Ajax multiple setTimeout's problem

[quill]

Hi

I am making a chatroom script and it appears that the problem seems to be that my setTimeout's are conflicting.

The logic is as follows:

• Run a login check every x seconds
• Run a trigger check every x seconds

The login check is a first priority, and may take some time to process.

The trigger check looks up the database, checks whether or not chatWindow = 1 (it is set to 1 when a message is posted) and if it equals 1, do some more Ajax to build the message list.

I have only tried this script in Firefox.

I am looking for a way to have both those setTimeout's running concurrently, and avoid conflicts. Is threading the answer?

My code is as follows (It's quite long):

The php/html

<?php
$dbc = mysql_connect("localhost","xxx","")or die(mysql_error());
mysql_select_db("xxx")or die(mysql_error());
 
$a1 = $_REQUEST['a1'];
 
if($a1) {
    switch($a1) {
        /* Chatters */
        case 'refreshChatters':
            $response = '';
            $e1 = "SELECT * FROM chatters";
            $e2 = mysql_query($e1,$dbc);
            while($e3 = mysql_fetch_array($e2)) {
                $response .= $e3['nickname'].'|';
            }
            echo 'doRefreshChatters(\''.$response.'\')';
            exit;
        break;
        /* Chat */
        case 'refreshChat':
            $response = '';
            $chatId = $_POST['chatId'];
            $e1 = "SELECT * FROM messages WHERE chatId = '$chatId'";
            $e2 = mysql_query($e1,$dbc)or die(mysql_error());
            while($e3 = mysql_fetch_array($e2)) {
                $response .= $e3['message'].'|';
            }
            echo 'doRefreshChat(\''.$response.'\')';
            exit;
        break;
        /* Authentication */
        case 'login':
            $fEmailAddress = $_REQUEST['fEmailAddress'];
            $fPassword = $_REQUEST['fPassword'];
            $e1 = "SELECT * FROM chatters WHERE emailAddress = '$fEmailAddress' AND password = '$fPassword'";
            $e2 = mysql_query($e1,$dbc);
            if(mysql_num_rows($e2) > "0") {
                $e3 = mysql_fetch_array($e2);
                $uid = $e3['id'];
                $rand = gettimeofday(true);
                $cid = substr(crypt($rand),0,200);
                $loginTime = date("Y-d-m H:i:s");  
                $r1 = "UPDATE chatters SET loginTime = '$loginTime',
                cid = '$cid' WHERE id = '$uid'";
                $r2 = mysql_query($r1,$dbc)or die(mysql_error());
                setrawcookie("chatroom", $cid);
                $auth = crypt($cid,$loginTime);
                $r1 = "UPDATE triggers SET chatWindow = '1'";
                $r2 = mysql_query($r1,$dbc);
                header("Location: chatroom.php?auth=$auth");
            } else {
                echo '<p id="loginMsg">Incorrect login details.</p>';
            }
        break;
        case 'checkLogin':
            if(!$_COOKIE) {
                echo 'doCheckLogin(\'loggedIn=0\')';
                exit;
            } else {
                $cid = $HTTP_COOKIE_VARS["chatroom"];
                // If there is a cookie, then check the cid for one in the db
                $e1 = "SELECT loginTime FROM chatters WHERE cid = '$cid'";
                $e2 = mysql_query($e1,$dbc);
                // If there is no match, then logout
                if(mysql_num_rows($e2) == "0") {
                    echo 'doCheckLogin(\'loggedIn=0\')';
                    exit;
                } else {
                    $e3 = mysql_fetch_array($e2);
                    // If there is a match, then check the auth variable with the timestamp, cid combo
                    $loginTime = $e3['loginTime'];
                    $dbAuth = crypt($cid,$loginTime);
                    $ajAuth = $_POST['auth'];
                    if($dbAuth !== $ajAuth) {
                    // If it does not equal the same, logout
                        echo 'doCheckLogin(\'loggedIn=0\')';
                        exit;
                    } else {
                    // Otherwise stay logged in
                        echo 'doCheckLogin(\'loggedIn=1\')';    
                        exit;
                    }
                }
            }
        exit;
        break;
        case 'logout':
            setcookie ("chatroom", "", time() - 3600);
            echo 'doLogout()';
            exit;
        break;
        case 'sendMessage':
            $message = $_POST['message'];
            $cid = $HTTP_COOKIE_VARS["chatroom"];
            // find user information
            $e1 = "SELECT id FROM chatters WHERE cid = '$cid'";
            $e2 = mysql_query($e1,$dbc);
            // If not found, log them out
            if(mysql_num_rows($e2) == "0") {
                echo 'doCheckLogin(\'loggedIn=0\')';
                exit;
            } else {
            $e3 = mysql_fetch_array($e2);
            $chatter = $e3['id'];
            $chatId = $_REQUEST['chatId'];
            $timestamp = date("Y-d-m H:i:s");
            $r1 = "INSERT INTO messages (chatId,chatter,message,timestamp)
            VALUES ('$chatId','$chatter','$message','$timestamp')";
            $r2 = mysql_query($r1,$dbc);
            // Set refresh trigger
            $t1 = "UPDATE triggers SET chatWindow = '1'";
            $t2 = mysql_query($t1,$dbc);
            // echo 'doTest(\''.$message.'\')';
            }
        exit;        
        break;
        /* Triggers */
        case 'checkTriggers':
            $e1 = "SELECT chatWindow FROM triggers";
            $e2 = mysql_query($e1,$dbc);
            $e3 = mysql_fetch_array($e2);
            if($e3['chatWindow'] == "1") {
                $r1 = "UPDATE triggers SET chatWindow = '0'";
                $r2 = mysql_query($r1,$dbc);
                echo 'refreshChat()';    
                exit;
            }
        exit;
        break;
    }
}
?>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" />
<title></title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="chatroom.css" />
</head>
<body>
 
    <?php
 
    if(!$_COOKIE["chatroom"]) {
 
    ?>
 
    <div id="login">
        <form method="post" action="chatroom.php?a1=login">
            <div class="form">
                <label for="fEmailAddress">Email address</label>
                <input type="text" name="fEmailAddress" id="fEmailAddress" />
                <br />
                <label for="fPassword">Password</label>
                <input type="text" name="fPassword" id="fPassword" />
                <br />
                <input type="submit" value="Login &raquo;" />
            </div>
        </form>
    </div>
 
    <?php } else { ?>
    <div id="chat">
        <div id="options"><a href="?a1=doLogout">Logout</a></div>
        <div id="chw"></div>
        <div id="cw"></div>
 
        <br />
        <div id="messageBox">
            <input type="text" size="40" name="message" id="message" />&nbsp;<input type="button" onclick="sendMessage()" value="send" />
        </div>
    </div>
    <script type="text/javascript" src="chatroom.js"></script>
    <script type="text/javascript">
    var welcome = 'Welcome!';
    var auth = '<?php echo $_GET['auth']; ?>';
    startChat(welcome);
    </script>
 
    <?php } ?>
</body>
</html>
 

The Ajax/js

var t; // Timer
var chatId = '1';
var processing = '';        // For threading the requests?
 
function startAjax(obj)
{
    var obj;
    try{
    ajaxRequest=new XMLHttpRequest()}
    catch(e){
        try{
        ajaxRequest=new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP")}
        catch(e){
            try{
            ajaxRequest=new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP")}
            catch(e){
                alert("Your browser does not appear to support this application.");
            return false}
        }
    }
return obj}
 
function doAjax(action,auth,vars) {
    startAjax('ajaxRequest');
    ajaxRequest.onreadystatechange = function() {
    if (ajaxRequest.readyState == 4) {
            var a1 = ajaxRequest.responseText;
            eval(a1);
 
        }
    }
    var uid = Math.random();
    var str = 'a1='+action;
    str +="&uid="+uid;
    str +="&auth="+auth;
    if(vars) {
        var varsParts = vars.split("|");
        var i = 0;
        for(var i = 0; i < varsParts.length-1; i++) {
            var varsSingles = varsParts[i].split("#");
            str += "&"+varsSingles[0]+"="+varsSingles[1];
        }
    }
    var url = "chatroom.php";
    ajaxRequest.open("POST",url,true);
    ajaxRequest.setRequestHeader("Content-Type",
    "application/x-www-form-urlencoded; charset=UTF-8");
    ajaxRequest.send(str);
}
function makeElem(elem,id,text,dElem) {
    var dElem = document.getElementById(dElem);
    var e1 = document.createElement(elem);
    e1.setAttribute('id',id);
    var r1 = document.createTextNode(text);
    e1.appendChild(r1);
    dElem.appendChild(e1);
}
function doTest(response) {
    alert(response);    
}
/* Triggers */
function doCheckTriggers() {
    while(processing = '') {
    doAjax('checkTriggers',auth,false);
    }
}
var v1;
function checkTriggers() {
    doCheckTriggers();
    v1 = setTimeout("checkTriggers()",2000);
}
 
/* Chatters */
function refreshChatters() {
    doAjax('refreshChatters',auth,false);
}
function doRefreshChatters(chatters) {
    var chatters = chatters.split("|");
    for (var i = 0; i < chatters.length; i++) {
        makeElem('div','chatter',chatters[i],'chw');    
    }
}
 
 
/* Chat */
function refreshChat() {
    var vars = "chatId#"+chatId+"|";
    doAjax('refreshChat',auth,vars);
}
function doRefreshChat(messages) {
    document.getElementById('cw').nodeValue = '';    
    var messages = messages.split("|");
    for (var i = 0; i < messages.length; i++) {
        makeElem('div','message-'+messages[i],messages[i],'cw');    
    }
}
 
 
 
/* Authentication */
function checkLogin() {
    processing = '1';
    doAjax('checkLogin',auth,false);
}
function logout() {
    doAjax('logout',auth,false);    
}
function doLogout() {
    window.location = "chatroom.php?a1=login";
    clearTimeout(t);
    refresh();
}
function doCheckLogin(loggedIn) {
        switch(loggedIn) {
        case 'loggedIn=0':
            logout();
        break;
    }
    processing = '';
}
function doAuth() {
    checkLogin();
    t = setTimeout("doAuth()",5000);
}
/* Send message */
function sendMessage() {
    while(processing = '') {
        var message = document.getElementById('message').value;
        var vars = "message#"+message+"|chatId#"+chatId+"|";
        doAjax('sendMessage',auth,vars);
        var message = document.getElementById('message').value = '';
    }
}
 
 
/* DOM setup */
function setupChattersWindow() {
    makeElem('div','title','Chatters','chw');                // Make header
}
 
 
/* Start chatroom */
function startChat() {
    doAuth();
    setupChattersWindow();
    refreshChatters();
    checkTriggers();
}
 

[acoder]

The problem is that the same variable is being used for more than one request. You need to use separate ones for each request to avoid conflict, e.g. ajaxRequest, ajaxRequest2, etc.