Develop Reference

Does ClearRect on a canvase context slow down the code over time? [duplicate]

This question already has an answer here:
HTML5 Canvas performance very poor using rect()
(1 answer)
Closed 2 years ago.
I start the code, watch in dev window, get no errors. The image moves very quickly at first but, after a few seconds, it comes to a craw.
I checked on here but I can't figure it out. I'm a rookie so that could be the problem.
I've tried breaking it out into basic functional steps rather than any class, put "===" and "==" back and forth (cause I do not get the real difference between them), and changed from a "setInterval" to a "setTimeout" just in case I was calling the interval too soon.
I am very much a noob to Javascript and this is my first real work with canvas.
The HTML code simply adds the script with nothing else. The window load at the end of the script runs "startgame".
Thanks for anything you can help me with.
var winX=0;
var winY=0;
var scaleX=0;
var scaleY=0;
var bkcolor="#777777";
var ctx;
var objs=[];
var wallimg = new Image();
wallimg.src = 'wall.png';
var willy=new Image();
willy.src='willy.gif';
var player;
var gameActive=0;
var keyboard=[];
function startGame()
{
var i;
setWindow();
theBoard.start();
gameActive=1;
someting=new Obj(0,10,600,20,"PATTERN",wallimg);
someting.setimage(wallimg);
Obj.Wall(40,100,100,16,wallimg);
Obj.Wall(0,420,620,16,wallimg);
Obj.Wall(0,0,16,440,wallimg);Obj.Wall(584,0,16,440,wallimg);
player=new Obj(24,400,16,16,"PLAYER",willy);
player.setimage(willy);
player.gravity=1;
}
function setWindow()
{
winX = window.innerWidth|| document.documentElement.clientWidth|| document.body.clientWidth;
winY = window.innerHeight|| document.documentElement.clientHeight|| document.body.clientHeight;
winX=winX-4;
winY=winY-4;
scaleX=640/winX;
scaleY=480/winY;
if (gameActive==1) {
theBoard.canvas.width = 600/scaleX;
theBoard.canvas.height = 440/scaleY;
theBoard.canvas.style.left=""+20/scaleX+"px";
theBoard.canvas.style.top=""+20/scaleY+"px";
}
}
function setBackdrop(img)
{
var str="<img src='"+img+"' onclick='showCoords(event);' style='";
str=str+"width:"+winX+"px;height:"+winY+"px;'>";
document.getElementById('page').innerHTML=str;
document.getElementById('page').innerHTML=str;
currimage=img;
}
var theBoard = {
canvas : theCanvas=document.createElement("canvas"),
start : function() {
this.canvas.width = 600/scaleX;
this.canvas.height = 440/scaleY;
this.canvas.style.left=""+20/scaleX+"px";
this.canvas.style.top=""+20/scaleY+"px";
this.canvas.style.position="absolute";
this.canvas.tabIndex=1;
this.context = this.canvas.getContext("2d");
ctx=this.context;
document.body.insertBefore(this.canvas, document.body.childNodes[0]);
this.canvas.style.backgroundColor=bkcolor;
setTimeout(updateGameArea, 40);
window.addEventListener('keydown', function (e) {
e.preventDefault();
keyboard=(keyboard||[]);
keyboard[e.keyCode]=(e.type=="keydown");
})
window.addEventListener('keyup', function (e) {
keyboard[e.keyCode]=(e.type=="keydown");
})
},
stop : function() {
},
restart:function() { this.interval = setTimeout(updateGameArea, 40);},
clear : function() {
this.context.clearRect(0, 0, this.canvas.width, this.canvas.height);
}
}
function updateGameArea()
{
var i;
theBoard.clear();
if (keyboard && keyboard[37])
{
player.speed-=2; if (player.speed<-8) player.speed=-8;
}
else if (player.speed<0)
{
player.speed+=1;
}
if (keyboard && keyboard[39])
{
player.speed+=2; if (player.speed>8) player.speed=8;
}
else if (player.speed>0)
{
player.speed-=1;
}
if (player.gravity<1) player.gravity++;
if (keyboard && keyboard[38] && player.gravity>-1 && player.canjump==1){
player.gravity=-16;
player.dir=-6;
player.canjump=0;
}
if (player.gravity<4) {player.gravity=player.gravity+player.dir; player.dir+=4;if (player.dir>16) player.dir=16;}
if (player.gravity!=0)
{
player.y+=player.gravity;
if (checkWalls(player)==true)
{ player.y-=player.gravity;
if (player.gravity>0) player.canjump=1;
}
}
if (player.speed!=0)
{
player.x+=player.speed;
if (checkWalls(player)===true)
player.x-=player.speed;
}
for (i=0;i<objs.length;i++)
objs[i].draw();
setTimeout(updateGameArea, 10);
}
function checkWalls(obj)
{
var i;
for (i=0;i<objs.length;i++)
{
if (objs[i].type=="WALL")
if (obj.collision(objs[i])) {return true;}
}
return false;
}
class Obj {
constructor (x,y,w,h,t,img="") {
this.width=w;
this.height=h;
this.x=x;
this.y=y;
this.type=t;
this.imagemap=img;
this.speed=0;
this.gravity=0;
this.dir=0;
this.canjump=1;
this.pattern=0;
objs[objs.length]=this;
}
static Wall(x,y,w,h,img) {
var id=new Obj(x,y,w,h,"WALL",img);
return id;
}
draw()
{
if ((this.x/scaleX)<0 || (this.x/scaleX)>theBoard.canvas.width ||
(this.y/scaleY)<0 || (this.y/scaleY)>theBoard.canvas.height)
return;
switch (this.type){
case 'PATTERN':
case 'WALL':
{
if (this.pattern===0)
{ this.pattern=ctx.createPattern(this.imagemap,"repeat");}
ctx.rect(this.x/scaleX,this.y/scaleY,this.width/scaleX,this.height/scaleY);
ctx.fillStyle=this.pattern;
ctx.fill();
break;
}
case 'PLAYER':
ctx.drawImage(this.imagemap,0,0,this.width,this.height,this.x/scaleX,this.y/scaleY,this.width/scaleX,this.height/scaleY);
break;
}
}
setimage(img)
{
this.imagemap=img;
}
collision(wth) {
if (((this.x+this.width)>wth.x) && (this.x<(wth.x+wth.width))
&& ((this.y+this.height)>wth.y) && (this.y<(wth.y+wth.height)))
{return true;}
else return false;
}
}
window.onload=startGame();

As pointed out by #Kaiido, solution to your problem is here: HTML5 Canvas performance very poor using rect().
In short, just put your main loop code between beginPath and closePath without changing your theBoard.clear() method.
function updateGameArea()
{
var i;
theBoard.clear();
theBoard.context.beginPath();
...
theBoard.context.closePath();
requestAnimationFrame(updateGameArea);
}
Answer I originally wrote:
Resetting the dimensions to clear the canvas works better in your case, but it would induce performance issues.
clear : function() {
this.context.canvas.width = 600 / scaleX;
this.context.canvas.height = 440 / scaleY;
}
Also, use requestAnimationFrame as it eliminates any flicker that can happen when using setTimeout.
requestAnimationFrame(updateGameArea);

The following is a guess. I think you're running out of cycles and your frames are piling up on top of each other. At a glance, I don't see anything in your code that would cause a memory leak. Unless you look at the console memory graph and find out that you do, because you're adding listeners over and over or something like that. But simply clearing a canvas does not slow things down. It's basically the same as setting a bunch of values in an array.
However: Running heavy canvas operations within a setTimeout() can have a big toll on your CPU, if the CPU can't finish one operation before the next one enters the queue. Remember that timeouts are asynchronous. If your CPU throttles down and if the refresh rate you are specifying (40 milliseconds) is too short, then you will be left with a whole stack of redraws and clears that are waiting to go right after the last one, without giving the CPU any time to breathe.
Most Canvas animation packages have ways of dealing with this, by not just setting a timeout but waiting to make sure the last redraw is finished before triggering the next one in the call stack, and dropping a frame if necessary. At a bare minimum, you want to set a global variable like _redrawing=true before you do your redraw, and then set it to false when the redraw is finished, and ignore any call to setTimeout while it's still true. That will let you count how many frames you might be dropping. If you see this number going up over time, your CPU may be throttling as well. But do also check the memory graph and see if anything else is leaking.
Edit as correctly noted by #N3R4ZZuRR0 using requestAnimationFrame() will also avoid the timer problem. But you then need to measure the time between animation frames to figure out where things should actually be at that point in time. My suggestion of dropping frames here and there is primitive and most packages use requestAnimationFrame(), but it would help you identify whether your problem is with some other part of your code or with your frames building up in the timer.

Confirming that using a factory is the best (only?) way to create a generic multi-use click count listener

I have created the following click count factory for adding the click count to the event information already present in a regular click event. This function creates a clickCountObj to track the number of clicks, as well as a new function for catching a click event on the given element parameter and reporting it back to the listener parameter along with the click count.
Originally, I wanted to do this as a class, rather than a factory... Way back when I was working in Java, I would have done it with a façade class, so that's what I was thinking. But I've concluded that it is not possible in Javascript, because the same function you'd use to create the object would be the one called in response to the click, and I can't see a way around this.
The purpose of this question is simply to improve my understanding and using of JavaScript. Please let me know if I am wrong in my conclusion stated above, or if there are any other alternatives to doing this a better way?
function clickCount(element, listener) {
let clickCountObj = {};
clickCountObj.clickCount = 0;
clickCountObj.clickDelay = 500;
clickCountObj.element = element;
clickCountObj.lastClickTime = 0;
let clickCountListener = function (e) {
// alert("last click time: " + clickCountObj.clickDelay);
if ((e.timeStamp - clickCountObj.clickDelay) < clickCountObj.lastClickTime) {
clickCountObj.clickCount = clickCountObj.clickCount + 1;
// alert("click count up: " + clickCountObj.clickCount);
}
else {
clickCountObj.clickCount = 1;
}
clickCountObj.lastClickTime = e.timeStamp;
listener.call(element, clickCountObj.clickCount, e);
};
if (!element) throw "No element to listener to";
element.addEventListener("click", clickCountListener);
return clickCountListener;
}

For sure you can also use a class:
class ClickCounter {
constructor(element, onClick, delay = 500) {
this.element = element;
this.onClick = onClick;
this.counter = 0;
this.delay = delay;
this.lastClicked = 0;
element.addEventListener("click", () => this.click(), false);
}
click() {
if(Date.now() < this.lastClicked + this.delay)
return;
this.lastClicked = Date.now();
this.onClick.call(this.element, this.counter++);
}
}
new ClickCounter(document.body, count => {
alert(count);
});
[is] doing this a better way?
No, not really. Using a class is not really useful here as you don't want to expose properties and you also don't need inheritance. A factory seems to be a good approach here.
Small sidenote: Instead of
return clickCountListener;
it would make more sense to
return clickCountObj;
as it would expose the settings and the count which might be useful.
warning: unserious content below
Way back when I was working in Java ...
... you took over that senseless naming scheme (clickCountObj.clickCount). I guess you won't loose any necessary information with just settings.count ...

Detect sound is ended in THREE.PositionalAudio?

I want to detect when sounds is ending, but all examples that i found not working.
// Create sound
var sound1 = new THREE.PositionalAudio( listener );
sound1.load( 'sounds/Example.ogg' );
sound1.setRefDistance( 30 );
sound1.autoplay = false;
sound1.setLoop(false);
mesh1.add( sound1 );
// Start sound
setTimeout(function() {
sound1.play();
}, 2000);
// Try to detect end #1
sound1.onended = function() {
console.log('sound1 ended #1');
};
// Try to detect end #1
sound1.addEventListener('ended', function() {
console.log('sound1 ended #2');
});
Live example: http://codepen.io/anon/pen/wMRoWQ

Three.Audio is wrapper around a buffer source audio object. https://github.com/mrdoob/three.js/blob/ddab1fda4fd1e21babf65aa454fc0fe15bfabc33/src/audio/Audio.js#L12
It looks like it overrides the onended event and binds it to its own function, so we just do the same:
sound1.source.onended = function() {
console.log('sound1 ended');
this.isPlaying = false; /* sets Three wrapper property correctly */
};
We set isPlaying = false because this is what Three's Audio onended function does, which we just overrode.
working pen: http://codepen.io/anon/pen/GoambE

I just had to solve this problem in 2020. I wasn't looking at the docs right at first, but it is correctly listed, it seems.
Similar to the previously correct answer, but a bit different now (that solution did not work for me):
var sound1 = new THREE.PositionalAudio( listener );
sound1.onEnded = () => console.log("track ended")
Here's the appropriate docs: https://threejs.org/docs/#api/en/audio/Audio.onEnded
There's not much there, basically:
.onEnded () : null
Called automatically when playback finished.
Things that did not work for me:
sound1.onEnded(() => {})
el.object3D.source.onended(() => {})
sound1.source.onended(() => {}); // previous answer
If you do this, you can intercept a call, but I don't think it's necessary anymore:
THREE.Audio.prototype.onEnded = function() {
console.warn("arguments to onEnded!", arguments)
};

why doesn't JavaScript's setTimeout slow down keydown rate?

Why doesn't the following keydown event slow down by 3000 mil's, when I am continuously pressing the keydown event (letter k)? If I keep my finger down, the count rapidly adds up as through there is no setTimeout on mcount. why is that? There should be a delay between each count but I can't get it to work...
var mcount = 0;
function playershoot() {
if(!game.playerHit){
$(document).keydown(function(e){
switch(e.keyCode){
case 75:
clearTimeout();
setTimeout(console.log(mcount++), 3000);
break;
}
});
}
}
playershoot();
Any advice will be appreciated!
Thanks

1.: setTimeout() returns a timeoutId which can be cleared with clearTimeout(timeoutId). You're not doing that... so, after your 3 second delay, all those timeouts are called back-to-back.
2.: your console.log is executed immediately because you didn't wrap it in a function like so:
setTimeout(function() { console.log(mcount++) }, 3000);

setTimeout does not cause a delay, it starts a timer that fires an event after the specified amount of time.
You cannot "sleep" in Javascript, you need to refactor your code so it can work with events. For your code, it looks like you will need to set a flag at first keypress. Then return, and only allow new keypresses (ie. only respond to), when the flag is cleared. The flag can then be cleared automatically after a time with setTimeout.

To go with what #Norguard said, here's an implementation: http://jsfiddle.net/apu3P/
this.fire = function(){
var cFire = new Date();
if ((cFire - lastFire) / 1000 > 1/me.fireRate){
// code to fire the projectile
lastFire = cFire;
}
};
I have fireRate set up as an integer indicating how many times per second the player can fire.
In the demo, I set up 3 players each with different fire rates. If you hold the spacebar down, you can see this in action.

While everyone here is right, what they're missing is that you need to put a delay on the firing, not on the event being called...
Inside of your keydown event, set a timestamp, have a previous-time and a current-time for the event.
Inside of the function, have a time_limit.
So when you press the key (or it fires repeatedly), check for:
current_time - last_fired >= rate_limit;
If the current time is more than 3000ms since the last shot, then set the last_fired timestamp to the current time, and fire your weapon.
EDIT
Consider this trivial example:
var Keyboard = {};
var player = (function () {
var gun = {
charging : false,
lastFired : 0,
rateLimit : 3000
},
controls = { shoot : 75 },
isHit = false,
public_interface;
function shoot () {
var currentTime = Date.now();
if (gun.rateLimit > currentTime - gun.lastFired) { return; }
/* make bullet, et cetera */
gun.lastFired = currentTime;
}
function update () {
if (Keyboard[controls.shoot] || gun.charging) { this.shoot(); }
// if key was released before this update, then the key is gone...
// but if the gun was charging, that means that it's ready to be fired
// do other updates
}
function draw (ctx) { /* draw player */ }
public_interface = {
shoot : shoot,
damage : function (amt) { isHurt = true; /* rest of your logic */ }
draw : draw,
update : update
};
return public_interface;
}());
document.addEventListener("keydown", function (e) {
// if key is already down, exit
if (!!Keyboard[e.keyCode]) { return; }
// else, set the key to the time the key was pressed
// (think of "charging-up" guns, based on how long you've held the button down)
Keyboard[e.keyCode] = e.timeStamp;
});
document.addEventListener("keyup", function (e) { delete Keyboard[e.keyCode]; });
Inside of your gameloop, you're now going to do things a little differently:
Your player is going to update itself.
Inside of that update, it's asking the Keyboard if it's got the shoot key pressed down.
If it is, then it will call the shoot method.
This still isn't 100% correct, as Player shouldn't care about or know about Keyboard.
It should be handled through a service of some kind, rather than asking for window.Keyboard.
Regardless...
Your controls are now wrapped inside of the player -- so you can define what those controls are, rather than asking by keyCode all over the place.
Your events are now doing what they should: setting the key and going away.
In your current iteration, every time the browser fires keydown, which might be 300x/sec, if it wanted to, that event ALSO has to call all of your player logic... 300x/sec...
In larger games, you could then take this a step further, and make components out of Controls and Health, each having all of the properties and all of the methods that they need to do their own job, and nothing else.
Breaking the code up this way would also make it dirt-simple to have different guns.
Imagine an Inventory component:
The inventory contains different guns.
Each gun has its own rateLimit, has its own lastFired, has its own bulletCount, does its own damage, and fires its own bulletType.
So then you'd call player.shoot();, and inside, it would call inventory.equipped.shoot();.
That inner function would take care of all of the logic for firing the equipped gun (because you'd inventory.add(Gun); to your guns, and inventory.equip(id); the gun you want.

You have to pass returned value of setTimeout to clearTimeout . to cancel it.
var mcount = 0,timeout;
function playershoot() {
if(!game.playerHit){
$(document).keydown(function(e){
switch(e.keyCode){
case 75:
clearTimeout(timeout );
timeout = setTimeout(function(){
console.log(mcount++);
}, 3000);
break;
}
});
}
}
playershoot();

Clear javascript on dynamic load

I have a javascript plugin for a special image scroller. The scroller contains a bunch of timeout methods and a lot of variables with values set from those timeouts.
Everything works perfectly, but for the site I am working on it is required that the pages are loaded dynamically. The problem with this is when i for instance change the language on the site this is made by jquery load function meaning the content is dynamically loaded onto the site - AND the image slider aswell.
NOW here is the big problem! When I load the image slider for the second time dynamically all my previous values remains as well as the timers and everything else. Is there any way to clear everything in the javascript plugin as if it where like a page reload?
I have tried a lot of stuff so far so a little help would be much appreciated!
Thanks a lot!

You might want something like that to reload scripts:
<script class="persistent" type="text/javascript">
function reloadScripts()
{ [].forEach.call(document.querySelectorAll('script:not(.persistent)'), function(oldScript)
{
var newScript = document.createElement('script');
newScript.text = oldScript.text;
for(var i=0; i<oldScript.attributes.length; i++)
newScript.setAttribute(oldScript.attributes[i].name, oldScript.attributes[i].value);
oldScript.parentElement.replaceChild(newScript, oldScript);
});
}
// test
setInterval(reloadScripts, 5000);
</script>
As far as I know, there's no other way to reset a script than completely remove the old one and create another one with the same attributes and content. Not even clone the node would reset the script, at least in Firefox.
You said you want to reset timers. Do you mean clearTimeout() and clearInterval()? The methods Window.prototype.setTimeout() and Window.prototype.setInterval() both return an ID wich is to pass to a subsequent call of clearTimeout(). Unfortunately there is no builtin to clear any active timer.
I've wrote some code to register all timer IDs. The simple TODO-task to implement a wrapper callback for setTimeout is open yet. The functionality isn't faulty, but excessive calls to setTimeout could mess up the array.
Be aware that extending prototypes of host objects can cause undefined behavior since exposing host prototypes and internal behavior is not part of specification of W3C. Browsers could change this future. The alternative is to put the code directly into window object, however, then it's not absolutely sure that other scripts will call this modified methods. Both decisions are not an optimal choice.
(function()
{ // missing in older browsers, e.g. IE<9
if(!Array.prototype.indexOf)
Object.defineProperty(Array.prototype, 'indexOf', {value: function(needle, fromIndex)
{ // TODO: assert fromIndex undefined or integer >-1
for(var i=fromIndex || 0; i < this.length && id !== window.setTimeout.allIds[i];) i++;
return i < this.length ? i : -1;
}});
if(!Array.prototype.remove)
Object.defineProperty(Array.prototype, 'remove', { value: function(needle)
{ var i = this.indexOf(needle);
return -1 === i ? void(0) : this.splice(i, 1)[0];
}});
// Warning: Extensions to prototypes of host objects like Window can cause errors
// since the expose and behavior of host prototypes are not obligatory in
// W3C specs.
// You can extend a specific window/frame itself, however, other scripts
// could get around when they call window.prototype's methods directly.
try
{
var
oldST = setTimeout,
oldSI = setInterval,
oldCT = clearTimeout,
oldCI = clearInterval
;
Object.defineProperties(Window.prototype,
{
// TODO: write a wrapper that removes the ID from the list when callback is executed
'setTimeout':
{ value: function(callback, delay)
{
return window.setTimeout.allIds[window.setTimeout.allIds.length]
= window.setTimeout.oldFunction.call(this, callback, delay);
}
},
'setInterval':
{ value: function(callback, interval)
{
return window.setInterval.allIds[this.setInterval.allIds.length]
= window.setInterval.oldFunction.call(this, callback, interval);
}
},
'clearTimeout':
{ value: function(id)
{ debugger;
window.clearTimeout.oldFunction.call(this, id);
window.setTimeout.allIds.remove(id);
}
},
'clearInterval':
{ value: function(id)
{
window.clearInterval.oldFunction.call(this, id);
window.setInterval.allIds.remove(id);
}
},
'clearTimeoutAll' : { value: function() { while(this.setTimeout .allIds.length) this.clearTimeout (this.setTimeout .allIds[0]); } },
'clearIntervalAll': { value: function() { while(this.setInterval.allIds.length) this.clearInterval(this.setInterval.allIds[0]); } },
'clearAllTimers' : { value: function() { this.clearIntervalAll(); this.clearTimeoutAll(); } }
});
window.setTimeout .allIds = [];
window.setInterval .allIds = [];
window.setTimeout .oldFunction = oldST;
window.setInterval .oldFunction = oldSI;
window.clearTimeout .oldFunction = oldCT;
window.clearInterval.oldFunction = oldCI;
}
catch(e){ console.log('Something went wrong while extending host object Window.prototype.\n', e); }
})();
This puts a wrapper method around each of the native methods. It will call the native functions and track the returned IDs in an array in the Function objects of the methods. Remember to implement the TODOs.