Develop Reference

How to display spin.js before executing some function?

I want to display a spinner before some complicated function, i.e. dummyCounter(). The code looks like:
function add1() {
msg.html('start counting~<br \>');
document.body.appendChild(div);
spinner.spin(div);
// display spinner before doing stuff
dummyCounter();
}
jsfiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/eGB5t/
However the spinner shows after the dummyCounter() function is finished.
I try to use callback to force spinner display earlier but still no good. Can anybody help? Thanks.
jsfiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/eGB5t/2/

You have a thinking failure. Spinners are usually used for asynchronous tasks, so you can see that there is something in progress. A callback is then used to remove the spin when the async action has finished, since you cannot tell before it starts when it will finish.
I made up a quick example to show you, how such an async function would work in this case, and you can clearly see how the spinner appears slightly before "google finished" appears.
http://jsfiddle.net/eGB5t/4/
I added the following instead of your counting method:
$.ajax("http://google.de").always(function() {
msg.append("google finished");
});
You add the spin before you count, then it counts, then you could remove the spinner. This is perfecty fine. Thing is, if you would count to let's say 9999999999999 (so it would take some seconds), a normal for loop like you're doing is completely blocking the browser, so you won't have any repaints (and therefore no spinner) at all, while the loop is running.
What you would have to do (in this case) is to introduce a worker to have multithreading functionality in javascript.

var x;
function add1() {
msg.html('start counting~<br \>');
spinner.spin(div);
x= setTimeout(document.body.appendChild(div),500);
}

"Function factory" doesn't seem to work, JavaScript

I'm displaying a series of images in a loop, and I'm trying to implement some sort of nudity filter so I'm using nude.js, a library that can somewhat detect nudity. Here's the code:
// we're inside a loop
$(".images").prepend($("<img>").attr({src: whatever, id: uniqueid}).load(function(e) {
nude.load(e.target.id);
nude.scan(function(result) { if (!result) $(e.target).detach(); });
});
However, it detaches all of the wrong images because nude.js is slow and it completes after the loop has gone on to the later iterations, detaching those images instead of the one it was working on.
I've tried using a function factory:
function generateCallback(arg) {
return function(result) { if (!result) $(arg).detach(); };
}
and
nude.scan( generateCallback(e.target) )
but the same thing happens.
What I want is a load event that will remove the image if it seems to contain nudity. How can I do this properly?
EDIT: nude.js works like this:
nude.load(imageid);
nude.scan(callback); // it'll pass true or false into the callback
another edit: accidentally omitted the id setting from the code I posted, but it was there in my real code, so I added it here.

I suspect the case here is that this kind of sequential processing won't work with nude.js.
Looking at the nude.js code, I think your problem is occurring in the call to nude.scan. nude.js has a variable that stores the function to invoke after the scan has completed. When calling nude.scan(callback), this variable is set to be callback.
From your PasteBin, it seems as though the callback gets assigned as expected on the first call, but on the second and subsequent calls, it gets replaced, hence why the second image is detached and not the first.

What happends to your script, is that the e var is global to the function and so after each loop it gets replaced with the new one. So when the first image is scanned, e already became the event of the second image, which get detached.
To solve your problem, use closures. If you want to know more about closures, have a look here.
Otherway, here's the solution to your problem :
$(".images").prepend($("<img>").attr({src: whatever, id: uniqueid}).load(function(e) {
(function(e) {
nude.load(e.target.id);
nude.scan(function(result) { if (!result) $(e.target).detach(); });
}) (e);
});
EDIT: AS nick_w said, there is var that contains the callback and probably gets replaced each time so this is why it isn't the right picture getting detached. You will probably have to modify the script yourself

Changing Element Classes with jQuery using conditionals and a timer

Essentially i have three different classes that can be applied to an element on my page. Each holds a different background image and i want to use JQuery to find out which class is currently there and the remove that class and replace it with another. and then set a timer on it to run the function every 5000ms
this is what my code looks like
$(document).ready(
function(){
var toggleImage = function(){
if($(".home").hasClass("home1")){
$(".home").removeClass("home1").addClass("home2") }
elseif($(".home").hasClass("home2")){
$(".home").removeClass("home2").addClass("home3")
}
elseif($(".home").hasClass("home3")){
$(".home").removeClass("home3").addClass("home1")
}
}
setInterval(toggleImage(), 5000);​
});
The class of home will always be there and im just trying to add and remove the other classes on the element. Im coming from PHP so im thinking maybe my syntax could be off.

You have to pass a function to setInterval. Currently you are calling toggleImage and pass its return value, which is undefined.
Don't call the function:
setInterval(toggleImage, 5000);​
At least in Firefox you would have gotten a runtime error:
Error: useless setInterval call (missing quotes around argument?)
Im coming from PHP so im thinking maybe my syntax could be off.
You are right, elseif should be else if. This is a syntax error and you should have seen it in the console as well.
Learn how to debug JavaScript to find syntax and runtime errors on your own.

You want to pass setInterval a function. Calling toggleImage() runs the function and ends up passing setInterval the result. The correct syntax should be:
setInterval(toggleImage, 5000);

Prompt user for confirmation in the middle of a process

I'm looking for a good approach to sometimes pause an action (function/method call) until the user confirms that he wants to do a specific part of that action. I need to do this in an environment that doesn't allow code execution to stop (ActionScript in my case, but an approach for JavaScript should be identical).
To illustrate, this is a mock-up of the action before introducing the user prompt:
<preliminary-phase> // this contains data needed by all the following phases //
<mandatory-phase> // this will be always be executed //
<optional-phase> // this will always execute too, if in this form, but in some cases we need to ask the user if he wants to do it //
<ending-phase> // also mandatory //
What I need is to insert a conditional user prompt, a "Do you want to do this part?", and do <optional-phase> only if the user wants to.
<preliminary-phase>
<mandatory-phase>
if(<user-confirmation-is-needed> and not <user-response-is-positive>){
<do-nothing>
}
else{
<optional-phase>
}
<ending-phase>
When trying to do this in ActionScript/JavaScript I got something like this:
<preliminary-phase>
<mandatory-phase>
if(<user-confirmation-is-needed>){
askForConfirmation(callback = function(){
if(<user-response-is-positive>)
<optional-phase>
<ending-phase>
});
return;
}
<optional-phase>
<ending-phase>
Now both <optional-phase> and <ending-phase> are duplicated. Also because they use objects created in <preliminary-phase> I can't move them to external functions without passing all the data to those functions.
My current solution is that I enclosed each of <optional-phase> and <ending-phase> in some local functions (so that they have access to data in <preliminary-phase>) declared before I ask for confirmation and I call those functions instead of duplicating the code, but it doesn't seem right that the code is no longer in the order it's executed.
What would you guys recommend?
Notes:
1. askForConfirmation is a non-blocking function. This means that the code that follows its call is executed immediately (this is why I have a return; in my approach).

Note: I'm not 100% sure I get your exact circumstances.
The Command Pattern might be suitable here. It's similar to what people are suggesting.
You have an array of commands that get executed in order.
[<preliminary-phase>, <mandatory-phase>, <optional-phase>, <ending-phase>]
Just shift the commands off the array one at a time and call the execute method.
In the optional-phase, check to see if the user confirmation is required, if not then execute an optional code method which dispatches a command complete event, if it is required then show the alert, wait for an event, check the result and either dispatch a command complete event or call the optional method (which will run and then dispatch a command complete).
You can also create a tree of commands so can clearly state the flow of execution without having to mess with the array.
This is how programs like installation wizards work.
It's good in that the order of execution is nice and visible and your code is nicely broken down in to chunks, and the complexity of each step is encapsulated. For example, the optional-phase doesn't know anything about the ending-phase. The optional-phase only knows that the user might need prompted before executing and it handles all of that internally.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_pattern
"Using command objects makes it easier to construct general components that need to delegate, sequence or execute method calls at a time of their choosing..."

"the code is no longer in the order it's executed" seems fine to me actually. It's fine to have code that isn't written in the order it's executed just as long as it's clear. In fact, since your code executes in variable orders I think it's impossible for you to write it in the order it will execute without duplicating code, which is a far greater evil. Pick good function names and your approach would pass my code review.
<preliminary-phase>
<mandatory-phase>
var optional_phase = function() {
<optional-phase>
}
var ending_phase = function() {
<ending-phase>
}
if(<user-confirmation-is-needed>){
askForConfirmation(function(){
if(<user-response-is-positive>)
optional_phase();
ending_phase();
});
return;
}
optional_phase();
ending_phase();

Does this do what you're asking for?
<preliminary-phase>
<mandatory-phase>
if(<user-confirmation-is-needed>){
askForConfirmation(function(){
if(<user-response-is-positive>)
<optional-phase-as-local-function>
<ending-phase-as-local-function>
});
} else {
<optional-phase-as-local-function>
<ending-phase-as-local-function>
}

Not a huge change , but provided this flow works, optional phase is not repeated
<preliminary-phase>
<mandatory-phase>
if(<user-confirmation-is-needed>){
askForConfirmation(function(){
if(<user-response-is-negative>)
{
<ending-phase>
return;
}
});
}
<optional-phase>
<ending-phase>

JScript Wait function

I have a function written in JScript (Not javascript) I need to suspend until a certain global variable becomes true.
The global variable is changed to true when another function is called after an ajax response:
function(req, event, data) {
globalVariable = true;
}
When I try to loop until the variable is true:
while (globalVariable!= true) {
}
I go into a busy waiting and the callback function is never called.
Some suggested the use of WScript.wait() but my app doesn't seam to know WScript.
SetTimeout() also won't help because it's asynchronic call and won't suspend my original function.
Any other suggestion?
Some more information regarding my question:
I want my script to call 2 functions:
waitWhileAjaxIsNotCompleted();
doSomthingElse();
I want the waitWhileAjaxIsNotCompleted() to click a button that submits an ajax request (implemented by A4J) and terminate upon the ajax completion.
In order for me to know when does tha ajax completed, I registered a function as a listener that will be awaken when the ajax completes. This function changes a globalVariable value.
My waitWhileAjaxIsNotComplete() goes into an infinite loop, waiting for the glovalVariable value to change. When it does change (After the listener has awaken), I can end the function ad continue with the doSomthingElse() function.
You can see more on the implementation on: QTP Web extensibilty toolkit and ajax

I can't remember what the heck I used
a few months ago since I don't use
Jscript anymore (not enough time)...
But I am currently looking in my
program to see if I still have the
script saved. I did the exact same
thing a few months back.
I'll post the code once I've found
it...
Sorry about that. I can't seem to find the code snippet. I must have deleted it... Typical of me though.
So, the only thing that I can think of until a better solution is available it to enter your code into an infinite loop, and simply break; out of it once the GlobalVariable returns true.
I hope this helps. I'm going to keep at it until I can either find the snippet or come up with a much better answer.