http://jsfiddle.net/JamesKyle/HQDu6/
I've created a short function based on Mathias Bynens Optimization of the Google Analytics asynchronous script that goes as following:
function async(src) {
var d = document, t = 'script',
o = d.createElement(t),
s = d.getElementsByTagName(t)[0];
o.src = '//' + src;
s.parentNode.insertBefore(o, s);
}
This works great and I've already started using it for several different scripts
// Crazy Egg
async('dnn506yrbagrg.cloudfront.net/pages/scripts/XXXXX/XXXXX.js?' + Math.floor(new Date().getTime() / 3600000));
// User Voice
var uvOptions = {};
async('widget.uservoice.com/XXXXX.js');
// Google Analytics
var _gaq = [['_setAccount', 'UA-XXXXX-XX'], ['_setDomainName', 'coachup.com'], ['_trackPageview']];
async('google-analytics.com/ga.js');
// Stripe
async('js.stripe.com/v1');
The problem comes when I encounter a script that needs to be called after it's loaded:
// Snap Engage
async('snapabug.appspot.com/snapabug.js');
SnapABug.init('XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX');
So I figured I'd turn this into a callback function that would be used as so:
async('snapabug.appspot.com/snapabug.js', function() {
SnapABug.init('XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX');
});
I did not expect that this would be difficult for me to do but it has turned out that way.
See the jsfiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/JamesKyle/HQDu6/
Callbacks are not asynchronous by nature, but can be used for asynchronous purposes. In this code, you define a function fn , define a function higherOrderFunction that takes a function callback as an argument, and pass fn as a callback to higherOrderFunction .
The simplest solution is to keep all of your scripts inline at the bottom of the page, that way they don't block the loading of HTML content while they execute. It also avoids the issue of having to asynchronously load each required script.
There are 2 kinds of callback functions: synchronous and asynchronous. The synchronous callbacks are executed at the same time as the higher-order function that uses the callback. Synchronous callbacks are blocking.
Asynchronous callbacks are functions passed to another function that starts executing code in the background. Typically, when the code in the background finishes, the async callback function is called as a way of notifying and passing on data to the callback function that the background task is finished.
Thanks RASG for https://stackoverflow.com/a/3211647/982924
function async(u, c) {
var d = document, t = 'script',
o = d.createElement(t),
s = d.getElementsByTagName(t)[0];
o.src = '//' + u;
if (c) { o.addEventListener('load', function (e) { c(null, e); }, false); }
s.parentNode.insertBefore(o, s);
}
Usage:
async('snapabug.appspot.com/snapabug.js', function() {
SnapABug.init('XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX');
});
jsFiddle
A more recent snippet:
async function loadAsync(src) {
const script = document.createElement('script');
script.src = src;
return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
script.onreadystatechange = function () {
if (script.readyState === 'loaded' || script.readyState === 'complete') {
script.onreadystatechange = null;
resolve(true);
}
};
document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(script);
});
}
utilisation
loadAsync(`https://....js`).then(_ => {
// ... script loaded here
})
James Kyle's answer doesn't take IE9 into account. Here is a modified version of the code I found in the link proposed in the comments. Modify the var baseUrl so it can find the script accordingly.
//for requiring a script loaded asynchronously.
function loadAsync(src, callback, relative){
var baseUrl = "/resources/script/";
var script = document.createElement('script');
if(relative === true){
script.src = baseUrl + src;
}else{
script.src = src;
}
if(callback !== null){
if (script.readyState) { // IE, incl. IE9
script.onreadystatechange = function() {
if (script.readyState === "loaded" || script.readyState === "complete") {
script.onreadystatechange = null;
callback();
}
};
} else {
script.onload = function() { // Other browsers
callback();
};
}
}
document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(script);
}
utilisation:
loadAsync('https://www.gstatic.com/charts/loader.js' , function(){
chart.loadCharts();
});
// OR relative path
loadAsync('fastclick.js', null, true);
The other answers works well, but aren't super readable or require Promises. Here is my two cents:
function loadScript(src, callback) {
var script = document.createElement('script');
script.setAttribute('src', src);
script.addEventListener('load', callback);
document.head.appendChild(script);
},
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