Newbie needs help with setInterval

[shawnwperkins]

Hi Folks,

I'm new to Javascript and just need a little help. I downloaded a
script from Dynamic Drive's Web site and I'm trying to make a simple
modification and could use some help. :)

The script below fetches data from the web server and displays it in
the form as a ticker on the web page. See: http://www.dynamicdrive.com/dynamici...ajaxticker.htm

What I would like to do is to have the Ajax ticker periodically go out
and refetch the XML data say once every five seconds. The way it
operates now it only fetches the data when the page loads. Is there a
simple way to accomplish this? I've tried using
setInterval(this.getXMLfile(), 5000) on line 46 with no success, but
it's most likely the way I'm using it. See script script below.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. :)

Thanks,
Shawn
// -------------------------------------------------------------------
// Ajax XML Ticker (txt file source)
// Author: Dynamic Drive (http://www.dynamicdrive.com)
// -------------------------------------------------------------------

////////////No need to edit beyond here//////////////

function createAjaxObj(){
var httprequest=false
if (window.XMLHttpRequest){ // if Mozilla, Safari etc
httprequest=new XMLHttpRequest()
if (httprequest.overrideMimeType)
httprequest.overrideMimeType('text/xml')
}
else if (window.ActiveXObject){ // if IE
try {
httprequest=new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
}
catch (e){
try{
httprequest=new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
}
catch (e){}
}
}
return httprequest
}

// -------------------------------------------------------------------
// Main Ajax Ticker Object function
// ajax_ticker(xmlfile, divId, divClass, delay, optionalfadeornot)
// -------------------------------------------------------------------

function ajax_ticker(xmlfile, divId, divClass, delay, fadeornot){
this.xmlfile=xmlfile //Variable pointing to the local ticker xml file
(txt)
this.tickerid=divId //ID of ticker div to display information
this.delay=delay //Delay between msg change, in miliseconds.
this.mouseoverBol=0 //Boolean to indicate whether mouse is currently
over ticker (and pause it if it is)
this.pointer=0
this.opacitystring=(typeof fadeornot!="undefined")? "width: 100%;
filter:progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.alpha(opa city=100); -moz-
opacity: 1" : ""
if (this.opacitystring!="") this.delay+=500 //add 1/2 sec to account
for fade effect, if enabled
this.opacitysetting=0.2 //Opacity value when reset. Internal use.
this.messages=[] //Arrays to hold each message of ticker
this.ajaxobj=createAjaxObj()
document.write('<div id="'+divId+'" class="'+divClass+'"><div
style="'+this.opacitystring+'">Initializing ticker...</div></div>')
/////////////line added with no success////
setInterval(this.getXMLfile(), 5000)
}

// -------------------------------------------------------------------
// getXMLfile()- Use Ajax to fetch xml file (txt)
// -------------------------------------------------------------------

ajax_ticker.prototype.getXMLfile=function(){
if (this.ajaxobj){
var instanceOfTicker=this
var url=this.xmlfile+"?bustcache="+new Date().getTime()
this.ajaxobj.onreadystatechange=function()
{instanceOfTicker.initialize()}
this.ajaxobj.open('GET', url, true)
this.ajaxobj.send(null)
}
}

// -------------------------------------------------------------------
// initialize()- Initialize ticker method.
// -Gets contents of xml file and parse it using JavaScript DOM
methods
// -------------------------------------------------------------------

ajax_ticker.prototype.initialize=function(){
if (this.ajaxobj.readyState == 4){ //if request of file completed
if (this.ajaxobj.status==200 ||
window.location.href.indexOf("http")==-1){ //if request was successful
this.contentdiv=document.getElementById(this.ticke rid).firstChild //
div of inner content that holds the messages
var xmldata=this.ajaxobj.responseText
this.contentdiv.style.display="none"
this.contentdiv.innerHTML=xmldata
if (this.contentdiv.getElementsByTagName("div").lengt h==0){ //if no
messages were found
this.contentdiv.innerHTML="<b>Error</bfetching remote ticker file!"
return
}
var instanceOfTicker=this
document.getElementById(this.tickerid).onmouseover =function()
{instanceOfTicker.mouseoverBol=1}
document.getElementById(this.tickerid).onmouseout= function()
{instanceOfTicker.mouseoverBol=0}
if (window.attachEvent) //Clean up loose references in IE
window.attachEvent("onunload", function()
{instanceOfTicker.contentdiv=instanceOfTicker.ajax obj=null})
//Cycle through XML object and store each message inside array
for (var i=0; i<this.contentdiv.getElementsByTagName("div").leng th; i+
+){
if (this.contentdiv.getElementsByTagName("div")
[i].className=="message")
this.messages[this.messages.length]=this.contentdiv.getElementsByTagName("div")
[i].innerHTML
}
this.contentdiv.innerHTML=""
this.contentdiv.style.display="block"
this.rotatemsg()
}
}
}

// -------------------------------------------------------------------
// rotatemsg()- Rotate through ticker messages and displays them
// -------------------------------------------------------------------

ajax_ticker.prototype.rotatemsg=function(){
var instanceOfTicker=this
if (this.mouseoverBol==1) //if mouse is currently over ticker, do
nothing (pause it)
setTimeout(function(){instanceOfTicker.rotatemsg() }, 100)
else{ //else, construct item, show and rotate it!
this.fadetransition("reset") //FADE EFFECT- RESET OPACITY
this.contentdiv.innerHTML=this.messages[this.pointer]
this.fadetimer1=setInterval(function()
{instanceOfTicker.fadetransition('up', 'fadetimer1')}, 100) //FADE
EFFECT- PLAY IT
this.pointer=(this.pointer<this.messages.length-1)? this.pointer+1 : 0
setTimeout(function(){instanceOfTicker.rotatemsg() }, this.delay) //
update container periodically
}
}

// -------------------------------------------------------------------
// fadetransition()- cross browser fade method for IE5.5+ and Mozilla/
Firefox
// -------------------------------------------------------------------

ajax_ticker.prototype.fadetransition=function(fade type, timerid){
var contentdiv=this.contentdiv
if (fadetype=="reset")
this.opacitysetting=0.2
if (contentdiv.filters && contentdiv.filters[0]){
if (typeof contentdiv.filters[0].opacity=="number") //IE6+
contentdiv.filters[0].opacity=this.opacitysetting*100
else //IE 5.5
contentdiv.style.filter="alpha(opacity="+this.opac itysetting*100+")"
}
else if (typeof contentdiv.style.MozOpacity!="undefined" &&
this.opacitystring!=""){
contentdiv.style.MozOpacity=this.opacitysetting
}
else
this.opacitysetting=1
if (fadetype=="up")
this.opacitysetting+=0.1
if (fadetype=="up" && this.opacitysetting>=1)
clearInterval(this[timerid])
}

[David Karr]

On Sep 21, 4:52*pm, [e-mail] wrote:

Hi Folks,

I'm new to Javascript and just need a little help. I downloaded a
script from Dynamic Drive's Web site and I'm trying to make a simple
modification and could use some help. :)

The script below fetches data from the web server and displays it in
the form as a ticker on the web page. See:http://www.dynamicdrive.com/dynamici...ajaxticker.htm

What I would like to do is to have the Ajax ticker periodically go out
and refetch the XML data say once every five seconds. The way it
operates now it only fetches the data when the page loads. Is there a
simple way to accomplish this? I've tried using
setInterval(this.getXMLfile(), 5000) on line 46 with no success, but
it's most likely the way I'm using it. See script script below.

Well, without spending a lot of time analyzing this code, one simple
thing to fix is changing "this.getXMLfile()" to "this.getXMLfile".
The former actually calls the function, and the return value from that
function is what setInterval is going to attempt to call, which is
certainly not what you intended. Removing the parens makes this a
function object, not a function call, which has a much better chance
of working.

[sasuke]

On Sep 22, 4:52*am, [e-mail] wrote:

What I would like to do is to have the Ajax ticker periodically go out
and refetch the XML data say once every five seconds. The way it
operates now it only fetches the data when the page loads. Is there a
simple way to accomplish this? I've tried using
setInterval(this.getXMLfile(), 5000) on line 46 with no success, but
it's most likely the way I'm using it. See script script below.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. :)

Maybe what you wanted to do was use the variant of setInterval() which
accepts a Javascript expression in the form of Javascript String i.e.
setInterval("this.getXMLFile()", 5000). But then again, it won't work
in your case since `this' when used in such a context always refers to
the global window object. As already suggested, use the second variant
of setInterval() which accepts a Function object as its first
parameter. See < http://developer.mozilla.org/en/DOM/window.setInterval

>

/sasuke