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JavaScript function to replace HTML contents for a few seconds, then revert back.

I'm making a hangman game using JavaScript and need to hide some HTML for a few seconds to display an error message, and then revert back to the original HTML. I've tried using setTimeout(); and setInterval(); but those seem to just wait a few seconds before displaying the error message.
Here's the code for reference:
<div class="row text-center">
<div id="alredGuess" class="col">
<div>
<span id="guessedLetters"></span> <br>
</div>
<div>Guesses left:<span id="guessesLeft">10</span></div>
<div>Wins:<span id="wins">0</span></div>
<div>Losses:<span id="losses">0</span></div>
</div>
</div>
JS:
if (gameRunning === true && guessedLetterBank.indexOf(letter) === -1) {
// run game logic
guessedLetterBank.push(letter);
// Check if letter is in picked word
for (var i = 0; i < pickedWord.length; i++) {
//convert to lower case
if (pickedWord[i].toLowerCase() === letter.toLowerCase()) {
//if match, swap placeholder
pickedWordPlaceholderArr[i] = pickedWord[i];
}
}
$placeholders.textContent = pickedWordPlaceholderArr.join("");
checkIncorrect(letter);
} else if (gameRunning === false) {
$placeholders.textContent = "Press \"A\" To Begin!"
} else {
//alert("You've already guessed this letter.")
function newAlert() {
var hideDiv = document.getElementById("alredGuess");
if (hideDiv.style.display = "block") {
hideDiv.style.display = "none";
}
}
hideDiv.textContent("You've already guessed this letter!");
function showDiv() {
var showDiv = document.getElementById("alredGuess");
if (hideDiv.style.display = "none") {
hideDiv.style.display = "block";
}
}
}
}
setInterval(newAlert, 3000);
}

Tip 1
Well, first of all i don't recommend using display: block|none to show or hide DOM elements. Instead try using visibility: visible|hidden or better, toggle a css class name such as : .hidden. That's because when you set a DOM element's display to none, its width and height are gonna be set to zero, often causing an unwanted loss of space because the DOM node visually collapses. With the visibility property, for example, the element just disappears without loss of space.
Tip 2
Error/status messages should always live within their own containers. Do not display messages in substitution of some content you need to revert back after.
It is always better to prepare an empty <div>, hide it by default with a generic .hiddenCSS class and then remove this one as soon as you need to display the container.
Suggested solution
Now, in your case, i think you're using setIntervalin the wrong way. You have to immediately show the alert message, then make it disappear after a few seconds.
As suggested above, this should be done by toggling CSS classes, using different containers and using setTimeout in order to remove/add the CSS classes as soon as the interval is over. Basically, the setTimeout restores everything to its original state.
So, given this HTML code:
<div id="alredGuess">This is the original text</div>
<div id="alertbox" class="hidden"></div>
and this CSS code:
.hidden { visibility: hidden; }
try this:
var alertTimeout = 1000; // Timeout in milliseconds.
function showAlertMessage() {
// This is your original text container.
var alredGuess = document.getElementById("alredGuess");
// This is the new error message container named #alertbox
var alertBox = document.getElementById("alertbox");
// Now let's fill it with the specific error text (better using HTML here).
alertBox.innerHTML = "You've already guessed this letter!";
// Hide the original container by adding an .hidden css class.
alredGuess.classList.add('hidden');
// Show the error message container by removing its default .hidden css class.
alertBox.classList.remove('hidden');
// Then set up an interval: as it ends, revert everything to its original state.
setTimeout(function() {
alertBox.classList.add('hidden');
alredGuess.classList.remove('hidden');
}, alertTimeout);
}
// Call the function.
showAlertMessage();
Fiddle: https://jsfiddle.net/qyk4jspd/
Hope this helps.

In a pinch, stuck in a simple onclick text cycle

For a project, I'm trying to highlight the logical fallacy of circular reasoning and have precious few lines of code later to be inserted into a separate webpage.
I am trying to create a simple process of clicking the displayed text to switch back and forth between the two questions. I've tried buttons and it only complicates and make no progress. Half a day gone, still banging my head on desk, as the phrase goes.
I read elsewhere that creating a var tracker facilitates, though I see it only for images, rather than displayed text. It feels like approaching my wits end, but I lack the time to walk away and try again.
This is my code thus far:
<!doctype html>
<head>
<script>
function change() {
var paragraph = document.getElementById("whytrust");
paragraph.innerHTML="I am trustworthy, but how can you be sure?";
}
</script>
</head>
<body>
<p id="whytrust" onclick="change();">You can trust me, but how can you be sure?</p>
</body>
</html>

You need some place to hold the old message so you can put it back again after you toggle the contents.
<!doctype html>
<head>
<script>
var newMsg = "I am trustworthy, but how can you be sure?";
function change() {
var paragraph = document.getElementById("whytrust");
var oldMsg = paragraph.innerHTML;
paragraph.innerHTML = newMsg;
newMsg = oldMsg;
}
</script>
</head>
<body>
<p id="whytrust" onclick="change();">You can trust me, but how can you be sure?</p>
</body>
</html>

This a quick and dirty implementation of what you want. I added a data-textindex attribute to the html element. There I stored an index for the currently shown text. In the javascript I check the current value, update data-textindex and replace it with new text.
function change() {
let paragraph = document.getElementById("whytrust");
let currentlyshown = paragraph.getAttribute('data-textindex');
if(currentlyshown == 0){
paragraph.innerText="I am trustworthy, but how can you be sure?";
paragraph.setAttribute('data-textindex', '1');
}else if(currentlyshown == 1){
paragraph.innerText="You can trust me, but how can you be sure?";
paragraph.setAttribute('data-textindex', '0');
}
}
<p id="whytrust" data-textindex="0" onclick="change();">You can trust me, but how can you be sure?</p>
On a sidenote: You can improve this code a lot. Like storing your text in a json-object. Or maybe using the ternary operator if you are 100% sure there will always be 2 choices. maybe give the function some arguments so you can apply it in a more general scenario.

Try tracking some sort of 'state' for your paragraph -- be it on/off, active/inactive...
Each time the change() function gets called, it doesn't remember what the paragraph was or was supposed to be. So, by setting a state of some sort (in my example a data-state attribute assigned to the paragraph element) the code can know how to behave.
function change() {
var paragraph = document.getElementById("whytrust");
var output = '';
// data-* can be anything, but handy for referencing things
var state = paragraph.getAttribute('data-state');
// check if data-state even exists
if( !state ){
// set it to the default/original state
paragraph.setAttribute('data-state', 'inactive');
state = 'inactive';
}
// toggle the state
// and assign the new text
if( state === 'inactive' ){
paragraph.setAttribute('data-state', 'active' );
output = "I am trustworthy, but how can you be sure?";
}else{
paragraph.setAttribute('data-state', 'inactive');
output = "You can trust me, but how can you be sure?";
}
paragraph.innerHTML = output;
}
<p id="whytrust" onclick="change();">You can trust me, but how can you be sure?</p>
Another option, without tracking state could be hiding and showing the paragraph you want displayed. You don't really need to track state or save the alternating text...
// get the elements from the DOM that you want to hide/show
// you can get tricky and add alternative ways to track
// the paragraph elements, but this works nice for a demo
const whytrust = document.getElementById('whytrust'),
answer = document.getElementById('whytrust-answer');
function change( element ){
// the element parameter being passed is the paragraph tag
// that is present/visible
if( element.id === 'whytrust' ){
answer.className = ''; // clear the .hide class
whytrust.className = 'hide'; // add the .hide class
}else{
whytrust.className = ''; // clear the .hide class
answer.className = 'hide'; // add the .hide class
}
}
.hide{ display: none; }
<p id="whytrust" onclick="change(this);">I am trustworthy, but how can you be sure?"</p>
<p id="whytrust-answer" class="hide" onclick="change(this);">You can trust me, but how can you be sure?</p>
What I like about this solution is that it keeps the content in the HTML and the JavaScript just worries about what to hide/show.

How to use Javascript to execute an if/elseif/else function depending on what elements are in a div

I am creating a website where elements can be dragged and dropped from the main div with all the elements to an empty one. After you put two or more elements in the second (empty) div, you press a button which executes an if/else statement, but I want it so that the code does something if element10 and element12 are in the div, but something different if element4, element5, and element6 are in the div. Could someone help?

I would add some data to the DIVs and then use it inside of the function you just mentioned.. I think if you give enough data, you can make a dynamic call based on those data. ( or add call backs )
so for example you have this as html:
<div class="parent">
<div class="drag-able" data-name="element1" ></div>
<div class="drag-able" data-name="element2" ></div>
<div class="drag-able" data-name="element3" ></div>
<div class="drag-able" data-name="element4" ></div>
</div>
then you will have something like that in your function
//by "this" I assume you have your dragging function
switch(this.getAttribute('data-name')){
case 'element1':
// do your code
break;
case 'element2':
// do your code
break;
default : // do other code
break;
}
in fact is a little dirty but if you could provide more info and some code I could help you better. but I hope it gives you some idea about what I tried to explain.

You could track the elements using ids.
Something like this for your JavaScript, assuming that you aren't using jquery:
var if_else = function(){
var box = document.getElementById("dropIn");
var elements = box.getElementsByTagName('div');
var elm1 = elements[0];
var elm2 = elements[1];
if(elm1.id === "suchAndSuch" && elm2.id === "soAndSo"){
// do something
}
else{
//do something else
}
}
And for your HTML:
<div id="box"></div>
<div id="suchAndSuch"></div>
<div id="soAndSo"></div>
<div id="somethingElse"></div>

How to Reduce Size of This jQuery Script and Make it More Flexible?

I just created script that shows/hides (toggles) block of HTML. There are four buttons that each can toggle its HTML block. When any HTML block is opened, but user has been clicked on other button than that HTML block's associated button... it hides that HTML block and shows new one.
Here is what I have at the moment:
$('.btn_add_event').click( function() {
$('.block_link, .block_photos, .block_videos').hide();
$('.block_event').toggle();
});
$('.btn_add_link').click( function() {
$('.block_event, .block_photos, .block_videos').hide();
$('.block_link').toggle();
});
$('.btn_add_photos').click( function() {
$('.block_event, .block_link, .block_videos').hide();
$('.block_photos').toggle();
});
$('.btn_add_videos').click( function() {
$('.block_event, .block_link, .block_photos').hide();
$('.block_videos').toggle();
});
Any ideas how to reduce code size? Also, this script isn't very flexible. Imagine to add two new buttons and blocks.

like Sam said, I would use a class that all the blocks share, so you never have to alter that code. Secondly, you can try 'traversing' to the closest block, therefore avoiding it's name. That approach is better than hard coding each specific block, but if the html dom tree changes you will need to refactor. Last, but best, you can pass in the class name desired block as a variable to the function. Below is something you can copy paste that is close to what you started with.
$('.myAddButtonClass').click( function() {
$('.mySharedBlockClass').filter(':visible').hide();
//find a good way to 'traverse' to your desired block, or name it specifically for now.
//$(this).closest(".mySharedBlockClass").show() complete guess
$('.specificBlockClass').show();
});

I kept reading this "When any HTML block is opened, but user has been clicked on other button than that HTML block's associated button" thinking that my eyes were failing me when Its just bad English.
If you want to make it more dynamic, what you can do is add a common class keyword. Then
when the click event is raise. You can have it loop though all the classes that have the
keyword and have it hide them all (except the current one that was clicked) and then show the current one by using the 'this' keyword.

you can refer below link,
http://chandreshmaheshwari.wordpress.com/2011/05/24/show-hide-div-content-using-jquery/
call function showSlidingDiv() onclick event and pass your button class dynamically.
This may be useful.
Thanks.

try this
$('input[type=button]').click( function() {
$('div[class^=block]').hide(); // I resumed html block is div
$(this).toggle();
});

Unfortunatly I couldn't test it, but if I can remember right following should work:
function toogleFunc(clickObject, toogleTarget, hideTarget)
{
$(clickObject).click(function()
{
$(hideTarget).hide();
$(toogleTarget).toggle();
});
}
And the call:
toogleFunc(
".btn_add_videos",
".block_videos",
".block_event, .block_link, .block_photos"
);
and so far

Assuming the buttons will only have one class each, something like this ought to work.
var classNames = [ 'btn_add_event', 'block_link', 'block_photos', 'block_videos' ];
var all = '.' + classNames.join(', .'); // generate a jquery format string for selection
$(all).click( function() {
var j = classNames.length;
while(j--){
if( this.className === classNames[j] ){
var others = classNames.splice(j, 1); // should leave all classes but the one on this button
$('.' + others.join(', .')).hide();
$('.' + classNames[j]).toggle();
}
}
}
All the buttons have the same handler. When the handler fires, it checks the sender for one of the classes in the list. If a class is found, it generates a jquery selection string from the remaining classes and hides them, and toggles the one found. You may have to do some checking to make sure the strings are generating correctly.

It depends by how your HTML is structured.
Supposing you've something like this
<div class="area">
<div class="one"></div>
<div class="two"></div>
<div class="three"></div>
</div>
...
<div class="sender">
<a class="one"></a>
<a class="two"></a>
<a class="three"></a>
</div>
You have a class shared by the sender and the target.
Your js would be like this:
$('.sender > a').click(function() {
var target = $(this).attr('class');
$('.area > .' + target).show().siblings().hide();
});
You show your real target and hide its siblings, which aren't needed.

If you put the class postfixes in an array, you can easily make this code more dynamic. This code assumed that it doesn't matter in which order toggle or hide are called. If it does matter, you can just remember the right classname inside the (inner) loop, and toggle that class after the loop.
The advantage to this approach is that you can extend the array with an exta class without needing to modifying the rest of the code.
var classes = new Array('videos', 'event', 'link', 'photos');
for (var i = 0; i < classes.length; ++i)
{
$('.btn_add_' + classes[i]).click(
function()
{
for (var j = 0; j < classes.length; ++j)
{
if (this.hasClass('btn_add_' + classes[j]))
{
$('.block_' + classes[j]).toggle();
}
else
{
$('.block_' + classes[j]).hide();
}
}
});
}
You could make this code more elegant by not assigning those elements classes like btn_add_event, but give them two classes: btn_add and event, or even resort to giving them id's. My solution is based on your description of your current html.

Here is what I think is a nice flexible and performant function. It assumes you can contain your links and html blocks in a parent, but otherwise it uses closures to precalculate the elements involved, so a click is super-fast.
<html>
<head>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.6.2/jquery.min.js" ></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
// Enables show/hide functionality on click.
// The elements within 'container' matching the selector 'blocks' are hidden
// When elements within 'container' matching the selector 'clicker' are clicked
// their attribute with the name 'clickerAttr' is appended to the selector
// 'subject' to identify a target, usually one of the 'blocks'. All blocks
// except the target are hidden. The target is shown.
//
// Change clickerAttr from 'linkTarget' to 'id' if you want XHTML compliance
//
// container: grouping of related elements for which to enable this functionality
// clicker: selector to element type that when clicked triggers the show/hide functionality
// clickerAttr: name of the DOM attribute that will be used to adapt the 'subject' selector
// blocks: selector to the html blocks that will be shown or hidden when the clicker is clicked
// subject: root of the selector to be used to identify the one html block to be shown
//
function initToggle(container,clicker,clickerAttr,blocks,subject) {
$(container).each(
function(idx,instance) {
var containerElement = $(instance);
var containedBlocks = containerElement.find(blocks);
containerElement.find(clicker).each(function(idxC, instanceClicker) {
var tgtE = containerElement.find(subject+instanceClicker.getAttribute(clickerAttr));
var clickerBlocks = containedBlocks.not(tgtE);
$(instanceClicker).click(function(event) {
clickerBlocks.hide();
tgtE.toggle();
});
});
// initially cleared
containedBlocks.hide();
}
);
}
$(function() {
initToggle('.toggle','a.link','linkTarget','div.block','div.');
});
</script>
</head>
<body>
Example HTML block toggle:
<div class="toggle">
a <br />
b <br />
c <br />
<div class="A block"> A </div>
<div class="B block"> B </div>
<div class="C block"> C </div>
</div> <!-- toggle -->
This next one is not enabled, to show scoping.
<div class="toggle2">
a <br />
<div class="A block">A</div>
</div> <!-- toggle2 -->
This next one is enabled, to show use in multiple positions on a page, such as in a portlet library.
<div class="toggle">
a <br />
<div class="A block">A</div>
</div> <!-- toggle (2) -->
</body>
</html>

Javascript if else statement to hide and show div

Please refer to the following codes :
<div id="message-1" onclick="javascript:showresponddiv(this.id)>
</div>
<div id="respond-1" style="display:none;">
</div>
<div id="message-2" onclick="javascript:showresponddiv(this.id)>
</div>
<div id="respond-2" style="display:none;">
</div>
<script type="text/javascript">
function showresponddiv(messagedivid){
var responddivid = messagedivid.replace("message-", "respond-");
if (document.getElementById(responddivid).style.display=="none"){
document.getElementById(responddivid).style.display="inline";
} else {
document.getElementById(responddivid).style.display="none";
}
}
</script>
The codes above already success make the respond div appear when user click on message div. The respond div will disappear when user click on message div again. Now my question is how to make the respond div of 1st message disappear when user click on 2nd message to display the respond div of 2nd message?

You should give the "respond" divs a common class:
<div id="respond-1" class="response' style="display:none;"></div>
Then you can get all divs by using getElementsByTagName, compare the class and hide them on a match:
function hideAllResponses() {
var divs = document.getElementsByTagName('div');
for(var i = divs.length; i-- ;) {
var div = divs[i];
if(div.className === 'response') {
div.style.display = 'none';
}
}
}
We cannot use getElementsByClassName, because this method is not supported by IE8 and below. But of course this method can be extended to make use of it if it is supported (same for querySelectorAll). This is left as an exercise for the reader.
Further notes:
Adding javascript: to the click handler is syntactically not wrong but totally unnecessary. Just do:
onclick="showresponddiv(this.id)"
If you have to do a lot of DOM manipulation of this kind, you should have a look at a library such as jQuery which greatly simplify such tasks.
Update: If always only one response is shown and you are worried about speed, then store a reference to opened one:
var current = null;
function showresponddiv(messagedivid){
var id = messagedivid.replace("message-", "respond-"),
div = document.getElementById(id);
// hide previous one
if(current && current !== div) {
current.style.display = 'none';
}
if (div.style.display=="none"){
div.style.display="inline";
current = div;
}
else {
div.style.display="none";
}
}
Edit: Fixed logic. See a DEMO.

You can add some class to all divs with id="respond-"
e.g
<div id="respond-1" class="classname" style="display:none;"></div>
<div id="respond-2" class="classname" style="display:none;"></div>
Now at first row of your function "showresponddiv()" you should find all divs with class "classname" and hide them.
With jQuery it is simple code:
$(".classname").hide();
jQuery - is a Javascript Library that helps you to easy manipulate with DOM and provides cross-browser compatibility.
Also you can look to Sizzle - it is a JavaScript CSS selector engine used by jQuery for selecting DOM elements