We Keep Coding

I want to show an alert to the user after no activity for a specific time without using setTimeout function in jquery, is there a way to tackle this? [duplicate]

Is it possible to detect "idle" time in JavaScript?
My primary use case probably would be to pre-fetch or preload content.
I define idle time as a period of user inactivity or without any CPU usage

Here is a simple script using jQuery that handles mousemove and keypress events.
If the time expires, the page reloads.
<script type="text/javascript">
var idleTime = 0;
$(document).ready(function () {
// Increment the idle time counter every minute.
var idleInterval = setInterval(timerIncrement, 60000); // 1 minute
// Zero the idle timer on mouse movement.
$(this).mousemove(function (e) {
idleTime = 0;
});
$(this).keypress(function (e) {
idleTime = 0;
});
});
function timerIncrement() {
idleTime = idleTime + 1;
if (idleTime > 19) { // 20 minutes
window.location.reload();
}
}
</script>

With vanilla JavaScript:
var inactivityTime = function () {
var time;
window.onload = resetTimer;
// DOM Events
document.onmousemove = resetTimer;
document.onkeydown = resetTimer;
function logout() {
alert("You are now logged out.")
//location.href = 'logout.html'
}
function resetTimer() {
clearTimeout(time);
time = setTimeout(logout, 3000)
// 1000 milliseconds = 1 second
}
};
And initialise the function where you need it (for example: onPageLoad).
window.onload = function() {
inactivityTime();
}
You can add more DOM events if you need to. Most used are:
document.onload = resetTimer;
document.onmousemove = resetTimer;
document.onmousedown = resetTimer; // touchscreen presses
document.ontouchstart = resetTimer;
document.onclick = resetTimer; // touchpad clicks
document.onkeydown = resetTimer; // onkeypress is deprectaed
document.addEventListener('scroll', resetTimer, true); // improved; see comments
Or register desired events using an array
window.addEventListener('load', resetTimer, true);
var events = ['mousedown', 'mousemove', 'keypress', 'scroll', 'touchstart'];
events.forEach(function(name) {
document.addEventListener(name, resetTimer, true);
});
DOM Events list: http://www.w3schools.com/jsref/dom_obj_event.asp
Remember to use window, or document according your needs. Here you can see the differences between them: What is the difference between window, screen, and document in JavaScript?
Code Updated with #frank-conijn and #daxchen improve: window.onscroll will not fire if scrolling is inside a scrollable element, because scroll events don't bubble. In window.addEventListener('scroll', resetTimer, true), the third argument tells the listener to catch the event during the capture phase instead of the bubble phase.

Improving on Equiman's (original) answer:
function idleLogout() {
var t;
window.onload = resetTimer;
window.onmousemove = resetTimer;
window.onmousedown = resetTimer; // catches touchscreen presses as well
window.ontouchstart = resetTimer; // catches touchscreen swipes as well
window.ontouchmove = resetTimer; // required by some devices
window.onclick = resetTimer; // catches touchpad clicks as well
window.onkeydown = resetTimer;
window.addEventListener('scroll', resetTimer, true); // improved; see comments
function yourFunction() {
// your function for too long inactivity goes here
// e.g. window.location.href = 'logout.php';
}
function resetTimer() {
clearTimeout(t);
t = setTimeout(yourFunction, 10000); // time is in milliseconds
}
}
idleLogout();
Apart from the improvements regarding activity detection, and the change from document to window, this script actually calls the function, rather than letting it sit idle by.
It doesn't catch zero CPU usage directly, but that is impossible, because executing a function causes CPU usage. And user inactivity eventually leads to zero CPU usage, so indirectly it does catch zero CPU usage.

I have created a small library that does this:
https://github.com/shawnmclean/Idle.js
Description:
Tiny JavaScript library to report activity of user in the browser
(away, idle, not looking at webpage, in a different tab, etc). that is independent of any
other JavaScript libraries such as jQuery.
Visual Studio users can get it from NuGet by:
Install-Package Idle.js

Here is a rough jQuery implementation of tvanfosson's idea:
$(document).ready(function(){
idleTime = 0;
//Increment the idle time counter every second.
var idleInterval = setInterval(timerIncrement, 1000);
function timerIncrement()
{
idleTime++;
if (idleTime > 2)
{
doPreload();
}
}
//Zero the idle timer on mouse movement.
$(this).mousemove(function(e){
idleTime = 0;
});
function doPreload()
{
//Preload images, etc.
}
})

Similar to Peter J's solution (with a jQuery custom event)...
// Use the jquery-idle-detect.js script below
$(window).on('idle:start', function() {
// Start your prefetch, etc. here...
});
$(window).on('idle:stop', function() {
// Stop your prefetch, etc. here...
});
File jquery-idle-detect.js
(function($, $w) {
// Expose configuration option
// Idle is triggered when no events for 2 seconds
$.idleTimeout = 2000;
// Currently in idle state
var idle = false;
// Handle to idle timer for detection
var idleTimer = null;
// Start the idle timer and bind events on load (not DOM-ready)
$w.on('load', function() {
startIdleTimer();
$w.on('focus resize mousemove keyup', startIdleTimer)
.on('blur', idleStart) // Force idle when in a different tab/window
;
]);
function startIdleTimer() {
clearTimeout(idleTimer); // Clear prior timer
if (idle) $w.trigger('idle:stop'); // If idle, send stop event
idle = false; // Not idle
var timeout = ~~$.idleTimeout; // Option to integer
if (timeout <= 100)
timeout = 100; // Minimum 100 ms
if (timeout > 300000)
timeout = 300000; // Maximum 5 minutes
idleTimer = setTimeout(idleStart, timeout); // New timer
}
function idleStart() {
if (!idle)
$w.trigger('idle:start');
idle = true;
}
}(window.jQuery, window.jQuery(window)))

You can do it more elegantly with Underscore.js and jQuery:
$('body').on("click mousemove keyup", _.debounce(function(){
// do preload here
}, 1200000)) // 20 minutes debounce

My answer was inspired by vijay's answer, but is a shorter, more general solution that I thought I'd share for anyone it might help.
(function () {
var minutes = true; // change to false if you'd rather use seconds
var interval = minutes ? 60000 : 1000;
var IDLE_TIMEOUT = 3; // 3 minutes in this example
var idleCounter = 0;
document.onmousemove = document.onkeypress = function () {
idleCounter = 0;
};
window.setInterval(function () {
if (++idleCounter >= IDLE_TIMEOUT) {
window.location.reload(); // or whatever you want to do
}
}, interval);
}());
As it currently stands, this code will execute immediately and reload your current page after 3 minutes of no mouse movement or key presses.
This utilizes plain vanilla JavaScript and an immediately-invoked function expression to handle idle timeouts in a clean and self-contained manner.

All the previous answers have an always-active mousemove handler. If the handler is jQuery, the additional processing jQuery performs can add up. Especially if the user is using a gaming mouse, as many as 500 events per second can occur.
This solution avoids handling every mousemove event. This result in a small timing error, but which you can adjust to your need.
function setIdleTimeout(millis, onIdle, onUnidle) {
var timeout = 0;
startTimer();
function startTimer() {
timeout = setTimeout(onExpires, millis);
document.addEventListener("mousemove", onActivity);
document.addEventListener("keydown", onActivity);
document.addEventListener("touchstart", onActivity);
}
function onExpires() {
timeout = 0;
onIdle();
}
function onActivity() {
if (timeout) clearTimeout(timeout);
else onUnidle();
//since the mouse is moving, we turn off our event hooks for 1 second
document.removeEventListener("mousemove", onActivity);
document.removeEventListener("keydown", onActivity);
document.removeEventListener("touchstart", onActivity);
setTimeout(startTimer, 1000);
}
}
http://jsfiddle.net/9exz43v2/

I had the same issue and I found a quite good solution.
I used jquery.idle and I only needed to do:
$(document).idle({
onIdle: function(){
alert('You did nothing for 5 seconds');
},
idle: 5000
})
See JsFiddle demo.
(Just for information: see this for back-end event tracking Leads browserload)

If you are targeting a supported browser (Chrome or Firefox as of December 2018) you can experiment with the requestIdleCallback and include the requestIdleCallback shim for unsupported browsers.

You could probably hack something together by detecting mouse movement on the body of the form and updating a global variable with the last movement time. You'd then need to have an interval timer running that periodically checks the last movement time and does something if it has been sufficiently long since the last mouse movement was detected.

I wrote a small ES6 class to detect activity and otherwise fire events on idle timeout. It covers keyboard, mouse and touch, can be activated and deactivated and has a very lean API:
const timer = new IdleTimer(() => alert('idle for 1 minute'), 1000 * 60 * 1);
timer.activate();
It does not depend on jQuery, though you might need to run it through Babel to support older browsers.
https://gist.github.com/4547ef5718fd2d31e5cdcafef0208096

(Partially inspired by the good core logic of Equiman's answer.)
sessionExpiration.js
sessionExpiration.js is lightweight yet effective and customizable. Once implemented, use in just one row:
sessionExpiration(idleMinutes, warningMinutes, logoutUrl);
Affects all tabs of the browser, not just one.
Written in pure JavaScript, with no dependencies. Fully client side.
(If so wanted.) Has warning banner and countdown clock, that is cancelled by user interaction.
Simply include the sessionExpiration.js, and call the function, with arguments [1] number of idle minutes (across all tabs) until user is logged out, [2] number of idle minutes until warning and countdown is displayed, and [3] logout url.
Put the CSS in your stylesheet. Customize it if you like. (Or skip and delete banner if you don't want it.)
If you do want the warning banner however, then you must put an empty div with ID sessExpirDiv on your page (a suggestion is putting it in the footer).
Now the user will be logged out automatically if all tabs have been inactive for the given duration.
Optional: You may provide a fourth argument (URL serverRefresh) to the function, so that a server side session timer is also refreshed when you interact with the page.
This is an example of what it looks like in action, if you don't change the CSS.

Try this code. It works perfectly.
var IDLE_TIMEOUT = 10; //seconds
var _idleSecondsCounter = 0;
document.onclick = function () {
_idleSecondsCounter = 0;
};
document.onmousemove = function () {
_idleSecondsCounter = 0;
};
document.onkeypress = function () {
_idleSecondsCounter = 0;
};
window.setInterval(CheckIdleTime, 1000);
function CheckIdleTime() {
_idleSecondsCounter++;
var oPanel = document.getElementById("SecondsUntilExpire");
if (oPanel)
oPanel.innerHTML = (IDLE_TIMEOUT - _idleSecondsCounter) + "";
if (_idleSecondsCounter >= IDLE_TIMEOUT) {
alert("Time expired!");
document.location.href = "SessionExpired.aspx";
}
}

<script type="text/javascript">
var idleTime = 0;
$(document).ready(function () {
//Increment the idle time counter every minute.
idleInterval = setInterval(timerIncrement, 60000); // 1 minute
//Zero the idle timer on mouse movement.
$('body').mousemove(function (e) {
//alert("mouse moved" + idleTime);
idleTime = 0;
});
$('body').keypress(function (e) {
//alert("keypressed" + idleTime);
idleTime = 0;
});
$('body').click(function() {
//alert("mouse moved" + idleTime);
idleTime = 0;
});
});
function timerIncrement() {
idleTime = idleTime + 1;
if (idleTime > 10) { // 10 minutes
window.location.assign("http://www.google.com");
}
}
</script>
I think this jQuery code is perfect one, though copied and modified from above answers!!
Do not forgot to include the jQuery library in your file!

Pure JavaScript with a properly set reset time and bindings via addEventListener:
(function() {
var t,
timeout = 5000;
function resetTimer() {
console.log("reset: " + new Date().toLocaleString());
if (t) {
window.clearTimeout(t);
}
t = window.setTimeout(logout, timeout);
}
function logout() {
console.log("done: " + new Date().toLocaleString());
}
resetTimer();
//And bind the events to call `resetTimer()`
["click", "mousemove", "keypress"].forEach(function(name) {
console.log(name);
document.addEventListener(name, resetTimer);
});
}());

The problem with all these solutions, although correct, is they are impractical, when taking into account the session timeout valuable set, using PHP, .NET or in the Application.cfc file for ColdFusion developers.
The time set by the above solution needs to sync with the server-side session timeout. If the two do not sync, you can run into problems that will just frustrate and confuse your users.
For example, the server side session timeout might be set to 60 minutes, but the user may believe that he/she is safe, because the JavaScript idle time capture has increased the total amount of time a user can spend on a single page. The user may have spent time filling in a long form, and then goes to submit it. The session timeout might kick in before the form submission is processed.
I tend to just give my users 180 minutes, and then use JavaScript to automatically log the user out. Essentially, using some of the code above, to create a simple timer, but without the capturing mouse event part.
In this way my client side and server-side time syncs perfectly. There is no confusion, if you show the time to the user in your UI, as it reduces. Each time a new page is accessed in the CMS, the server side session and JavaScript timer are reset. Simple and elegant. If a user stays on a single page for more than 180 minutes, I figure there is something wrong with the page, in the first place.

You can use the below mentioned solution
var idleTime;
$(document).ready(function () {
reloadPage();
$('html').bind('mousemove click mouseup mousedown keydown keypress keyup submit change mouseenter scroll resize dblclick', function () {
clearTimeout(idleTime);
reloadPage();
});
});
function reloadPage() {
clearTimeout(idleTime);
idleTime = setTimeout(function () {
location.reload();
}, 3000);
}

I wrote a simple jQuery plugin that will do what you are looking for.
https://github.com/afklondon/jquery.inactivity
$(document).inactivity( {
interval: 1000, // the timeout until the inactivity event fire [default: 3000]
mouse: true, // listen for mouse inactivity [default: true]
keyboard: false, // listen for keyboard inactivity [default: true]
touch: false, // listen for touch inactivity [default: true]
customEvents: "customEventName", // listen for custom events [default: ""]
triggerAll: true, // if set to false only the first "activity" event will be fired [default: false]
});
The script will listen for mouse, keyboard, touch and other custom events inactivity (idle) and fire global "activity" and "inactivity" events.

I have tested this code working file:
var timeout = null;
var timee = '4000'; // default time for session time out.
$(document).bind('click keyup mousemove', function(event) {
if (timeout !== null) {
clearTimeout(timeout);
}
timeout = setTimeout(function() {
timeout = null;
console.log('Document Idle since '+timee+' ms');
alert("idle window");
}, timee);
});

Is it possible to have a function run every 10 seconds, and have that check a "counter" variable? If that's possible, you can have an on mouseover for the page, can you not?
If so, use the mouseover event to reset the "counter" variable. If your function is called, and the counter is above the range that you pre-determine, then do your action.

Here is the best solution I have found:
Fire Event When User is Idle
Here is the JavaScript:
idleTimer = null;
idleState = false;
idleWait = 2000;
(function ($) {
$(document).ready(function () {
$('*').bind('mousemove keydown scroll', function () {
clearTimeout(idleTimer);
if (idleState == true) {
// Reactivated event
$("body").append("<p>Welcome Back.</p>");
}
idleState = false;
idleTimer = setTimeout(function () {
// Idle Event
$("body").append("<p>You've been idle for " + idleWait/1000 + " seconds.</p>");
idleState = true; }, idleWait);
});
$("body").trigger("mousemove");
});
}) (jQuery)

I use this approach, since you don't need to constantly reset the time when an event fires. Instead, we just record the time, and this generates the idle start point.
function idle(WAIT_FOR_MINS, cb_isIdle) {
var self = this,
idle,
ms = (WAIT_FOR_MINS || 1) * 60000,
lastDigest = new Date(),
watch;
//document.onmousemove = digest;
document.onkeypress = digest;
document.onclick = digest;
function digest() {
lastDigest = new Date();
}
// 1000 milisec = 1 sec
watch = setInterval(function() {
if (new Date() - lastDigest > ms && cb_isIdel) {
clearInterval(watch);
cb_isIdle();
}
}, 1000*60);
},

Based on the inputs provided by equiman:
class _Scheduler {
timeoutIDs;
constructor() {
this.timeoutIDs = new Map();
}
addCallback = (callback, timeLapseMS, autoRemove) => {
if (!this.timeoutIDs.has(timeLapseMS + callback)) {
let timeoutID = setTimeout(callback, timeLapseMS);
this.timeoutIDs.set(timeLapseMS + callback, timeoutID);
}
if (autoRemove !== false) {
setTimeout(
this.removeIdleTimeCallback, // Remove
10000 + timeLapseMS, // 10 secs after
callback, // the callback
timeLapseMS, // is invoked.
);
}
};
removeCallback = (callback, timeLapseMS) => {
let timeoutID = this.timeoutIDs.get(timeLapseMS + callback);
if (timeoutID) {
clearTimeout(timeoutID);
this.timeoutIDs.delete(timeLapseMS + callback);
}
};
}
class _IdleTimeScheduler extends _Scheduler {
events = [
'load',
'mousedown',
'mousemove',
'keydown',
'keyup',
'input',
'scroll',
'touchstart',
'touchend',
'touchcancel',
'touchmove',
];
callbacks;
constructor() {
super();
this.events.forEach(name => {
document.addEventListener(name, this.resetTimer, true);
});
this.callbacks = new Map();
}
addIdleTimeCallback = (callback, timeLapseMS) => {
this.addCallback(callback, timeLapseMS, false);
let callbacksArr = this.callbacks.get(timeLapseMS);
if (!callbacksArr) {
this.callbacks.set(timeLapseMS, [callback]);
} else {
if (!callbacksArr.includes(callback)) {
callbacksArr.push(callback);
}
}
};
removeIdleTimeCallback = (callback, timeLapseMS) => {
this.removeCallback(callback, timeLapseMS);
let callbacksArr = this.callbacks.get(timeLapseMS);
if (callbacksArr) {
let index = callbacksArr.indexOf(callback);
if (index !== -1) {
callbacksArr.splice(index, 1);
}
}
};
resetTimer = () => {
for (let [timeLapseMS, callbacksArr] of this.callbacks) {
callbacksArr.forEach(callback => {
// Clear the previous IDs
let timeoutID = this.timeoutIDs.get(timeLapseMS + callback);
clearTimeout(timeoutID);
// Create new timeout IDs.
timeoutID = setTimeout(callback, timeLapseMS);
this.timeoutIDs.set(timeLapseMS + callback, timeoutID);
});
}
};
}
export const Scheduler = new _Scheduler();
export const IdleTimeScheduler = new _IdleTimeScheduler();

As simple as it can get, detect when the mouse moves only:
var idle = false;
document.querySelector('body').addEventListener('mousemove', function(e) {
if(idle!=false)
idle = false;
});
var idleI = setInterval(function()
{
if(idle == 'inactive')
{
return;
}
if(idle == true)
{
idleFunction();
idle = 'inactive';
return;
}
idle = true;
}, 30000); // half the expected time. Idle will trigger after 60 s in this case.
function idleFuntion()
{
console.log('user is idle');
}

Here is an AngularJS service for accomplishing in Angular.
/* Tracks now long a user has been idle. secondsIdle can be polled
at any time to know how long user has been idle. */
fuelServices.factory('idleChecker',['$interval', function($interval){
var self = {
secondsIdle: 0,
init: function(){
$(document).mousemove(function (e) {
self.secondsIdle = 0;
});
$(document).keypress(function (e) {
self.secondsIdle = 0;
});
$interval(function(){
self.secondsIdle += 1;
}, 1000)
}
}
return self;
}]);
Keep in mind this idle checker will run for all routes, so it should be initialized in .run() on load of the angular app. Then you can use idleChecker.secondsIdle inside each route.
myApp.run(['idleChecker',function(idleChecker){
idleChecker.init();
}]);

Surely you want to know about window.requestIdleCallback(), which queues a function to be called during a browser's idle periods.
You can see an elegant usage of this API in the Quicklink repo.
const requestIdleCallback = window.requestIdleCallback ||
function (cb) {
const start = Date.now();
return setTimeout(function () {
cb({
didTimeout: false,
timeRemaining: function () {
return Math.max(0, 50 - (Date.now() - start));
},
});
}, 1);
};
The meaning of the code above is: if the browser supports requestIdleCallback (check the compatibility), uses it. If is not supported, uses a setTimeout(()=> {}, 1) as fallback, which should queue the function to be called at the end of the event loop.
Then you can use it like this:
requestIdleCallback(() => {...}, {
timeout: 2000
});
The second parameter is optional, you might want to set a timeout if you want to make sure the function is executed.

You could probably detect inactivity on your web page using the mousemove tricks listed, but that won't tell you that the user isn't on another page in another window or tab, or that the user is in Word or Photoshop, or WoW and just isn't looking at your page at this time.
Generally, I'd just do the prefetch and rely on the client's multi-tasking. If you really need this functionality, you do something with an ActiveX control in Windows, but it's ugly at best.

Debounce is actually a great idea! Here is a version for jQuery-free projects:
const derivedLogout = createDerivedLogout(30);
derivedLogout(); // It could happen that the user is too idle)
window.addEventListener('click', derivedLogout, false);
window.addEventListener('mousemove', derivedLogout, false);
window.addEventListener('keyup', derivedLogout, false);
function createDerivedLogout (sessionTimeoutInMinutes) {
return _.debounce( () => {
window.location = this.logoutUrl;
}, sessionTimeoutInMinutes * 60 * 1000 )
}

How to pass variable asyncronously through different scripts

I can't figure out how to do it.
I have two separate scripts. The first one generates an interval (or a timeout) to run a specified function every x seconds, i.e. reload the page.
The other script contains actions for a button to control (pause/play) this interval.
The pitfall here is that both sides must be asyncronous (both run when the document is loaded).
How could I properly use the interval within the second script?
Here's the jsFiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/hm2d6d6L/4/
And here's the code for a quick view:
var interval;
// main script
(function($){
$(function(){
var reload = function() {
console.log('reloading...');
};
// Create interval here to run reload() every time
});
})(jQuery);
// Another script, available for specific users
(function($){
$(function(){
var $playerButton = $('body').find('button.player'),
$icon = $playerButton.children('i');
buttonAction = function(e){
e.preventDefault();
if ($(this).hasClass('playing')) {
// Pause/clear interval here
$(this).removeClass('playing').addClass('paused');
$icon.removeClass('glyphicon-pause').addClass('glyphicon-play');
}
else {
// Play/recreate interval here
$(this).removeClass('paused').addClass('playing');
$icon.removeClass('glyphicon-play').addClass('glyphicon-pause');
}
},
buttonInit = function() {
$playerButton.on('click', buttonAction);
};
buttonInit();
});
})(jQuery);

You could just create a simple event bus. This is pretty easy to create with jQuery, since you already have it in there:
// somewhere globally accessible (script 1 works fine)
var bus = $({});
// script 1
setInterval(function() {
reload();
bus.trigger('reload');
}, 1000);
// script 2
bus.on('reload', function() {
// there was a reload in script 1, yay!
});

I've found a solution. I'm sure it's not the best one, but it works.
As you pointed out, I eventually needed at least one global variable to act as a join between both scripts, and the use of a closure to overcome asyncronous issues. Note that I manipulate the button within reload, just to remark that sometimes it's not as easy as moving code outside in the global namespace:
Check it out here in jsFiddle: yay! this works!
And here's the code:
var intervalControl;
// main script
(function($){
$(function(){
var $playerButton = $('body').find('button.player'),
reload = function() {
console.log('reloading...');
$playerButton.css('top', parseInt($playerButton.css('top')) + 1);
};
var interval = function(callback) {
var timer,
playing = false;
this.play = function() {
if (! playing) {
timer = setInterval(callback, 2000);
playing = true;
}
};
this.pause = function() {
if (playing) {
clearInterval(timer);
playing = false;
}
};
this.play();
return this;
};
intervalControl = function() {
var timer = interval(reload);
return {
play: function() {
timer.play();
},
pause: function(){
timer.pause();
}
}
}
});
})(jQuery);
// Another script, available for specific users
(function($){
$(function(){
var $playerButton = $('body').find('button.player'),
$icon = $playerButton.children('i'),
interval;
buttonAction = function(e){
e.preventDefault();
if ($(this).hasClass('playing')) {
interval.pause();
$(this).removeClass('playing').addClass('paused');
$icon.removeClass('glyphicon-pause').addClass('glyphicon-play');
}
else {
interval.play();
$(this).removeClass('paused').addClass('playing');
$icon.removeClass('glyphicon-play').addClass('glyphicon-pause');
}
},
buttonInit = function() {
$playerButton.on('click', buttonAction);
interval = intervalControl();
};
buttonInit();
});
})(jQuery);
Any better suggestion is most welcome.

What is the better way to get mouse hold time?

I'm trying to count the time that player is holding the mouse button down. I tried this but it didn't works:
var Game = cc.Layer.extend({
count: false,
countTimer: null,
init: function () {
var selfPointer = this;
this.canvas.addEventListener('mousedown', function(evt) {
selfPointer.count = true;
selfPointer.countTimer = window.setTimeout(selfPointer.Count(), 1);
});
this.canvas.addEventListener('mouseup', function(evt) {
selfPointer.count= false;
window.clearTimeout(selfPointer.countTimer);
});
},
Count: function() {
if (this.count)
{
window.setTimeout(this.Count(), 1);
}
}
This is a part of my code(for brevity) that I want to do an action any 1 milisecond if player is holding the button.
This isn't working besides, I presume that is a better way to do this than mine way. Any ideas?

Why do you use timeouts for this simple task? You can just get time of mousedown, time of mouseup and calculate difference of them. Anyway, timer resolution in browsers is less than 1ms. Read this article of Nickolas Zakas to get more info about time resolution.
Code is:
var Game = cc.Layer.extend({
init: function () {
var holdStart = null,
holdTime = null;
this.canvas.addEventListener('mousedown', function(evt) {
holdStart = Date.now()
});
this.canvas.addEventListener('mouseup', function(evt) {
holdTime = Date.now() - holdStart;
// now in holdTime you have time in milliseconds
});
}

Well if you are targeting newer browsers that are HTML5 compatible you can use web workers for this kind of task. Simply post a message to the web worker on mouse press to start the timer. The web worker can post a message back every 1 ms ish to trigger your in game action and then on mouse release, post another message to the web worker telling it to stop.
Here is just a quick example of how that would work. You would need to run from a local server to have web workers working.
Game.js
function start() {
var worker = new Worker("ActionTrigger.js");
worker.addEventListener('message', function(objEvent) {
console.log("Holding");
});
worker.postMessage("start");
window.onmousedown = function() {
console.log("Mouse press");
worker.postMessage("startTrigger");
}
window.onmouseup = function() {
console.log("Mouse release");
worker.postMessage("endTrigger");
}
}
ActionTrigger.js
var trigger = false;
var interval = 1;
self.addEventListener('message', function(objEvent) {
if(objEvent.data == 'startTrigger')
trigger = true;
else if(objEvent.data == 'endTrigger')
trigger = false;
else if(objEvent.data == 'start')
timerCountdown();
});
function timerCountdown() {
if(trigger)
postMessage("");
setTimeout(timerCountdown,interval);
}

You could use something like this:
http://jsfiddle.net/yE8sh/
//Register interval handle
var timer;
$(document).mousedown(function(){
//Starts interval. Run once every 1 millisecond
timer=self.setInterval(add,1);
});
$(document).mouseup(function(){
//Clears interval on mouseup
timer=window.clearInterval(timer);
});
function add(){
//The function to run
$("body").append("a");
}

jQuery scroll() detect when user stops scrolling

Ok with this..
$(window).scroll(function()
{
$('.slides_layover').removeClass('showing_layover');
$('#slides_effect').show();
});
I can tell when someone is scrolling from what I understand. So with that I am trying to figure out how to catch when someone has stopped. From the above example you can see I am removing a class from a set of elements while the scrolling is occurring. However, I want to put that class back on when the user stops scrolling.
The reason for this is I am intent on having a layover show while the page is scrolling to give the page a special effect I am attempting to work on. But the one class I am trying to remove while scrolling conflicts with that effect as its a transparency effect to some nature.

$(window).scroll(function() {
clearTimeout($.data(this, 'scrollTimer'));
$.data(this, 'scrollTimer', setTimeout(function() {
// do something
console.log("Haven't scrolled in 250ms!");
}, 250));
});
Update
I wrote an extension to enhance jQuery's default on-event-handler. It attaches an event handler function for one or more events to the selected elements and calls the handler function if the event was not triggered for a given interval. This is useful if you want to fire a callback only after a delay, like the resize event, or such.
It is important to check the github-repo for updates!
https://github.com/yckart/jquery.unevent.js
;(function ($) {
var on = $.fn.on, timer;
$.fn.on = function () {
var args = Array.apply(null, arguments);
var last = args[args.length - 1];
if (isNaN(last) || (last === 1 && args.pop())) return on.apply(this, args);
var delay = args.pop();
var fn = args.pop();
args.push(function () {
var self = this, params = arguments;
clearTimeout(timer);
timer = setTimeout(function () {
fn.apply(self, params);
}, delay);
});
return on.apply(this, args);
};
}(this.jQuery || this.Zepto));
Use it like any other on or bind-event handler, except that you can pass an extra parameter as a last:
$(window).on('scroll', function(e) {
console.log(e.type + '-event was 250ms not triggered');
}, 250);
http://yckart.github.com/jquery.unevent.js/
(this demo uses resize instead of scroll, but who cares?!)

Using jQuery throttle / debounce
jQuery debounce is a nice one for problems like this. jsFidlle
$(window).scroll($.debounce( 250, true, function(){
$('#scrollMsg').html('SCROLLING!');
}));
$(window).scroll($.debounce( 250, function(){
$('#scrollMsg').html('DONE!');
}));
The second parameter is the "at_begin" flag. Here I've shown how to execute code both at "scroll start" and "scroll finish".
Using Lodash
As suggested by Barry P, jsFiddle, underscore or lodash also have a debounce, each with slightly different apis.
$(window).scroll(_.debounce(function(){
$('#scrollMsg').html('SCROLLING!');
}, 150, { 'leading': true, 'trailing': false }));
$(window).scroll(_.debounce(function(){
$('#scrollMsg').html('STOPPED!');
}, 150));

Rob W suggected I check out another post here on stack that was essentially a similar post to my original one. Which reading through that I found a link to a site:
http://james.padolsey.com/javascript/special-scroll-events-for-jquery/
This actually ended up helping solve my problem very nicely after a little tweaking for my own needs, but over all helped get a lot of the guff out of the way and saved me about 4 hours of figuring it out on my own.
Seeing as this post seems to have some merit, I figured I would come back and provide the code found originally on the link mentioned, just in case the author ever decided to go a different direction with the site and ended up taking down the link.
(function(){
var special = jQuery.event.special,
uid1 = 'D' + (+new Date()),
uid2 = 'D' + (+new Date() + 1);
special.scrollstart = {
setup: function() {
var timer,
handler = function(evt) {
var _self = this,
_args = arguments;
if (timer) {
clearTimeout(timer);
} else {
evt.type = 'scrollstart';
jQuery.event.handle.apply(_self, _args);
}
timer = setTimeout( function(){
timer = null;
}, special.scrollstop.latency);
};
jQuery(this).bind('scroll', handler).data(uid1, handler);
},
teardown: function(){
jQuery(this).unbind( 'scroll', jQuery(this).data(uid1) );
}
};
special.scrollstop = {
latency: 300,
setup: function() {
var timer,
handler = function(evt) {
var _self = this,
_args = arguments;
if (timer) {
clearTimeout(timer);
}
timer = setTimeout( function(){
timer = null;
evt.type = 'scrollstop';
jQuery.event.handle.apply(_self, _args);
}, special.scrollstop.latency);
};
jQuery(this).bind('scroll', handler).data(uid2, handler);
},
teardown: function() {
jQuery(this).unbind( 'scroll', jQuery(this).data(uid2) );
}
};
})();

I agreed with some of the comments above that listening for a timeout wasn't accurate enough as that will trigger when you stop moving the scroll bar for long enough instead of when you stop scrolling. I think a better solution is to listen for the user letting go of the mouse (mouseup) as soon as they start scrolling:
$(window).scroll(function(){
$('#scrollMsg').html('SCROLLING!');
var stopListener = $(window).mouseup(function(){ // listen to mouse up
$('#scrollMsg').html('STOPPED SCROLLING!');
stopListner(); // Stop listening to mouse up after heard for the first time
});
});
and an example of it working can be seen in this JSFiddle

ES6 style with checking scrolling start also.
function onScrollHandler(params: {
onStart: () => void,
onStop: () => void,
timeout: number
}) {
const {onStart, onStop, timeout = 200} = params
let timer = null
return (event) => {
if (timer) {
clearTimeout(timer)
} else {
onStart && onStart(event)
}
timer = setTimeout(() => {
timer = null
onStop && onStop(event)
}, timeout)
}
}
Usage:
yourScrollableElement.addEventListener('scroll', onScrollHandler({
onStart: (event) => {
console.log('Scrolling has started')
},
onStop: (event) => {
console.log('Scrolling has stopped')
},
timeout: 123 // Remove to use default value
}))

You could set an interval that runs every 500 ms or so, along the lines of the following:
var curOffset, oldOffset;
oldOffset = $(window).scrollTop();
var $el = $('.slides_layover'); // cache jquery ref
setInterval(function() {
curOffset = $(window).scrollTop();
if(curOffset != oldOffset) {
// they're scrolling, remove your class here if it exists
if($el.hasClass('showing_layover')) $el.removeClass('showing_layover');
} else {
// they've stopped, add the class if it doesn't exist
if(!$el.hasClass('showing_layover')) $el.addClass('showing_layover');
}
oldOffset = curOffset;
}, 500);
I haven't tested this code, but the principle should work.

function scrolled() {
//do by scroll start
$(this).off('scroll')[0].setTimeout(function(){
//do by scroll end
$(this).on('scroll',scrolled);
}, 500)
}
$(window).on('scroll',scrolled);
very small Version with start and end ability

This detects the scroll stop after 1 milisecond (or change it) using a global timer:
var scrollTimer;
$(window).on("scroll",function(){
clearTimeout(scrollTimer);
//Do what you want whilst scrolling
scrollTimer=setTimeout(function(){afterScroll()},1);
})
function afterScroll(){
//I catched scroll stop.
}

Ok this is something that I've used before.
Basically you look a hold a ref to the last scrollTop().
Once your timeout clears, you check the current scrollTop() and if they are the same, you are done scrolling.
$(window).scroll((e) ->
clearTimeout(scrollTimer)
$('header').addClass('hidden')
scrollTimer = setTimeout((() ->
if $(this).scrollTop() is currentScrollTop
$('header').removeClass('hidden')
), animationDuration)
currentScrollTop = $(this).scrollTop()
)

please check the jquery mobile scrollstop event
$(document).on("scrollstop",function(){
alert("Stopped scrolling!");
});

For those Who Still Need This Here Is The Solution
$(function(){
var t;
document.addEventListener('scroll',function(e){
clearTimeout(t);
checkScroll();
});
function checkScroll(){
t = setTimeout(function(){
alert('Done Scrolling');
},500); /* You can increase or reduse timer */
}
});

This should work:
var Timer;
$('.Scroll_Table_Div').on("scroll",function()
{
// do somethings
clearTimeout(Timer);
Timer = setTimeout(function()
{
console.log('scrolling is stop');
},50);
});

Here is how you can handle this:
var scrollStop = function (callback) {
if (!callback || typeof callback !== 'function') return;
var isScrolling;
window.addEventListener('scroll', function (event) {
window.clearTimeout(isScrolling);
isScrolling = setTimeout(function() {
callback();
}, 66);
}, false);
};
scrollStop(function () {
console.log('Scrolling has stopped.');
});
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Title</title>
</head>
<body>
.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>.<br>
</body>
</html>

How to detect idle time in JavaScript

Is it possible to detect "idle" time in JavaScript?
My primary use case probably would be to pre-fetch or preload content.
I define idle time as a period of user inactivity or without any CPU usage

Here is a simple script using jQuery that handles mousemove and keypress events.
If the time expires, the page reloads.
<script type="text/javascript">
var idleTime = 0;
$(document).ready(function () {
// Increment the idle time counter every minute.
var idleInterval = setInterval(timerIncrement, 60000); // 1 minute
// Zero the idle timer on mouse movement.
$(this).mousemove(function (e) {
idleTime = 0;
});
$(this).keypress(function (e) {
idleTime = 0;
});
});
function timerIncrement() {
idleTime = idleTime + 1;
if (idleTime > 19) { // 20 minutes
window.location.reload();
}
}
</script>

With vanilla JavaScript:
var inactivityTime = function () {
var time;
window.onload = resetTimer;
// DOM Events
document.onmousemove = resetTimer;
document.onkeydown = resetTimer;
function logout() {
alert("You are now logged out.")
//location.href = 'logout.html'
}
function resetTimer() {
clearTimeout(time);
time = setTimeout(logout, 3000)
// 1000 milliseconds = 1 second
}
};
And initialise the function where you need it (for example: onPageLoad).
window.onload = function() {
inactivityTime();
}
You can add more DOM events if you need to. Most used are:
document.onload = resetTimer;
document.onmousemove = resetTimer;
document.onmousedown = resetTimer; // touchscreen presses
document.ontouchstart = resetTimer;
document.onclick = resetTimer; // touchpad clicks
document.onkeydown = resetTimer; // onkeypress is deprectaed
document.addEventListener('scroll', resetTimer, true); // improved; see comments
Or register desired events using an array
window.addEventListener('load', resetTimer, true);
var events = ['mousedown', 'mousemove', 'keypress', 'scroll', 'touchstart'];
events.forEach(function(name) {
document.addEventListener(name, resetTimer, true);
});
DOM Events list: http://www.w3schools.com/jsref/dom_obj_event.asp
Remember to use window, or document according your needs. Here you can see the differences between them: What is the difference between window, screen, and document in JavaScript?
Code Updated with #frank-conijn and #daxchen improve: window.onscroll will not fire if scrolling is inside a scrollable element, because scroll events don't bubble. In window.addEventListener('scroll', resetTimer, true), the third argument tells the listener to catch the event during the capture phase instead of the bubble phase.

Improving on Equiman's (original) answer:
function idleLogout() {
var t;
window.onload = resetTimer;
window.onmousemove = resetTimer;
window.onmousedown = resetTimer; // catches touchscreen presses as well
window.ontouchstart = resetTimer; // catches touchscreen swipes as well
window.ontouchmove = resetTimer; // required by some devices
window.onclick = resetTimer; // catches touchpad clicks as well
window.onkeydown = resetTimer;
window.addEventListener('scroll', resetTimer, true); // improved; see comments
function yourFunction() {
// your function for too long inactivity goes here
// e.g. window.location.href = 'logout.php';
}
function resetTimer() {
clearTimeout(t);
t = setTimeout(yourFunction, 10000); // time is in milliseconds
}
}
idleLogout();
Apart from the improvements regarding activity detection, and the change from document to window, this script actually calls the function, rather than letting it sit idle by.
It doesn't catch zero CPU usage directly, but that is impossible, because executing a function causes CPU usage. And user inactivity eventually leads to zero CPU usage, so indirectly it does catch zero CPU usage.

I have created a small library that does this:
https://github.com/shawnmclean/Idle.js
Description:
Tiny JavaScript library to report activity of user in the browser
(away, idle, not looking at webpage, in a different tab, etc). that is independent of any
other JavaScript libraries such as jQuery.
Visual Studio users can get it from NuGet by:
Install-Package Idle.js

Here is a rough jQuery implementation of tvanfosson's idea:
$(document).ready(function(){
idleTime = 0;
//Increment the idle time counter every second.
var idleInterval = setInterval(timerIncrement, 1000);
function timerIncrement()
{
idleTime++;
if (idleTime > 2)
{
doPreload();
}
}
//Zero the idle timer on mouse movement.
$(this).mousemove(function(e){
idleTime = 0;
});
function doPreload()
{
//Preload images, etc.
}
})

Similar to Peter J's solution (with a jQuery custom event)...
// Use the jquery-idle-detect.js script below
$(window).on('idle:start', function() {
// Start your prefetch, etc. here...
});
$(window).on('idle:stop', function() {
// Stop your prefetch, etc. here...
});
File jquery-idle-detect.js
(function($, $w) {
// Expose configuration option
// Idle is triggered when no events for 2 seconds
$.idleTimeout = 2000;
// Currently in idle state
var idle = false;
// Handle to idle timer for detection
var idleTimer = null;
// Start the idle timer and bind events on load (not DOM-ready)
$w.on('load', function() {
startIdleTimer();
$w.on('focus resize mousemove keyup', startIdleTimer)
.on('blur', idleStart) // Force idle when in a different tab/window
;
]);
function startIdleTimer() {
clearTimeout(idleTimer); // Clear prior timer
if (idle) $w.trigger('idle:stop'); // If idle, send stop event
idle = false; // Not idle
var timeout = ~~$.idleTimeout; // Option to integer
if (timeout <= 100)
timeout = 100; // Minimum 100 ms
if (timeout > 300000)
timeout = 300000; // Maximum 5 minutes
idleTimer = setTimeout(idleStart, timeout); // New timer
}
function idleStart() {
if (!idle)
$w.trigger('idle:start');
idle = true;
}
}(window.jQuery, window.jQuery(window)))

You can do it more elegantly with Underscore.js and jQuery:
$('body').on("click mousemove keyup", _.debounce(function(){
// do preload here
}, 1200000)) // 20 minutes debounce

My answer was inspired by vijay's answer, but is a shorter, more general solution that I thought I'd share for anyone it might help.
(function () {
var minutes = true; // change to false if you'd rather use seconds
var interval = minutes ? 60000 : 1000;
var IDLE_TIMEOUT = 3; // 3 minutes in this example
var idleCounter = 0;
document.onmousemove = document.onkeypress = function () {
idleCounter = 0;
};
window.setInterval(function () {
if (++idleCounter >= IDLE_TIMEOUT) {
window.location.reload(); // or whatever you want to do
}
}, interval);
}());
As it currently stands, this code will execute immediately and reload your current page after 3 minutes of no mouse movement or key presses.
This utilizes plain vanilla JavaScript and an immediately-invoked function expression to handle idle timeouts in a clean and self-contained manner.

All the previous answers have an always-active mousemove handler. If the handler is jQuery, the additional processing jQuery performs can add up. Especially if the user is using a gaming mouse, as many as 500 events per second can occur.
This solution avoids handling every mousemove event. This result in a small timing error, but which you can adjust to your need.
function setIdleTimeout(millis, onIdle, onUnidle) {
var timeout = 0;
startTimer();
function startTimer() {
timeout = setTimeout(onExpires, millis);
document.addEventListener("mousemove", onActivity);
document.addEventListener("keydown", onActivity);
document.addEventListener("touchstart", onActivity);
}
function onExpires() {
timeout = 0;
onIdle();
}
function onActivity() {
if (timeout) clearTimeout(timeout);
else onUnidle();
//since the mouse is moving, we turn off our event hooks for 1 second
document.removeEventListener("mousemove", onActivity);
document.removeEventListener("keydown", onActivity);
document.removeEventListener("touchstart", onActivity);
setTimeout(startTimer, 1000);
}
}
http://jsfiddle.net/9exz43v2/

I had the same issue and I found a quite good solution.
I used jquery.idle and I only needed to do:
$(document).idle({
onIdle: function(){
alert('You did nothing for 5 seconds');
},
idle: 5000
})
See JsFiddle demo.
(Just for information: see this for back-end event tracking Leads browserload)

If you are targeting a supported browser (Chrome or Firefox as of December 2018) you can experiment with the requestIdleCallback and include the requestIdleCallback shim for unsupported browsers.

You could probably hack something together by detecting mouse movement on the body of the form and updating a global variable with the last movement time. You'd then need to have an interval timer running that periodically checks the last movement time and does something if it has been sufficiently long since the last mouse movement was detected.

I wrote a small ES6 class to detect activity and otherwise fire events on idle timeout. It covers keyboard, mouse and touch, can be activated and deactivated and has a very lean API:
const timer = new IdleTimer(() => alert('idle for 1 minute'), 1000 * 60 * 1);
timer.activate();
It does not depend on jQuery, though you might need to run it through Babel to support older browsers.
https://gist.github.com/4547ef5718fd2d31e5cdcafef0208096

(Partially inspired by the good core logic of Equiman's answer.)
sessionExpiration.js
sessionExpiration.js is lightweight yet effective and customizable. Once implemented, use in just one row:
sessionExpiration(idleMinutes, warningMinutes, logoutUrl);
Affects all tabs of the browser, not just one.
Written in pure JavaScript, with no dependencies. Fully client side.
(If so wanted.) Has warning banner and countdown clock, that is cancelled by user interaction.
Simply include the sessionExpiration.js, and call the function, with arguments [1] number of idle minutes (across all tabs) until user is logged out, [2] number of idle minutes until warning and countdown is displayed, and [3] logout url.
Put the CSS in your stylesheet. Customize it if you like. (Or skip and delete banner if you don't want it.)
If you do want the warning banner however, then you must put an empty div with ID sessExpirDiv on your page (a suggestion is putting it in the footer).
Now the user will be logged out automatically if all tabs have been inactive for the given duration.
Optional: You may provide a fourth argument (URL serverRefresh) to the function, so that a server side session timer is also refreshed when you interact with the page.
This is an example of what it looks like in action, if you don't change the CSS.

Try this code. It works perfectly.
var IDLE_TIMEOUT = 10; //seconds
var _idleSecondsCounter = 0;
document.onclick = function () {
_idleSecondsCounter = 0;
};
document.onmousemove = function () {
_idleSecondsCounter = 0;
};
document.onkeypress = function () {
_idleSecondsCounter = 0;
};
window.setInterval(CheckIdleTime, 1000);
function CheckIdleTime() {
_idleSecondsCounter++;
var oPanel = document.getElementById("SecondsUntilExpire");
if (oPanel)
oPanel.innerHTML = (IDLE_TIMEOUT - _idleSecondsCounter) + "";
if (_idleSecondsCounter >= IDLE_TIMEOUT) {
alert("Time expired!");
document.location.href = "SessionExpired.aspx";
}
}

<script type="text/javascript">
var idleTime = 0;
$(document).ready(function () {
//Increment the idle time counter every minute.
idleInterval = setInterval(timerIncrement, 60000); // 1 minute
//Zero the idle timer on mouse movement.
$('body').mousemove(function (e) {
//alert("mouse moved" + idleTime);
idleTime = 0;
});
$('body').keypress(function (e) {
//alert("keypressed" + idleTime);
idleTime = 0;
});
$('body').click(function() {
//alert("mouse moved" + idleTime);
idleTime = 0;
});
});
function timerIncrement() {
idleTime = idleTime + 1;
if (idleTime > 10) { // 10 minutes
window.location.assign("http://www.google.com");
}
}
</script>
I think this jQuery code is perfect one, though copied and modified from above answers!!
Do not forgot to include the jQuery library in your file!

Pure JavaScript with a properly set reset time and bindings via addEventListener:
(function() {
var t,
timeout = 5000;
function resetTimer() {
console.log("reset: " + new Date().toLocaleString());
if (t) {
window.clearTimeout(t);
}
t = window.setTimeout(logout, timeout);
}
function logout() {
console.log("done: " + new Date().toLocaleString());
}
resetTimer();
//And bind the events to call `resetTimer()`
["click", "mousemove", "keypress"].forEach(function(name) {
console.log(name);
document.addEventListener(name, resetTimer);
});
}());

The problem with all these solutions, although correct, is they are impractical, when taking into account the session timeout valuable set, using PHP, .NET or in the Application.cfc file for ColdFusion developers.
The time set by the above solution needs to sync with the server-side session timeout. If the two do not sync, you can run into problems that will just frustrate and confuse your users.
For example, the server side session timeout might be set to 60 minutes, but the user may believe that he/she is safe, because the JavaScript idle time capture has increased the total amount of time a user can spend on a single page. The user may have spent time filling in a long form, and then goes to submit it. The session timeout might kick in before the form submission is processed.
I tend to just give my users 180 minutes, and then use JavaScript to automatically log the user out. Essentially, using some of the code above, to create a simple timer, but without the capturing mouse event part.
In this way my client side and server-side time syncs perfectly. There is no confusion, if you show the time to the user in your UI, as it reduces. Each time a new page is accessed in the CMS, the server side session and JavaScript timer are reset. Simple and elegant. If a user stays on a single page for more than 180 minutes, I figure there is something wrong with the page, in the first place.

You can use the below mentioned solution
var idleTime;
$(document).ready(function () {
reloadPage();
$('html').bind('mousemove click mouseup mousedown keydown keypress keyup submit change mouseenter scroll resize dblclick', function () {
clearTimeout(idleTime);
reloadPage();
});
});
function reloadPage() {
clearTimeout(idleTime);
idleTime = setTimeout(function () {
location.reload();
}, 3000);
}

I wrote a simple jQuery plugin that will do what you are looking for.
https://github.com/afklondon/jquery.inactivity
$(document).inactivity( {
interval: 1000, // the timeout until the inactivity event fire [default: 3000]
mouse: true, // listen for mouse inactivity [default: true]
keyboard: false, // listen for keyboard inactivity [default: true]
touch: false, // listen for touch inactivity [default: true]
customEvents: "customEventName", // listen for custom events [default: ""]
triggerAll: true, // if set to false only the first "activity" event will be fired [default: false]
});
The script will listen for mouse, keyboard, touch and other custom events inactivity (idle) and fire global "activity" and "inactivity" events.

I have tested this code working file:
var timeout = null;
var timee = '4000'; // default time for session time out.
$(document).bind('click keyup mousemove', function(event) {
if (timeout !== null) {
clearTimeout(timeout);
}
timeout = setTimeout(function() {
timeout = null;
console.log('Document Idle since '+timee+' ms');
alert("idle window");
}, timee);
});

Is it possible to have a function run every 10 seconds, and have that check a "counter" variable? If that's possible, you can have an on mouseover for the page, can you not?
If so, use the mouseover event to reset the "counter" variable. If your function is called, and the counter is above the range that you pre-determine, then do your action.

Here is the best solution I have found:
Fire Event When User is Idle
Here is the JavaScript:
idleTimer = null;
idleState = false;
idleWait = 2000;
(function ($) {
$(document).ready(function () {
$('*').bind('mousemove keydown scroll', function () {
clearTimeout(idleTimer);
if (idleState == true) {
// Reactivated event
$("body").append("<p>Welcome Back.</p>");
}
idleState = false;
idleTimer = setTimeout(function () {
// Idle Event
$("body").append("<p>You've been idle for " + idleWait/1000 + " seconds.</p>");
idleState = true; }, idleWait);
});
$("body").trigger("mousemove");
});
}) (jQuery)

I use this approach, since you don't need to constantly reset the time when an event fires. Instead, we just record the time, and this generates the idle start point.
function idle(WAIT_FOR_MINS, cb_isIdle) {
var self = this,
idle,
ms = (WAIT_FOR_MINS || 1) * 60000,
lastDigest = new Date(),
watch;
//document.onmousemove = digest;
document.onkeypress = digest;
document.onclick = digest;
function digest() {
lastDigest = new Date();
}
// 1000 milisec = 1 sec
watch = setInterval(function() {
if (new Date() - lastDigest > ms && cb_isIdel) {
clearInterval(watch);
cb_isIdle();
}
}, 1000*60);
},

Based on the inputs provided by equiman:
class _Scheduler {
timeoutIDs;
constructor() {
this.timeoutIDs = new Map();
}
addCallback = (callback, timeLapseMS, autoRemove) => {
if (!this.timeoutIDs.has(timeLapseMS + callback)) {
let timeoutID = setTimeout(callback, timeLapseMS);
this.timeoutIDs.set(timeLapseMS + callback, timeoutID);
}
if (autoRemove !== false) {
setTimeout(
this.removeIdleTimeCallback, // Remove
10000 + timeLapseMS, // 10 secs after
callback, // the callback
timeLapseMS, // is invoked.
);
}
};
removeCallback = (callback, timeLapseMS) => {
let timeoutID = this.timeoutIDs.get(timeLapseMS + callback);
if (timeoutID) {
clearTimeout(timeoutID);
this.timeoutIDs.delete(timeLapseMS + callback);
}
};
}
class _IdleTimeScheduler extends _Scheduler {
events = [
'load',
'mousedown',
'mousemove',
'keydown',
'keyup',
'input',
'scroll',
'touchstart',
'touchend',
'touchcancel',
'touchmove',
];
callbacks;
constructor() {
super();
this.events.forEach(name => {
document.addEventListener(name, this.resetTimer, true);
});
this.callbacks = new Map();
}
addIdleTimeCallback = (callback, timeLapseMS) => {
this.addCallback(callback, timeLapseMS, false);
let callbacksArr = this.callbacks.get(timeLapseMS);
if (!callbacksArr) {
this.callbacks.set(timeLapseMS, [callback]);
} else {
if (!callbacksArr.includes(callback)) {
callbacksArr.push(callback);
}
}
};
removeIdleTimeCallback = (callback, timeLapseMS) => {
this.removeCallback(callback, timeLapseMS);
let callbacksArr = this.callbacks.get(timeLapseMS);
if (callbacksArr) {
let index = callbacksArr.indexOf(callback);
if (index !== -1) {
callbacksArr.splice(index, 1);
}
}
};
resetTimer = () => {
for (let [timeLapseMS, callbacksArr] of this.callbacks) {
callbacksArr.forEach(callback => {
// Clear the previous IDs
let timeoutID = this.timeoutIDs.get(timeLapseMS + callback);
clearTimeout(timeoutID);
// Create new timeout IDs.
timeoutID = setTimeout(callback, timeLapseMS);
this.timeoutIDs.set(timeLapseMS + callback, timeoutID);
});
}
};
}
export const Scheduler = new _Scheduler();
export const IdleTimeScheduler = new _IdleTimeScheduler();

As simple as it can get, detect when the mouse moves only:
var idle = false;
document.querySelector('body').addEventListener('mousemove', function(e) {
if(idle!=false)
idle = false;
});
var idleI = setInterval(function()
{
if(idle == 'inactive')
{
return;
}
if(idle == true)
{
idleFunction();
idle = 'inactive';
return;
}
idle = true;
}, 30000); // half the expected time. Idle will trigger after 60 s in this case.
function idleFuntion()
{
console.log('user is idle');
}

Here is an AngularJS service for accomplishing in Angular.
/* Tracks now long a user has been idle. secondsIdle can be polled
at any time to know how long user has been idle. */
fuelServices.factory('idleChecker',['$interval', function($interval){
var self = {
secondsIdle: 0,
init: function(){
$(document).mousemove(function (e) {
self.secondsIdle = 0;
});
$(document).keypress(function (e) {
self.secondsIdle = 0;
});
$interval(function(){
self.secondsIdle += 1;
}, 1000)
}
}
return self;
}]);
Keep in mind this idle checker will run for all routes, so it should be initialized in .run() on load of the angular app. Then you can use idleChecker.secondsIdle inside each route.
myApp.run(['idleChecker',function(idleChecker){
idleChecker.init();
}]);

Surely you want to know about window.requestIdleCallback(), which queues a function to be called during a browser's idle periods.
You can see an elegant usage of this API in the Quicklink repo.
const requestIdleCallback = window.requestIdleCallback ||
function (cb) {
const start = Date.now();
return setTimeout(function () {
cb({
didTimeout: false,
timeRemaining: function () {
return Math.max(0, 50 - (Date.now() - start));
},
});
}, 1);
};
The meaning of the code above is: if the browser supports requestIdleCallback (check the compatibility), uses it. If is not supported, uses a setTimeout(()=> {}, 1) as fallback, which should queue the function to be called at the end of the event loop.
Then you can use it like this:
requestIdleCallback(() => {...}, {
timeout: 2000
});
The second parameter is optional, you might want to set a timeout if you want to make sure the function is executed.

You could probably detect inactivity on your web page using the mousemove tricks listed, but that won't tell you that the user isn't on another page in another window or tab, or that the user is in Word or Photoshop, or WoW and just isn't looking at your page at this time.
Generally, I'd just do the prefetch and rely on the client's multi-tasking. If you really need this functionality, you do something with an ActiveX control in Windows, but it's ugly at best.

Debounce is actually a great idea! Here is a version for jQuery-free projects:
const derivedLogout = createDerivedLogout(30);
derivedLogout(); // It could happen that the user is too idle)
window.addEventListener('click', derivedLogout, false);
window.addEventListener('mousemove', derivedLogout, false);
window.addEventListener('keyup', derivedLogout, false);
function createDerivedLogout (sessionTimeoutInMinutes) {
return _.debounce( () => {
window.location = this.logoutUrl;
}, sessionTimeoutInMinutes * 60 * 1000 )
}