Set a delay in a repeating jQuery / Ajax function

Question

I am trying to add a delay to a repeatable query.

I found out that .delay is not the one to use here. Instead, I should go with setInterval or setTimeout. I tried both, without any luck.

Here's my code:

<?php 
include("includes/dbconf.php");

$strSQL = mysql_query("SELECT workerID FROM workers ORDER BY workerID ASC");
while($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($strSQL)) {
?>
<script id="source" language="javascript" type="text/javascript">

  $(setInterval(function ()
  {
    $.ajax({                                      
      cache: false,
      url: 'ajax2.php',        
      data: "workerID=<?=$row['workerID'];?>",
      dataType: 'json',    
      success: function(data)
      {
        var id = data[0];              //get id
        var vname = data[1];           //get name
        //--------------------------------------------------------------------
        // 3) Update html content
        //--------------------------------------------------------------------
        $('#output').html("<b>id: </b>"+id+"<b> name: </b>"+vname);
      } 
    });
  }),800); 

  </script>
<?php
}
?>
<div id="output"></div>

The code works fine, it outputs the result as asked. It's just loads without the delay. The timout and / or interval doesn't seem to work.

Anybody knows what I am doing wrong?

Answer 1

I've never understood why people always add their AJAX requests in intervals rather than letting the successful AJAX calls just call themselves, all the while risking severe server load through multiple requests and not just making another call once you had a successful one come back.

In this light, I like to write solutions where the AJAX calls just call themselves on completion, something like:

// set your delay here, 2 seconds as an example...
var my_delay = 2000;

// call your ajax function when the document is ready...
$(function() {
    callAjax();
});

// function that processes your ajax calls...
function callAjax() {
    $.ajax({
        // ajax parameters here...
        // ...
        success: function() {
            setTimeout(callAjax, my_delay);
        }
    });
}

I hope this makes sense! :)

Update:

After reviewing this again, it's been brought to my attention that there was also a problem in the PHP code in the original question that I needed to clarify and address.

Although the script above will work great in creating a delay between AJAX calls, when added to the PHP code in the original post the script will just be echo'd out as many times as the number of rows the SQL query selects, creating multiple functions with the same name and possibly making all AJAX calls simultaneously...not very cool at all...

With that in mind, I propose the following additional solution - create an array with the PHP script that may be digested by the JavaScript one element at a time to achieve the desired result. First, the PHP to build the JavaScript array string...

<?php 
    include("includes/configuratie.php");
    $strSQL = mysql_query("SELECT workerID FROM tWorkers ORDER BY workerID ASC");

    // build the array for the JavaScript, needs to be a string...
    $javascript_array = '[';
    $delimiter = '';
    while($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($strSQL))
    {
        $javascript_array .= $delimiter . '"'. $row['workerID'] .'"'; // with quotes
        $delimiter = ',';
    }
    $javascript_array .= ']';
    // should create an array string, something like:
    // ["1","2","3"]
?>

Next, the JavaScript to digest and process the array we just created...

// set your delay here, 2 seconds as an example...
var my_delay = 2000;

// add your JavaScript array here too...
var my_row_ids = <?php echo $javascript_array; ?>;

// call your ajax function when the document is ready...
$(function() {
    callAjax();
});

// function that processes your ajax calls...
function callAjax() {
    // check to see if there are id's remaining...
    if (my_row_ids.length > 0)
    {
        // get the next id, and remove it from the array...
        var next_id = my_row_ids[0];
        my_row_ids.shift();
        $.ajax({
            cache    : false,
            url      : 'ajax2.php',
            data     : "workerID=" + next_id, // next ID here!
            dataType : 'json',
            success  : function(data) {
                           // do necessary things here...
                           // call your AJAX function again, with delay...
                           setTimeout(callAjax, my_delay);
                       }
        });
    }
}

Answer 2

Note: Chris Kempen's answer (above) is better. Please use that one. He uses this technique inside the AJAX routine. See this answer for why using setTimeout is preferable over setInterval.

---

//Global var
is_expired = 0;

$(function (){

    var timer = setInterval(doAjax, 800);

    //At some point in future, you may wish to stop this repeating command, thus:
    if (is_expired > 0) {
        clearInterval(timer);
    }

}); //END document.ready

function doAjax() {
    $.ajax({                                      
        cache: false,
        url: 'ajax2.php',        
        data: "workerID=<?=$row['workerID'];?>",
        dataType: 'json',    
        success: function(data) {
            var id = data[0];              //get id
            var vname = data[1];           //get name
            //--------------------------------------------------------------------
            // 3) Update html content
            //--------------------------------------------------------------------
            $('#output').html("<b>id: </b>"+id+"<b> name: </b>"+vname);
        }
    }); //END ajax code block
} //END fn doAjax()