How do I submit a form in Javascript with a delay

Question

I am trying to submit the form automatically with a delay in a chrome extension I am writing and it does not seem to be submitting. Below is my form and javascript:

function submitForm() { // submits form
    document.getElementById("ismForm").submit();
}

if (document.getElementById("ismForm")) {
    setTimeout("submitForm()", 5000); // set timout 
}


<form method="post" id="ismForm" name="ismForm" action="http://www.test.com" class=""> 
<label for="searchBox">Search </label>
<input type="text" id="searchBox" name="q" value=""> <input type="hidden" id="sayTminLength" value="3"><input type="hidden" id="coDomain" value="US"><input class="button" type="submit" id="search.x" name="search.x" value="Search" autocomplete="off"> 
</form>

Answer 1

Don't know the context, but it might be that the page has not been loaded yet completely - you might try putting

if (document.getElementById("ismForm")) {
    setTimeout("submitForm()", 5000); // set timout 
}

in body onLoad() event. As another thing, try putting as simple alert before setTimeout and at the start of submitForm() to confirm the timeout is getting fired in the first place.

Answer 2

Try this:

<form method="post" action="yourpage/" id="customForm">
    <input type="text" name="input1"/>
    <input type="text" name="input2"/>
</form> 
<button id="submit">SubmitForm</button><!-- Outside of form -->
<script>
    function submitForm() {
        document.getElementById("customForm").submit()
    }

    document.getElementById('submit').onclick = function() {
        setTimeout(submitForm, 3000); 
    }
</script>