Need help timing events with jquery

Question

Here's my code:

        tripper = 2;
    $("#topheader").mousewheel(function(event, delta) {
        if (tripper == 2){
            startPlace = $("#content").scrollLeft();
            startCounter = something;
            tripper = 1;
        } else {
            currentPlace = $("#content").scrollLeft();
            if(startCounter < 100){ // milliseconds
            distanceMoved = currentPlace - startPlace;
                if(distanceMoved > 100){
                    slideRight();
                } else if(distanceMoved < -100){
                    slideLeft();
                }
            } else {
                tripper = 2;
            }
        }
    }

What is the proper way to check if 100 milliseconds has passed sense the first time through this function? In the 5th line of code i have the variable "something" which needs to be replaced with a counter of some sort. Or maybe I'm going about this in an entirely wrong way. Suggestions?

Answer 1

You can instantiate a "Date" object like this:

var then = new Date();

Later you can make another one:

var now = new Date();

Subtraction gives the difference in milliseconds:

var elapsed = now - then;

(The coercion from "Date" to "Number" is implicit when the two date values appear on either side of the subtraction operator. The conversion is just like calling "now.getTime()".)

Answer 2

The following code it is untested but basically, after 100 milliseconds, it should reset timeout back to null and ultimately set tripper back to 2;

tripper = 2;
timeout = null;
$("#topheader").mousewheel(function(event, delta) {
    if (tripper == 2){
        startPlace = $("#content").scrollLeft();
        if (!timeout) {
            setTimeout(function() {
                timeout = null
            }, 100);
        }
        tripper = 1;
    } else {
        currentPlace = $("#content").scrollLeft();
        if(timeout){ // milliseconds
            distanceMoved = currentPlace - startPlace;
            if(distanceMoved > 100){
                slideRight();
            } else if(distanceMoved < -100){
                slideLeft();
            }
        } else {
            tripper = 2;
        }
    }
}