artificially triggering click event. Nothing works fine.
Bonus question (in case someone knows how to solve problem): is there a way to call window.open anytime & anywhere from code?

This is working for me in Chrome http://jsbin.com/wuqopukayuwi/4/
var $element = $('#link');
$element.on('click', function () {
var url= $(this).attr('href');
window.setTimeout(function(){
var windowObjRef = window.open(url);
console.log(windowObjRef);
}, 2000);
});
Things to check:
Obviously, double check you've enabled popups for your domain in Chrome (it prompts you the first time it tries to pop up a new window
It's because Chrome expects to be able to access that window again programatically, so wants you to declare the response to the method as a variable. At least, that's how I got it working...

As long as you know how long the animation runs then you sleep for number of seconds
Add sleep(), msleep() and usleep() to Node.js, via a C++ binding.
This is mainly useful for debugging.
These calls will block execution of all JavaScript by halting Node.js' event loop!
Usage
`var sleep = require('sleep');
sleep.sleep(n): sleep for n seconds
sleep.msleep(n): sleep for n miliseconds
sleep.usleep(n): sleep for n microseconds (1 second is 1000000
microseconds)`

javascript browser timeout second timer

I am trying to set a session timeout with Javascript and looks like the alert is blocking the timer from starting. Here is my code:
var first_timer = 2 * 1000;
var second_timer = 8 * 1000;
var down = -1;
function initTimer() {
down = setTimeout(processTimeout, first_timer)
}
function processTimeout() {
down = setTimeout(logout, second_timer);
alert ("Timeout of first timer, timerid:" + down );
}
function logout() {
alert("You are logged out");
window.location = "http://www.google.com"
}
function clearTimer() {
if ( -1 != down )
clearTimeout(down);
alert("Restarting timer");
initTimer();
}
initTimer();
When I run the above, I see the second timer only starts after the first alert is dismissed. How can I make sure the second timer starts immediately after first timeout even if the alert is not dismissed?
Thx

The alert() function blocks everything else until it is dismissed. You can use whats known as a modal dialog to create your own alert style message that does not block.
jQuery UI has this feature.

It most probably depends on the browser you are using. I'm not experiencing the issue you describe with latest Firefox.
But still, the second timer alert box won't be shown until the first one is closed.
This is because JavaScript interpreters are not multi-threaded. But JavaScript itself is heavily asynchronous, especially on long delay requests such as timers, AJAX and animations. This is what sometimes gives the feeling of multi-threading.
Indeed, in your code sample, the second timer started as expected. When I dismiss the first dialog box, let's say, 10 sec after it appears, the second one is immediately shown.
Nonetheless, and it may be your question, it will never be shown before you dismiss the first alert because alert is a synchronous call. So that the main event loop won't get the control back until dismissed.
A workaround for this situation is to use "HTML" dialog boxes as those provide by Jquery-UI for example.