Develop Reference

Jquery Ajax Callback not working in proper order

I have a piece of code I want to run after all the ajax is completed.
The function I wish to run is:
function autoContinueCart(){
$('.nextSection a:visible').click();
}
This click event runs validating script and moves to next section. Heres the main ajax.
$('#SubmitLoginOpc').click(function () {
$.ajax({
type:'POST',
url:authenticationUrl,
async:false,
cache:false,
dataType:"json",
data:'SubmitLogin=true&ajax=true&email=' + encodeURIComponent($('#login_email').val()) + '&passwd=' + encodeURIComponent($('#login_passwd').val()) + '&token=' + static_token,
success:function (jsonData) {
if (jsonData.hasError) {
//error stuff
}
else {
// update token
static_token = jsonData.token;
$('#dlv_label, #new_label').removeClass('new-l').addClass('logged-l'); // change label on delivery address section
updateNewAccountToAddressBlock();
// RESET ERROR(S) MESSAGE(S)
$('#opc_account_errors').html('').hide();
$('#opc_account_errors_invoice').html('').hide();
//It doesnt work here
//autoContinueCart();
}
},
//doesnt work here
// complete:autoContinueCart
});
return false;
});
I have put this function call in the success part, which I thought would work since it is synchronous. I also put it as complete and in .done function after the ajax call and it still runs before all the inside code is complete. The function updateNewAccountToAddressBlock(); basically makes another jquery ajax request with this type async:true, and returns json that is then used in about 10 functions or sub functions in the success call. One of these uses this data to fill out all the fields of a form. My function I am trying to call at the end is supposed to validate the info that is being populated. But no matter what I try, the validation is failing because the autoContineCart is being run before the fields are being populated. I also tried to use a callback like updateNewAccountToAddressBlock(updateAddressSelection); and then checked callback function inside of that and it also didnt work. Anyone have an idea what I could be doing wrong?

Since your call is already asynchronous, is it possible to move the processing code out of the ajax callback function? This would ensure that all of the ajax portion is complete before moving on to the processing piece.
Example:
$('#SubmitLoginOpc').click(function () {
$.ajax({
type:'POST',
url:authenticationUrl,
async:false,
cache:false,
dataType:"json",
data:'SubmitLogin=true&ajax=true&email=' + encodeURIComponent($('#login_email').val()) + '&passwd=' + encodeURIComponent($('#login_passwd').val()) + '&token=' + static_token
},
success: function(jsonData) {
$('#SubmitLoginOpc').data("some_key",jsonData);
}
//doesnt work here
// complete:autoContinueCart
});
jsonData = $('#SubmitLoginOpc').data("some_key");
if (jsonData.hasError) {
//error stuff
}
else {
// update token
static_token = jsonData.token;
$('#dlv_label, #new_label').removeClass('new-l').addClass('logged-l'); // change label on delivery address section
updateNewAccountToAddressBlock();
// RESET ERROR(S) MESSAGE(S)
$('#opc_account_errors').html('').hide();
$('#opc_account_errors_invoice').html('').hide();
//It doesnt work here
//autoContinueCart();
return false;
}
});

As the poster above said, Perhaps you could move some of the other ajax functions to run from the same js file, or move some of the Php functions to be run at the same time as the first call.
Ideally you shouldn't have to do another ajax request, because the php/whatever already has the info it needs from the client side. You should be able to send that data to other php/whatever scripts.
If you do need to do another ajax call, perhaps having the user wait a mandatory second, before you run the ajax call.
for instance:
$ajax.done(
// code
if (success)
{
setTimeout('foo', 5000);
$('#spinner').show();
}
function foo()
{
$('#spinner').hide();
//second ajax request
}

Prevent ajax requests from timing out (jquery)

I have about 100 ajax requests that I fire at the same time, I thought browsers only allowed a few requests simultaneously, so the rest would be added to a queue.
The problem however is that jquery/javascript seems to use the timeout value from the time the requests were created via jquery, not from the time the requests were actually executed by the browser. So I get a bunch of timeouts. Is it possible to have the timeout start counting from the time the request is actually going to the URI location, instead of the time it is added by jquery?

You may use the timeout settings for ajax request. You may find the jQuery documentation for the same at : http://api.jquery.com/jQuery.ajax/
However the timeout period starts at the point the $.ajax call is made; if several other requests are in progress and the browser has no connections available, it is possible for a request to time out before it can be sent. Therefore you should set some very large value for the timeout if you wish to follow this approach.
A better approach would be to have a local proxy which entertains all the AJAX calls and fires them in a group of 5-10 and then when all these have finished successfully then it fires the next 5-10 requests.

Here is a kind of queue system. Starts by calling the ajax function N times, and then after each success, calls ajax function again. There is also a check in the success callback to see if all the assets have been loaded...
demo fiddle
$(document).ready(function(e) {
$("form[ajax=true]").submit(function(e) {
e.preventDefault();
var form_url = $(this).attr("action");
var form_method = $(this).attr("method").toUpperCase();
$("#loadingimg").show();
var started = 1, done = 0;
function ajax(){
$.ajax({
url: form_url,
type: form_method,
data: "html=started "+(started++),
cache: false,
success: function(returnhtml){
done++;
$("#result").html(returnhtml);
$("#loadingimg").hide();
if(started <= 100){
ajax();
} else if (done == 100) {
alert("all done!");
}
}
});
}
// how many concurrent calls?
for(i=0;i<10;i++){
ajax();
}
});
});

Sending an AJAX call before all other AJAX calls

I need to check for a condition and run an AJAX call before sending other AJAX calls on my web app.
I was thinking about putting this AJAX call in a beforeSend on ajaxSetup with async: false (to prevent my initial call from running before this one has completed).
Something like this:
//I set an event that fires:
$.ajax({
type: "GET",
url: my_url,
beforeSend: function() {
//do something, like show a spinner loader gif
}
});
//Somehwere in my app I also have:
$.ajaxSetup({
beforeSend: function() {
if(x===1){
$.ajax({
type: "GET",
url: my_url/fetch_something,
async:false
});
}
}
});
Will my beforeSend on the first AJAX call overrun the one in the ajaxSetup? Is there a way to approach this better?
Better idea of my app:
I have a lot of Ajax calls through the app, each call sends a security hash on the headers to validate the user, these hashes have a time limit as well (both hash and time limit are saved in localStorage)
What I want from ajax setup (and the condition in it) is to check for the time limit - if time_limit < current_time than run an ajax call to refresh the users hash.
This isn't an exercise for 1 or 2 calls, I literally have 20+ growing Ajax calls on my app that make use of the users hash and it's very impractical to make this check in every single one of them.

UPDATED:
Have one method on an interval that sets up the 'session'/local-storage
var refreshing = false;
var intervalID;
$(document).ready(function(e){
var delay = 1234;
intervalID = window.setInterval(setupInterval, delay);
});
function setupInterval(){
refreshing = true;
$.ajax(URL).done(function(r) { //do stuff
setupStorage(r);
refreshing = false;
});
}
function setupStorage(info){
//setup whatever here
}
OLD:
Could you use some logic in your ready function to gate what you need to do?
So basically call one ajax call -> if false, just schedule your latter methods, otherwise run the setup one and on completion schedule the latter method.
Some pseudo-code:
var refresh = false;
$(document).ready(function(e){
$.ajax(URL).done( function(r) {
if(r) {
routeOne();
} else {
latter();
}
});
});
function routeOne(){
$.ajax(URL).done(function(r) { //do stuff
latter();
});
}
function latter(){
//All other ajax calls
}
I'll put some more thought into this let me finish my coffee first...
EDIT:
Based on your updated description could it be possible for you to schedule a setInterval to run the checking method/hash update on the time interval that you need, and is the time interval on your server static or variable? Facebook does this with a heartbeat, I've used this type of logic with some 'locking' functionality in a web-app. If you schedule the interval properly it should not interrupt any other ajax calls.

Try overriding $.ajax to make a "pre-call" before passing in your given query options:
var oldAjax = $.ajax;
$.ajax = function() {
var args = arguments;
oldAjax({
type: "GET",
url: "/echo/html/",
success: function(result){
// do something here to check result
// if result is good, do the request:
return oldAjax.apply($, args);
// if its bad, handle the error
}
});
}
Here's a fiddle to demonstrate: http://jsfiddle.net/NF76U/

I suggest the use of .done() ( $.Deferred object)
function AjaxCall() {
return //code of your ajax without async:false
}
function anotherAjaxCall{
return //code of you ajax call
}
AjaxCall.done(anotherAjaxCall);
Avoid using async:false it's a deprecated practice and it stucks browsers

time an ajax request

Is there any way to time how long a jquery ajax request has been going on? sometimes searches take too long and it would be nice to add a jquery abort() button if the search takes over, say, 5 seconds. Any way I can do this!
On the other end of the ajax request is a php file that makes a postgresql request.
Much thanks for any ideas!

Take a look at the timeout option (http://api.jquery.com/jQuery.ajax/). You can set it on a particular call, or globally with $.ajaxSetup().

To have the abort button appear after 5 seconds, add a setTimeout function after your call to send. Once the AJAX command is complete, you can add code to clear the timeout and remove the abort button if it exists.
var timeOutID = 0;
$.ajax({
url: 'ajax/test.html',
success: function(data) {
clearTimeOut(timeOutID);
// Remove the abort button if it exists.
}
});
timeOutID = setTimeout(function() {
// Add the abort button here.
}, 5000);
This way the abort button will never appear if AJAX returns quick enough.

Usually, I'll set a timeout once the request is sent that will trigger after 10 seconds or so and then fallback on something else to make sure it still happens (for example, form submission).
So set a variable to false, var failed = false; and do the request
At the same time that the request starts, set a timeout:
setTimeout(function() {
failed = true;
$("#form").submit();
return false;
}, 10000);
In the return function of the ajax call, check to see if the failed variable has been set to true, and if it has, don't actually do whatever it was originally trying, otherwise it could mess something up, or confuse the user if something else is happening (since these things usually happen on slower internet connections, if the next step appears while a new page is loading, they might try to interact and then the page will change).
$.post("ajaxcall.php", {'etc': "etc"},
function(returned) {
if (failed != true) {
//do whatever with returned variable
}
});

var timer = 0,
XHR = $.ajax({
url: 'ajax/mypage.html',
beforeSend: function() {
timer=setTimeout(showAbort, 5000);
}
});
function showAbort() {
$('<input type="button" value="Abort" id="abort_button"/>').appendTo('#some_parent');
$('#abort_button').on('click', function() {
XHR.abort(); //abort the Ajax call
});
}
XHR.always(function() { //fires on both fail and done
clearTimeout(timer);
if ($('#abort_button').length) {
$('#abort_button').remove(); //remove button if exists
}
});

How do you make javascript code execute *in order*

Okay, so I appreciate that Javascript is not C# or PHP, but I keep coming back to an issue in Javascript - not with JS itself but my use of it.
I have a function:
function updateStatuses(){
showLoader() //show the 'loader.gif' in the UI
updateStatus('cron1'); //performs an ajax request to get the status of something
updateStatus('cron2');
updateStatus('cron3');
updateStatus('cronEmail');
updateStatus('cronHourly');
updateStatus('cronDaily');
hideLoader(); //hide the 'loader.gif' in the UI
}
Thing is, owing to Javascript's burning desire to jump ahead in the code, the loader never appears because the 'hideLoader' function runs straight after.
How can I fix this? Or in other words, how can I make a javascript function execute in the order I write it on the page...

The problem occurs because AJAX is in its nature asynchronus. This means that the updateStatus() calls are indeed executed in order but returns immediatly and the JS interpreter reaches hideLoader() before any data is retreived from the AJAX requests.
You should perform the hideLoader() on an event where the AJAX calls are finished.

You need to think of JavaScript as event based rather than procedural if you're doing AJAX programming. You have to wait until the first call completes before executing the second. The way to do that is to bind the second call to a callback that fires when the first is finished. Without knowing more about the inner workings of your AJAX library (hopefully you're using a library) I can't tell you how to do this, but it will probably look something like this:
showLoader();
updateStatus('cron1', function() {
updateStatus('cron2', function() {
updateStatus('cron3', function() {
updateStatus('cronEmail', function() {
updateStatus('cronHourly', function() {
updateStatus('cronDaily', funciton() { hideLoader(); })
})
})
})
})
})
});
The idea is, updateStatus takes its normal argument, plus a callback function to execute when it's finished. It's a reasonably common pattern to pass a function to run onComplete into a function which provides such a hook.
Update
If you're using jQuery, you can read up on $.ajax() here: http://api.jquery.com/jQuery.ajax/
Your code probably looks something like this:
function updateStatus(arg) {
// processing
$.ajax({
data : /* something */,
url : /* something */
});
// processing
}
You can modify your functions to take a callback as their second parameter with something like this:
function updateStatus(arg, onComplete) {
$.ajax({
data : /* something */,
url : /* something */,
complete : onComplete // called when AJAX transaction finishes
});
}

I thinks all you need to do is have this in your code:
async: false,
So your Ajax call would look like this:
jQuery.ajax({
type: "GET",
url: "something.html for example",
dataType: "html",
async: false,
context: document.body,
success: function(response){
//do stuff here
},
error: function() {
alert("Sorry, The requested property could not be found.");
}
});
Obviously some of this need to change for XML, JSON etc but the async: false, is the main point here which tell the JS engine to wait until the success call have returned (or failed depending) and then carry on.
Remember there is a downside to this, and thats that the entire page becomes unresponsive until the ajax returns!!! usually within milliseconds which is not a big deals but COULD take longer.
Hope this is the right answer and it helps you :)

We have something similar in one of our projects, and we solved it by using a counter. If you increase the counter for each call to updateStatus and decrease it in the AJAX request's response function (depends on the AJAX JavaScript library you're using.)
Once the counter reaches zero, all AJAX requests are completed and you can call hideLoader().
Here's a sample:
var loadCounter = 0;
function updateStatuses(){
updateStatus('cron1'); //performs an ajax request to get the status of something
updateStatus('cron2');
updateStatus('cron3');
updateStatus('cronEmail');
updateStatus('cronHourly');
updateStatus('cronDaily');
}
function updateStatus(what) {
loadCounter++;
//perform your AJAX call and set the response method to updateStatusCompleted()
}
function updateStatusCompleted() {
loadCounter--;
if (loadCounter <= 0)
hideLoader(); //hide the 'loader.gif' in the UI
}

This has nothing to do with the execution order of the code.
The reason that the loader image never shows, is that the UI doesn't update while your function is running. If you do changes in the UI, they don't appear until you exit the function and return control to the browser.
You can use a timeout after setting the image, giving the browser a chance to update the UI before starting rest of the code:
function updateStatuses(){
showLoader() //show the 'loader.gif' in the UI
// start a timeout that will start the rest of the code after the UI updates
window.setTimeout(function(){
updateStatus('cron1'); //performs an ajax request to get the status of something
updateStatus('cron2');
updateStatus('cron3');
updateStatus('cronEmail');
updateStatus('cronHourly');
updateStatus('cronDaily');
hideLoader(); //hide the 'loader.gif' in the UI
},0);
}
There is another factor that also can make your code appear to execute out of order. If your AJAX requests are asynchronous, the function won't wait for the responses. The function that takes care of the response will run when the browser receives the response. If you want to hide the loader image after the response has been received, you would have to do that when the last response handler function runs. As the responses doesn't have to arrive in the order that you sent the requests, you would need to count how many responses you got to know when the last one comes.

As others have pointed out, you don't want to do a synchronous operation. Embrace Async, that's what the A in AJAX stands for.
I would just like to mention an excellent analogy on sync v/s async. You can read the entire post on the GWT forum, I am just including the relevant analogies.
Imagine if you will ...
You are sitting on the couch watching
TV, and knowing that you are out of
beer, you ask your spouse to please
run down to the liquor store and
fetch you some. As soon as you see
your spouse walk out the front door,
you get up off the couch and trundle
into the kitchen and open the
fridge. To your surprise, there is no
beer!
Well of course there is no beer, your
spouse is still on the trip to the
liquor store. You've gotta wait until
[s]he returns before you can expect
to have a beer.
But, you say you want it synchronous? Imagine again ...
... spouse walks out the door ... now,
the entire world around you stops, you
don't get to breath, answer the
door, or finish watching your show
while [s]he runs across town to
fetch your beer. You just get to sit
there not moving a muscle, and
turning blue until you lose
consciousness ... waking up some
indefinite time later surrounded by
EMTs and a spouse saying oh, hey, I
got your beer.
That's exactly what happens when you insist on doing a synchronous server call.

Install Firebug, then add a line like this to each of showLoader, updateStatus and hideLoader:
Console.log("event logged");
You'll see listed in the console window the calls to your function, and they will be in order. The question, is what does your "updateStatus" method do?
Presumably it starts a background task, then returns, so you will reach the call to hideLoader before any of the background tasks finish. Your Ajax library probably has an "OnComplete" or "OnFinished" callback - call the following updateStatus from there.

move the updateStatus calls to another function. make a call setTimeout with the new function as a target.
if your ajax requests are asynchronous, you should have something to track which ones have completed. each callback method can set a "completed" flag somewhere for itself, and check to see if it's the last one to do so. if it is, then have it call hideLoader.

One of the best solutions for handling all async requests is the 'Promise'.
The Promise object represents the eventual completion (or failure) of an asynchronous operation.
Example:
let myFirstPromise = new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
// We call resolve(...) when what we were doing asynchronously was successful, and reject(...) when it failed.
// In this example, we use setTimeout(...) to simulate async code.
// In reality, you will probably be using something like XHR or an HTML5 API.
setTimeout(function(){
resolve("Success!"); // Yay! Everything went well!
}, 250);
});
myFirstPromise.then((successMessage) => {
// successMessage is whatever we passed in the resolve(...) function above.
// It doesn't have to be a string, but if it is only a succeed message, it probably will be.
console.log("Yay! " + successMessage);
});
Promise
If you have 3 async functions and expect to run in order, do as follows:
let FirstPromise = new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
FirstPromise.resolve("First!");
});
let SecondPromise = new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
});
let ThirdPromise = new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
});
FirstPromise.then((successMessage) => {
jQuery.ajax({
type: "type",
url: "url",
success: function(response){
console.log("First! ");
SecondPromise.resolve("Second!");
},
error: function() {
//handle your error
}
});
});
SecondPromise.then((successMessage) => {
jQuery.ajax({
type: "type",
url: "url",
success: function(response){
console.log("Second! ");
ThirdPromise.resolve("Third!");
},
error: function() {
//handle your error
}
});
});
ThirdPromise.then((successMessage) => {
jQuery.ajax({
type: "type",
url: "url",
success: function(response){
console.log("Third! ");
},
error: function() {
//handle your error
}
});
});
With this approach, you can handle all async operation as you wish.