Moving an image up the screen using do and while loops - javascript

I am learning JavaScript and have been developing a simple game that is essentially a balloon that you can move around on the screen. I managed to do keypresses etc with a lot of help and the balloon moved about just perfectly.
I now want to simulate gravity, by having the balloon move one pixel down the screen if the balloon image was above a value, i tried to do this with the following do while statement:
var balloon = document.getElementById("balloon");
var bottom = parseInt (balloon.style.bottom, 10);
do {
balloon.style.bottom = bottom + 50 + 'px';
}
while (bottom = bottom > 600) // Gravity
What I want this to do, is to check the code is working by making the balloon move up the page 1 pixel if the bottom value is less than 600.
I have stripped out all the code I used to make the balloon move.
If I could just see the balloon move slowly up the page I would be very happy, because then at least I know I can just switch the values round when I've added the movement back in.

The other answers address the issue of attempting an animation with an explicit loop. As they have pointed out, you should use timers.
Because it seemed like fun, I made you a simple example of how to use a timer to animate a balloon falling:
http://jsfiddle.net/dmuu9w97/
The key code is the following:
// Make balloon fall 1px every 10ms
setInterval(function() {
var bottom = getBalloonBottom();
if (bottom > 0)
balloon.style.bottom = bottom - 1 + "px";
}, 10);

For your while loop condition should be (bottom>600) . No need for '='
You are loading the variable bottom outside the loop. It will never change. If it is 610 at the start of the loop it will remain 610 because it is assigned only in line 2 of your code
While loop should probably be ....bottom = (bottom - 1) + 'px';
If you write a while loop like this, it will execute 10 times immediately and your baloon will be always stuck in 600
To solve 'stuck at 600' problem, you should use a timer:
Think about "how fast should the balloon fall". Then you can come up with some number like "5 pixels in 100 milliseconds".
Then write a function... call that function on a timer.
Check the setTimeout function here...
setTimeout method

It's not impossible to do with a do loop but I think you ought to abandon this explicit loop in favor of javascript's timer/timeline. Look into how to use window.setTimeout() where the body of your do loop becomes the body of the callback function AND a trailing call to window.setTimeout() passing the callback again with a delay of 1000/your-chosen-framerate milliseconds. Then you can also process keypress events in their own handlers for intentional movement.
If you use an explicit loop, you'll only get gravity because the loop should never end (just as gravity never stops pulling) and therefore the browser will never have a chance to call the keypress event handler.
Your timeout callback runs once, queues itself again, and terminates. That gives control back to the browser's javascript engine to process events or, if nothing else, run the callback function again after the requested delay.

requestAnimationFrame may be more appropriate than setTimeout in modern JS implementations. It usually leads to a smoother result for animations.

Related

How to make separate force layout render loop?

I'm using d3.js 3.5.6. How do we tick the force layout in our own render loop?
It seems that when I call force.start(), that automatically starts the force layout's own internal render loop (using requestAnimationFrame).
How do I prevent d3 from making a render loop, so that I can make my own render and call force.tick() myself?
This answer is plain wrong. Don't refer to it, don't use it.
I wrote a new one explaining how to do this correctly. I remember spending days digging into this as I though I had discovered an error. And, judging by the comments and the upvotes, I have managed to trick others—even including legends like Lars Kotthoff—to follow me down this wrong road. Anyways, I have learned a lot from my mistake. You only have to be ashamed of your errors if you do not take the chance to learn from them.
As soon as this answer is unaccepted I am going to delete it.
At first I was annoyed by the lack of code in the question and considered the answer to be rather easy and obvious. But, as it turned out, the problem has some unexpected implications and yields some interesting insights. If you are not interested in the details, you might want to have a look at my Final thoughts at the bottom for an executable solution.
I had seen code and documentation for doing the calculations of the force layout by explicitly calling force.tick.
# force.tick()
Runs the force layout simulation one step. This method can be used in conjunction with start and stop to compute a static layout. For example:
force.start();
for (var i = 0; i < n; ++i) force.tick();
force.stop();
This code always seemed dubious to me, but I took it for granted because the documentation had it and Mike Bostock himself made a "Static Force Layout" Block using the code from the docs. As it turns out, my intuition was right and both the Block as well as the documentation are wrong or at least widely off the track:
Calling start will do a lot of initialization of your nodes and links data (see documentation of nodes() and links(). You cannot just dismiss the call as you have experienced yourself. The force layout won't run without it.
Another thing start will eventually do is to fire up the processing loop by calling requestAnimationFrame or setTimeout, whatever is available, and provide force.tick as the callback. This results in an asynchronous processing which will repeatedly call force.tick, whereby doing the calculations and calling your tick handler if provided. The only non-hacky way to break this loop is to set alpha to below the hard-coded freezing point of 0.005 by calling force.alpha(0.005) or force.stop(). This will stop the loop on the next call to tick. Unless the timer is stopped this way, it will continue looping log0.99 (0.005 / 0.1) ≈ 298 times until alpha has dropped below the freezing point.
One should note, that this is not the case for the documentation or the Block. Hence, the tick-loop started by force.start() will continue running asynchronously and do its calculations.
The subsequent for-loop might or might not have any effect on the result of the force layout. If the timer happens to be still running in the background, this means concurrent calls to force.tick from the timer as well as from the for-loop. In any case will the calculations be stopped once alpha has dropped low enough when reaching a total of 298 calls to tick. This can be seen from the following lines:
force.tick = function() {
// simulated annealing, basically
if ((alpha *= 0.99) < 0.005) {
timer = null;
event.end({type: "end", alpha: alpha = 0});
return true;
}
// ...
}
From that point on you can call tick as often as you like without any change to the layout's outcome. The method is entered, but, because of the low value of alpha, will return immediately. All you will see is a repeated firing of end events.
To affect the number of iterations you have to control alpha.
The fact that the layout in the Block seems static is due to the fact that no callback for the "tick" event is registered which could update the SVG on every tick. The final result is only drawn once. And this result is ready after just 298 iterations, it won't be changed by subsequent, explicit calls to tick. The final call to force.stop() won't change anything either, it just sets alpha to 0. This does not have any effect on the result because the force layout has long come to an implicit halt.
Conclusion
Item 1. could be circumvented by a clever combination of starting and stopping the layout as in Stephen A. Thomas's great series "Understanding D3.js Force Layout" where from example 3 on he uses button controls to step through the calculations. This, however, will also come to a halt after 298 steps. To take full control of the iterations you need to
Provide a tick handler and immediately stop the timer by calling force.stop() therein. All calculations of this step will have been completed by then.
In your own loop calculate the new value for alpha. Setting this value by force.alpha() will restart the layout. Once the calculations of this next step are done, the tick handler will be executed resulting in an immediate stop as seen above. For this to work you will have to keep track of your alpha within your loop.
Final thoughts
The least invasive solution might be to call force.start() as normal and instead alter the force.tick function to immediately halt the timer. Since the timer in use is a normal d3.timer it may be interrupted by returning true from the callback, i.e. from the tick method. This could be achieved by putting a lightweight wrapper around the method. The wrapper will delegate to the original tick method, which is closed over, and will return true immediately afterwards, whereby stopping the timer.
force.tick = (function(forceTick) {
return function() { // This will be the wrapper around tick which returns true.
forceTick(); // Delegate to the original tick method.
return true; // Truth hurts. This will end the timer.
}
}(force.tick)); // Pass in the original method to be closed over.
As mentioned above you are now on your own managing the decreasing value of alpha to control the slowing of your layout's movements. This, however, will only require simple calculus and a loop to set alpha and call force.tick as you like. There are many ways this could be done; for a simple showcase I chose a rather verbose approach:
// To run the computing steps in our own loop we need
// to manage the cooling by ourselves.
var alphaStart = 0.1;
var alphaEnd = 0.005;
var alpha = alphaStart;
var steps = n * n;
var cooling = Math.pow(alphaEnd / alphaStart, 1 / steps);
// Calling start will initialize our layout and start the timer
// doing the actual calculations. This timer will halt, however,
// on the first call to .tick.
force.start();
// The loop will execute tick() a fixed number of times.
// Throughout the loop the cooling of the system is controlled
// by decreasing alpha to reach the freezing point once
// the desired number of steps is performed.
for (var i = 0; i < steps; i++) {
force.alpha(alpha*=cooling).tick();
}
force.stop();
To wrap this up, I forked Mike Bostock's Block to build an executable example myself.
You want a Static Force Layout as demonstrated by Mike Bostock in his Block. The documentation on force.tick() has the details:
# force.tick()
Runs the force layout simulation one step. This method can be used in conjunction with start and stop to compute a static layout. For example:
force.start();
for (var i = 0; i < n; ++i) force.tick();
force.stop();
As you have experienced yourself you cannot just dismiss the call to force.start() . Calling .start() will do a lot of initialization of your nodes and links data (see documentation of nodes() and links()). The force layout won't run without it. However, this will not start the force right away. Instead, it will schedule the timer to repeatedly call the .tick() method for asynchronous execution. It is important to notice that the first execution of the tick handler will not take place before all your current code has finished. For that reason, you can safely create your own render loop by calling force.tick().
For anyone interested in the gory details of why the scheduled timer won't run before the current code has finished I suggest thoroughly reading through:
DVK's answer (not the accepted one) to "Why is setTimeout(fn, 0) sometimes useful?".
John Reisig's excellent article on How JavaScript Timers Work.

Problems with making "Catch the falling hair" game

I know, this is a strange one. I'm trying to make a simple Javascript game where:
The player has to catch the randomly falling head hair.
The hair returns to the head when caught.
Catching the falling hair increases the Score
The hair falls faster and faster over time.
If all of the hair falls then it's GAME OVER.
I've given it a go, and copied most of it to my fiddle here, which is an abstract version of what I'm trying to achieve.
Current Javascript:
$(document).ready(function(){
//randomize hair initial rotation
$('.hair').each(function(){
var random = Math.random()*360;
var degree = "rotate("+random+"deg)";
$(this).css("transform",degree);
});
//set points to 0
$('#points').text(points);
});
function startGame() {
start = true;
var level = 1;
//move catcher with hand
$( document ).on("mousemove", function(event) {
var catcherX = event.pageX - 50;
$('#catcher').css("left",catcherX);
});
$('.hair').each(function() {
var wait = Math.ceil(Math.random()*10000)/level;
randomX = Math.random()*($('#gameDiv').width());
function makeDestination(hair) {
hair.css("top", 510);
hair.css("left", randomX);
}
setTimeout(makeDestination($(this)), wait)
})
};
startGame();
The biggest problems I'm having are:
How can I make the hair fall after a random interval? wait currently isn't doing anything in the setTimout function.
How can I make the hair function start again after being caught?
I also feel like there must be a much better way of writing this game, what do you guys think?
I made the setTimeout reference the function instead of calling it immediately (putting the parens calls it and references the return value, putting just the function name references). Then I tweaked the transition to animate the top over 3 seconds while the left takes just 1 second. Then I made makeDestination call itself after a delay. Lastly, the "hair" needs to jump back up to the top, so I change the transition to be immediate, change the CSS, then change the transition back to animate.
https://jsfiddle.net/9pq6xfxc/1/
I leave it to you to detect the intersection of the cyan box and the hair. While this can obviously be done on mouse movement, it's going to be trickier to find the hairs that fall on a stationary hand.

function is not being called

Im trying to create a ghost like in pacman (which is an image) which will appear at random positions. Here is my code
function ghost(){
while (true){
e1.style.top = Math.round(Math.random() * document.body.scrollHeight) + 'px';
document.body.appendChild(e1);
}
}
<body onload="gameLoop();" onkeydown="" onkeyup="moveSelection(event)" onload="ghost();">
I want it to run infintely side by side.
You cannot code an infinite loop like this in Javascript because it will just run forever, blocking the browser from doing anything else and thus effectively "hanging" the browser until the browser will eventually abort the script. The main Javascript execution in a browser is single threaded and thus if you loop forever like this, then nothing else can ever run.
Instead, you can use a setInterval() timer to update the position over time. If you can describe in words exactly what you're trying to accomplish, we could likely help more specifically with recommended code.
In addition, you can only have one onload attribute on the body tag so you can either call both functions from one attribute or create a new function that calls multiple things and refer to that new function in the onload attribute.
Here's a plain use of setInterval():
// something must set the e1 variable first
document.body.appendChild(e1);
setInterval(function() {
e1.style.top = Math.round(Math.random() * document.body.scrollHeight) + 'px';
}, 5000);
Note, per your code, this will cause the image to just jump around on the screen into random up/down positions every so often.

Moving elements with javascript

What are the best practices for moving elements with javascript?
Do you use timeouts or intervals?
Is it bad to have timed events for 10 milliseconds, or will it be precise?
Do you move pixel by pixel, or a certain fraction of the total distance?
If you use intervals, how do you stop the interval when the element is in position?
The last two times I've seen motion in javascript have been with jQuery and Raphael.js, neither of which I can understand the source code of. Are there some good tutorials or code examples anywhere? Is there a simple explanation of the methods jQuery uses?
There is a recent function called requestAnimationFrame which runs a function as soon as possible. This is a good practice since it has been made for animation purposes.
The way it works in terms of coding is the same as setTimeout, e.g. when the function finishes you call requestAnimationFrame.
In the function, you fetch the current time to see how the object should be positioned at that time.
You can cancel a pending function it with cancelRequestAnimationFrame, passing the return value of requestAnimationFrame.
Currently this is not cross-browser and the functions are vendor-prefixed, e.g. webkitRequestAnimationFrame for Chrome.
E.g.: http://jsfiddle.net/pimvdb/G2ThU/1/.
var div = document.getElementById('div');
var animation;
function move() {
var time = Math.round((new Date()).getTime() / 10) % 200;
div.style.left = time + 'px';
animation = requestAnimationFrame(move);
}
document.getElementById("start").onclick = function() {
animation = requestAnimationFrame(move);
}
document.getElementById("stop").onclick = function() {
cancelRequestAnimationFrame(animation);
}
Here you can find a good Javascript Animation tutorial:
http://www.schillmania.com/content/projects/javascript-animation-1
But what you said is right. Jquery Animate uses setTimeout, moving the object based in calculations of duration, position and easing.
Intervals are preferable, I believe, because you only set it once in the code rather than once per frame. It only needs to read the code once and reuse it several times, rather than reading it every time it is created.
10ms is a bit short. The computer can natively support intervals of about 16ms, then more precise timers can be used for faster intervals, however these are very power-consuming. IE9 supports both, depending on the computer's power settings, but ideally you shouldn't need anything faster than 50ms (20 FPS).
I like to move a fraction of the total distance, based on the time that has passed since the animation started. This way, no matter what the speed of the computer and browser, the animation will always take the exact same amount of time. Guaranteed.
Something like:
interval = setInterval(function() {
// do stuff
if( /*animation ended*/) clearInterval(interval);
},time);
jQuery is easy for some, but personally I find nothing beats writing it yourself in plain, old JS. Much easier to understand what's going on exactly, rather than relying on some framework to get it right for you.

javascript race condition

I'm calling a javascript function that sets the opacity of an iframe an unknown amount of times in rapid succession. Basically this tweens the alpha from 0 to 100.
here is the code
function setAlpha(value)
{
iframe.style.opacity = value * .01;
iframe.style.filter = 'alpha(opacity =' + val + ')';
}
My problem is that for the first time it is working in ie (7) and not in firefox (3.02). in Firefox I get a delay and then the contentdocument appears with an opacity of 100. If I stick an alert in it works, so I'm guessing it is a race condition (although I thought javascript was single threaded) and that the setAlpha function is being called before the last function has finished executing.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. I've read the 'avoiding a javascript race condition post' but I think this qualifies as something different (plus I can't figure out how to apply that example to this one).
The issue is that most browsers don't repaint until there is a pause in the javascript execution.
This can be solved by using setTimeout, as others have suggested. However, I recommend using something like jQuery, or any of the javascript libraries to do animations. Running setTimeout 100 times is a bad idea because the length of the animation will vary based on the browser and speed of the user's computer. The correct way to do animations, is to specify how long they should last and check the system time to determine how far the animation should progress.
function fadeIn(elem,animation_length) {
var start = (new Date()).getTime();
var step = function() {
window.setTimeout(function() {
var pct = ((new Date()).getTime() - start)/animation_length;
elem.style.opacity = Math.min(pct,1);
if (pct < 1)
step();
},20);
};
step();
}
[edit:] The code above is only to illustrate how to do animations based on the system clock instead of simple intervals. Please use a library to do animations. The code above will not work on IE, because IE uses "filter:opacity(xx)" instead of "opacity". Libraries will take care of this for you and also provide nice features such as completion events, and the ability to cancel the animation.
Javascript doesn't run across multiple threads so you're safe from race conditions (ignoring upcoming Worker thread support in Safari and Firefox :D ).
Simple question, how are you calling setAlpha multiple times, firefox, safari and opera all coalesce style sheet updates -- eg. they won't repaint or even recalc style info while js is running unless they have to. So they will only paint if JS has completed.
So if you're doing
while(...) setAlpha(...)
they won't update, you'll probably need to use setTimeout to trigger multiple distinct calls to update the style.
An alternative would be to use a library such as jQuery, mootools,etc that i vaguely recall provide a simplified mechanism to do these types of animations and transitions. As an added bonus i believe at least a few libraries will also use webkit transition and animation css rules when available (eg. Safari, and i think the latest firefox builds)
[edit: caveat: i haen't actually used any of these libraries, i only read about what they're supposed to do. My sites render the same in lynx as any other browser because i couldn't design my way out of a paper bag :D ]
Are you using setTimeout or a tight loop? If you're using just a loop to call the function, then switch to using setTimout.
example:
function setAlpha(value)
{
iframe.style.opacity = value * .01;
iframe.style.filter = 'alpha(opacity =' + val + ')';
if(value < 100 ) {
setTimeout(function () {setAlpha(value+1)},20);
}
}
setAlpha(0);
Because you see, it's not just javascript that's single threaded. It's the whole damn browser. If your javascript goes into a tightloop, you hang the whole browser. So the browser pauses waiting for javascript to finish, and doesn't even have a chance to update the screen, while your code is rapidly changing some dom values.
Some browsers are smart enough to delay changes to the DOM until the call stack is empty.
This is a generally a smart thing to do. For example, if you call a function that changes an element to yellow, and immediately call a function that changes the same element back to it's original state, the browser shouldn't waste time making the change, since it should happen so quickly as to be imperceptible to a user.
The setTimeout(func, 0) trick is commonly used to force Javascript to delay execution of func until the call stack is empty.
In code:
function setAlpha(opacity){
some_element.style.opacity = opacity;
}
/**
* This WON'T work, because the browsers won't bother reflecting the
* changes to the element's opacity until the call stack is empty,
* which can't happen until fadeOut() returns (at the earliest)
**/
function fadeOut(){
for (var i=0; i<10; i++){
setAlpha(0.1*i);
}
}
/**
* This works, because the call stack will be empty between calls
* to setAlpha()
**/
function fadeOut2(){
var opacity = 1;
setTimeout(function setAlphaStep(){
setAlpha(opacity);
if (opacity > 0){
setTimeout(setAlphaStep, 10);
}
opacity -= 0.1;
}, 0);
}
All this boils down to being a wonderful excuse to use one of many javascript libraries that handle this tricky stuff for you.
Edit: and here's a good article on the tricky Javascript call stack

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