jQuery - detect no action for 'x' minutes and run function on that event (no event in X minutes)

Question

How to detect that user have done nothing for 'X' minute and run function on this event?

E.G.

if( // no action from user for 'X' minutes) { //do stuff } ??

Any suggestion much appreciated.

Answer 1

Live Demo

Like everyone else has stated use setTimeout and set it to the desired amount of time to wait. If there is any activity just clear the timeout using clearTimeout.

// If theres no activity for 5 seconds do something
var activityTimeout = setTimeout(inActive, 5000);

function resetActive(){
    $(document.body).attr('class', 'active');
    clearTimeout(activityTimeout);
    activityTimeout = setTimeout(inActive, 5000);
}

// No activity do something.
function inActive(){
    $(document.body).attr('class', 'inactive');
}

// Check for mousemove, could add other events here such as checking for key presses ect.
$(document).bind('mousemove', function(){resetActive()});