setTimeout doesn't seem to fire.

[Brent]

Is there any obvious reason why there's no delay in the execution of
setting the id.style.display when this function gets called?

function Hide(divId,timeout)
{
var id = document.getElementById(divId);
setTimeout(id.style.display = 'none',timeout);
}

Thanks for any help.

--Brent

[web.dev]

Brent wrote:

Is there any obvious reason why there's no delay in the execution of
setting the id.style.display when this function gets called?

function Hide(divId,timeout)
{
var id = document.getElementById(divId);
setTimeout(id.style.display = 'none',timeout);
}

Thanks for any help.

--Brent

setTimeout expects a string in the first parameter. What you have
given is not a string. Change it like so:

setTimeout("id.style.display = 'none'", timeout);

One thing you should note is that, this will still not work.
setTimeout executes in the global scope. Once your function Hide has
reached the end, your variable 'id' will no longer be available in this
context.

[Howard Jess]

Brent wrote:

Is there any obvious reason why there's no delay in the execution of
setting the id.style.display when this function gets called?

function Hide(divId,timeout)
{
var id = document.getElementById(divId);
setTimeout(id.style.display = 'none',timeout);
}

Yeah: the first argument to setTimeout should be a string; so the
expression "id.style.display = 'none'" is evaluated; setTimeout
sees the arguments "none" and [the value of] timeout. You probably
want to say

setTimeout(function() {id.style.display='none'},timeout);

hj

[VK]

Brent wrote:

Is there any obvious reason why there's no delay in the execution of
setting the id.style.display when this function gets called?

function Hide(divId,timeout)
{
var id = document.getElementById(divId);
setTimeout(id.style.display = 'none',timeout);
}

Yammy! I'll be first before the crowd! :-))

setTimeout() first argument can be
1) string literal like setTimeout("myFunction(param)",1000)
2) function reference like setTimeout(myFunction,1000)
/* that a newer one so some old browser may not support this */
3) an expression evaluated to (1) or (2) from above

You have an expression so in order to prepare setTimeout call
interpreter has to execute first id.style.display = 'none';

setTimeout("id.style.display = 'none';",timeout)
will fix your problem issue

[VK]

> Yammy! I'll be first before the crowd! :-))

Need to improve my typing speed :-(

:-)

[Howard Jess]

VK wrote:

Brent wrote:

Is there any obvious reason why there's no delay in the execution of
setting the id.style.display when this function gets called?

function Hide(divId,timeout)
{
var id = document.getElementById(divId);
setTimeout(id.style.display = 'none',timeout);
}

Yammy! I'll be first before the crowd! :-))

setTimeout() first argument can be
1) string literal like setTimeout("myFunction(param)",1000)
2) function reference like setTimeout(myFunction,1000)
/* that a newer one so some old browser may not support this */
3) an expression evaluated to (1) or (2) from above

You have an expression so in order to prepare setTimeout call
interpreter has to execute first id.style.display = 'none';

setTimeout("id.style.display = 'none';",timeout)
will fix your problem issue

Sorry, no; as web.dev pointed out, this will run in the global
scope, where it's likely that id will be undefined.

If you really want to do this by passing a string rather than a
function reference to setTimeout, try:

function Hide(divId,timeout) {
hider = new Function("var elm=null;" +
"if (document.getElementById) " +
"elm=document.getElementById('"+id+"');" +
"if (elm && elm.style) elm.style.display='none';");
setTimeout("hider()",timeout);
}

Multiple invocations will redefine the "hider" function, however,
so it's far safer to pass a function reference. If that's simply
not possible, do your best to ensure a unique name for each time
you run "Hide".

hj

[Lasse Reichstein Nielsen]

Howard Jess <[e-mail]> writes:

If you really want to do this by passing a string rather than a
function reference to setTimeout, try:

function Hide(divId,timeout) {
hider = new Function("var elm=null;" +
"if (document.getElementById) " +
"elm=document.getElementById('"+id+"');" +
"if (elm && elm.style) elm.style.display='none';");
setTimeout("hider()",timeout);
}
No need to use the Function constructor here. A local function
declaration will do just as well, and should work everywhere
the outer declaration does.

function hide(divId, timeout) {
function localHider() {
var elem = nukk;
if (document.getElementById) {
elm = document.getElementById(divId);
} // else fallback to document.all or even document.layers
if (elm) {
var estyle = elm.style || elm;
estyle.display="none";
}
}
hider = localHider;
setTimeout("hider();", timeout);
}
Multiple invocations will redefine the "hider" function, however,
so it's far safer to pass a function reference.
Absolutely.
If that's simply not possible, do your best to ensure a unique name
for each time you run "Hide".

You could build your own abstraction over setTimeout that works either
way:
---
timer = new Object();
timer.nextCtr = 0;
timer.funcs = new Array();
timer.setTimeout = function _setTimeout(func, time) {
var id = this.nextCtr++;
if (typeof func != "function") { // not a function, convert to string
timer.funcs[id] = new Array(setTimeout("delete timer.funcs["+id+"];"+func, time));
return id;
}
// a function:
function wrapper() {
delete timer.funcs[id];
func();
}
wrapper.toString = function () {
return "timer.funcs["+id+"][1]()";
};
timer.funcs[id] = new Array(setTimeout(wrapper, time), wrapper);
return id;
};
timer.clearTimeout = function _clearTimeout(id) {
var pair = timer.funcs[id];
if (pair) {
delete timer.funcs[id];
clearTimeout(pair[0]);
}
}
---

You can then use it as, e.g.:

timer.setTimeout(function(){alert("X");},2000);
var id = timer.setTimeout(function(){alert("Y");},1500);
timer.setTimeout(function(){alert("Z");},1000);
timer.clearTimeout(id);
/L
--
Lasse Reichstein Nielsen - lr*@hotpop.com
DHTML Death Colors: <URL:http://www.infimum.dk/HTML/rasterTriangleDOM.html>
'Faith without judgement merely degrades the spirit divine.'