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execute function only once

I'm writing a greasemonkey script and want to call the start function only once after the page loads - it's for facebook. First I started with following code:
function start(){
alert("hello");
}
start();
The start() function was executed more then once. So I changed the code to following:
jQuery.noConflict();
window.stoop = 0;
jQuery(document).ready(function(){
if(window.stoop == 0){
start();
}
window.stoop = 55;
//or window.stoop++;
});
function start(){
alert("hello");
}
The problem is that the window.stoop value won't change.
I tried with
var stoop = 0;
stoop++;
and
var obj = {};
obj.stoop = 0;
obj.stoop++;
too, but these ways didn't work neither.
What am I doing wrong? I'm in Europe right now -it's night, so I will answer your questions later.

The issue is that your whole Greasemonkey script is executing more than once. Greasemonkey will run on iframes, just as though they were the main page -- if the iframe matches the #include, #exclude, and #match directives of your script.
There is no point in trying to track state like that, the function will only run once per script execution, unless you deliberately call it more than once (Which is not shown in the question). And scripts can't normally share information between execution instances (nor is that needed here).
Also, there is no need to use jQuery(document).ready() because, unless you are injecting the script into the target page, Greasemonkey fires at document.ready by default.
To solve the multiple run issue:
Tune your #include, #exclude, and #match directives to eliminate as many undesired iframes as you reasonably can.
Add code like this near the top of your script:
if (window.top != window.self) //-- Don't run on frames or iframes.
return;

IE9 not running javascript onload

For some reason, IE9 is not running my JavaScript code onload when the browser is launched for the first time that session. It seems to only run onload after the user refreshes the page. It will also run the JavaScript when the debug console is open.
How do I make it so the JavaScript runs onload after the browser is open? Is this just a bug of IE9?
I'll restate this so you understand: The code DOESN'T run if you go to the site after launching a new browser session. The code DOES run if you open the site in a new tab, or reload the page, or open the debug console
Here is the function I use to run my script onload (which works fine in NORMAL browsers):
(function (i) {
var u = navigator.userAgent;
var e = /*#cc_on!#*/
false;
var st = setTimeout;
if (/webkit/i.test(u)) {
st(function () {
var dr = document.readyState;
if (dr == "loaded" || dr == "complete") {
i()
} else {
st(arguments.callee, 10);
}
}, 10);
} else if ((/mozilla/i.test(u) && !/(compati)/.test(u)) || (/opera/i.test(u))) {
document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", i, false);
} else if (e) {
(function () {
var t = document.createElement('doc:rdy');
try {
t.doScroll('left');
i();
t = null;
} catch (e) {
st(arguments.callee, 0);
}
})();
} else {
window.onload = i;
}
})(init); //init is the function to call onload

I had the exact same issue that you had. I had a set of images that I wanted to ensure were preloaded before I began starting a slideshow. I was making use of
$(window).load(function(){
//All my code
});
And this is exactly what I was facing.
When I copied and pasted the URL in IE, the onload event did not seem to fire.
If I open the console using F12 and then past the URL in the browser and pressed enter, the everything seemed to be working.
Now that I opened the console at least once,
If I closeed the console and then reloaded the page, the onload was firing.
If I typed the URL and then pressed enter, the onload was firing.
It took me a couple of days to actually figure out what I was doing wrong.
The issue was with the console.log statements. At a lot of places in my code, I had done a lot of console logging. Even one of the plugins that I was using - jplayer has a an uncommented console message somewhere in the code.
The issue was that, unless you open the console at least once in IE, the console object is not available. Which means that the code will fail at the first console.log that it encounters.
Now, I was in no mood to comment out all my console.log statements just for the sake of testing it in IE. So, this is what I did instead. Right at the top of my document.ready jquery function, I wrote this small snippet of code.
if(!window.console){
console={};
console.log = function(){};
}
What it basically does is creates a dummy console.log function placeholder so that the code can run in IE but it will work only as long as console.log is the only console function that you are making use of in your code or in your plugins.
Just my 2 cents. Been pulling my hair over this issue for longer than I care to admit. I hope this is useful to at least someone.

You need to figure out if the code doesn't run at all, I.e. never enters your function, or if it fails on some specific line inside your function. Does IE9 show any warnings or js errors?
The easiest thing to do is stick a bunch of alert() statements in the code to see where it stops and narrow down to that line.
If it never enters your function then you need to look higher, where the call is being made.

Just a small note; When you use any debugging keywords (like console.log) or anything related, IE9 will escape this JS function if and only if the debugger is not on (with F12)
Actually I don't know what else cause a problem, but for me, my problem was the word "console.log" while debugger not on in IE9 ... I know this is already an answered question, but I felt it needs to be be known.

Okay, I figured it out. It has to do with some weird way IE handles IF statements.
In my init function I had two IF statements, one which checked if a variable existed and then logged the value of that variable. The other which checked to see if the value of the same variable was equal to an arbitrary string.
After removing the first IF statement, everything seems to work properly. I also decided to use a different onload function which can be seen below:
if (document.addEventListener) {
document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', init, true);
} else if (document.all && !window.opera){ //Crude test for IE
//Define a "blank" external JavaScript tag
document.write('<script type="text/javascript" id="contentloadtag" defer="defer" src="javascript:void(0)"><\/script>');
var contentloadtag=document.getElementById("contentloadtag");
contentloadtag.onreadystatechange=function(){
if (this.readyState=="complete") {
init();
//ie('open');
}
}
}

Is there a definitive JavaScript (not jQuery) method for checking whether or not a web page has loaded completely?

Is there a definitive JavaScript method for checking whether or not a web page has loaded completely? Completely, meaning 100% complete. HTML, scripts, CSS, images, plugins, AJAX, everything!
As user interaction can effect AJAX, let's assume there is no further user interaction with the page, apart from the initial page request.

What you're asking for is pretty much impossible. There is no way to determine whether everything has loaded completely. Here's why:
On a lot of webpages, AJAX only starts once the onload (or DOMReady) event fires, making the method of using the onload event to see if the page has loaded impossible.
You could theoretically tell if the webpage was performing an AJAX request by overriding window.XMLHttpRequest, but you still couldn't tell if plugins like Flash were still loading or not.
On some sites, like Twitter.com, the page only loads once and simply makes AJAX requests to the server every time the user clicks a link. How do you tell if the page has finished loading on a page like that?
In fact, the browser itself can't be completely certain whether the page has completely finished loading, or whether it's about to make more AJAX requests.
The only way to know for sure that everything loaded is to have every single piece of code on the page that loads something tell your code that it has finished once it loads.
A hacky, incomplete solution: You could try overriding XMLHttpRequest with a function that wraps the existing XMLHttpRequest and returns it. That would allow you to tell if a AJAX event is currently taking place. However, that solution wouldn't work for seeing if plugins are loaded, and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between AJAX events that are triggered at page load and AJAX requests that happen periodically, like the ones on Stack Overflow that change the Stack Exchange icon on the top-left if you have new notifications.
Try something like this:
(function(oldHttpRequest){
// This isn't cross-browser, just a demonstration
// of replacing XMLHttpRequest
// Keep track of requests
var requests_running = 0;
// Override XMLHttpRequest's constructor
window.XMLHttpRequest = function() {
// Create an XMLHttpRequest
var request = new oldHttpRequest();
// Override the send method
var old_send = request.send;
request.send = function () {
requests_running += 1;
old_send.apply(request, arguments);
};
// Wait for it to load
req.addEventListener("load", function() {
requests_running -= 1;
}, false);
// Return our modified XMLHttpRequest
return request;
};
window.addEventListener("load", function() {
// Check every 50 ms to see if no requests are running
setTimeout(function checkLoad() {
if(requests_running === 0)
{
// Load is probably complete
}
else
setTimeout(checkLoad, 50);
}, 50);
}, false);
})(window.XMLHttpRequest)

The:
window.onload
event will fire at this point.

window.onLoad = function(){
//Stuff to do when page has loaded.
}
or
<body onLoad="functionCall()">

Basically ADW and Keith answer the question, but I would suggest not to use window.onload but:
if (window.addEventListener) {
window.addEventListener("load", myfunction, false);
} else {
window.attachEvent("onload", myfunction);
}
function myfunction() {
...
}

Using a combination of window.onload, document.readyState, and callbacks for AJAX requests, you should be able to do what you want. Simply make sure the window has loaded, the DOM is ready for manipulation, and keep track of AJAX requests.
For AJAX in particular, depending on how many requests you make: Increment a variable each time you make a request, and when the variable === the total amount of requests, fire a function. If you don't happen to know the amount of AJAX requests, but know which one would be last, simply have a callback function fire when it finishes.
When all is set and true, fire a final function to do what you want, knowing everything should be loaded.
In regards to Flash and Silverlight applications (not sure if window.onload or document.ready keeps track of those), you could also record the amount of data loaded withing the application, and when the loaded data === the total data, have the application fire a function or increment a variable to the page.
window.onload = function() {
var time = window.setInterval(function() {
if(document.readyState == "interactive") {
increment();
window.clearInterval(time);
}
}, 250);
}
var total = 10, current = 0;
var increment = function() {
current += 1;
if(current === total) { weAreDone(); }
}
function weAreDone() {
// Everything should be done!
}

Here is the non intrusive js function I scripted, using events on load. In this case, I fire events on js script load as this is my js autoloader function, but you can just add event on other items using the same principle. Provided this script looks after js scripts loaded in a dedicated div tag.
function scriptLoaded(e) {
var oLoadedScript = e.target || e.srcElement;
alert ('loaded : ' + oLoadedScript.src);
return false;
}
/**
* Import js lib and fire function ControlData on events
* #param js_librairies
* #returns {Boolean}
*/
function init(){
// lib import
// Locate js in the div
var myscript_location = document.getElementById('js_script_goes_here');
// DEBUG
if (undefined == myscript_location)
alert('div not found');
else
alert('found div : ' + myscript_location);
// to prevent js script from catching in dev mode
var force_js_reload = "?version=1" ;
for (var i=0; i < js_librairies.length ; ++i) {
var my_script = document.createElement('script');
my_script.defer = false;
my_script.src = relative_path + js_librairies[i] + force_js_reload ;
my_script.type = 'text/javascript';
// DEBUG
my_script.onload = scriptLoaded;
myscript_location.appendChild(my_script);
}
return false;
}
/**
* Start non intrusive js
* #param func
*/
function addLoadEvent(func) {
var oldonload = window.onload;
if (typeof window.onload != 'function') {
window.onload = func;
} else {
window.onload = function() {
if (oldonload) {
oldonload();
}
func();
};
}
}
//ONLOAD
addLoadEvent(init);

function r(f){/in/(document.readyState)?setTimeout(r,9,f):f()}
Courtesy: Smallest DOMReady code, ever - Dustin Diaz
Update: And for IE
function r(f){/in/.test(document.readyState)?setTimeout('r('+f+')',9):f()}
P.S: window.onload is a very different thing

The impossible inline Javascript delay/sleep

There is a JavaScript function, of which I have zero control of the code, which calls a function that I wrote. My function uses DOM to generate an iFrame, defines it's src and then appends it to another DOM element. However, before my function returns, and thus allows continued execution of the containing function, it is imperative that the iFrame be fully loaded.
Here are the things that I have tried and why they do not work :
1. The SetTimeout option :
99.999% of the time, this is THE answer. As a matter of fact, in the past decade that I have been mentoring in JavaScript, I have always insisted that code could always be refactored to use this option, and never believed a scenario existed where that was not the case. Well, I finally found one! The problem is that because my function is being called inline, if the very next line is executed before my iFrame finishes loading, it totally neuters my script, and since the moment my script completes, the external script continues. A callback of sorts will not work
2. The "Do nothing" loop :This option you use while(//iFrame is not loaded){//do nothing}. In theory this would not return until the frame is loaded. The problem is that since this hogs all the resources, the iFrame never loads. This trick, although horribly unprofessional, dirty etc. will work when you just need an inline delay, but since I require an external thread to complete, it will not.In FF, after a few seconds, it pauses the script and an alert pops up stating that there is an unresponsive script. While that alert is up, the iFrame is able to load, and then my function is able to return, but having the browser frozen for 10 seconds, and then requiring the user to correctly dismiss an error is a no go.
3. The model dialogue :
I was inspired by the fact that the FF popup allowed the iFrame to load while halting the execution of the function, and thinking about it, I realized that it is because the modal dialogue, is a way of halting execution yet allowing other threads to continue! Brilliant, so I decided to try other modal options. Things like alert() work beautifully! When it pops up, even if only up for 1/10th of a second, the iFrame is able to complete, and all works great. And just in case the 1/10 of a second is not sufficient, I can put the model dialogue in the while loop from solution 2, and it would ensure that the iFrame is loaded in time. Sweet right? Except for the fact that I now have to pop up a very unprofessional dialogue for the user to dismiss in order to run my script. I fought with myself about this cost/benefit of this action, but then I encountered a scenario where my code was called 10 times on a single page! Having to dismiss 10 alerts before acessing a page?! That reminds me of the late 90s script kiddie pages, and is NOT an option.
4. A gazillion other delay script out there:There are about 10 jQuery delay or sleep functions, some of them actually quite cleverly developed, but none worked. A few prototype options, and again, none I found could do it! A dozen or so other libraries and frameworks claimed they had what I needed, but alas they all conspired to give me false hope.
I am convinced that since a built in model dialogue can halt execution, while allowing other threads to continue, there must be some code accessible way to do the same thing with out user input.
The Code is literally thousands upon thousands of lines and is proprietary, so I wrote this little example of the problem for you to work with. It is important to note the ONLY code you are able to change is in the onlyThingYouCanChange function
Test File :
<html>
<head>
</head>
</html>
<body>
<div id='iFrameHolder'></div>
<script type='text/javascript'>
function unChangeableFunction()
{
new_iFrame = onlyThingYouCanChange(document.getElementById('iFrameHolder'));
new_iFrame_doc = (new_iFrame.contentWindow || new_iFrame.contentDocument);
if(new_iFrame_doc.document)new_iFrame_doc=new_iFrame_doc.document;
new_iFrame_body = new_iFrame_doc.body;
if(new_iFrame_body.innerHTML != 'Loaded?')
{
//The world explodes!!!
alert('you just blew up the world! Way to go!');
}
else
{
alert('wow, you did it! Way to go!');
}
}
var iFrameLoaded = false;
function onlyThingYouCanChange(objectToAppendIFrameTo)
{
iFrameLoaded = false;
iframe=document.createElement('iframe');
iframe.onload = new Function('iFrameLoaded = true');
iframe.src = 'blank_frame.html'; //Must use an HTML doc on the server because there is a very specific DOM structure that must be maintained.
objectToAppendIFrameTo.appendChild(iframe);
var it = 0;
while(!iFrameLoaded) //I put the limit on here so you don't
{
//If I was able to put some sort of delay here that paused the exicution of the script, but did not halt all other browser threads, and did not require user interaction we'd be golden!
//alert('test'); //This would work if it did not require user interaction!
}
return iframe;
}
unChangeableFunction();
</script>
</body>
blank_frame.html :
<html>
<head>
</head>
<body style='margin:0px'>Loaded?</body>
</html>
HERE IS THE ANSWER I MADE FROM COMBINING IDEAS FROM RESPONDERS! YOU GUYS ROCK!
new source of the function I was allowed to change :
function onlyThingYouCanChange(objectToAppendIFrameTo)
{
iFrameLoaded = false;
iframe=document.createElement('iframe');
iframe.onload = new Function('iFrameLoaded = true');
iframe.src = 'blank_frame.html'; //Must use an HTML doc on the server because there is a very specific DOM structure that must be maintained.
objectToAppendIFrameTo.appendChild(iframe);
var it = 0;
while(!iFrameLoaded) //I put the limit on here so you don't
{
if (window.XMLHttpRequest)
{
AJAX=new XMLHttpRequest();
}
else
{
AJAX=new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
}
if (AJAX)
{
AJAX.open("GET", 'slow_page.php', false);
AJAX.send(null);
}
else
{
alert('something is wrong with AJAX!');
}
//If I was able to put some sort of delay here that paused the exicution of the script, but did not halt all other browser threads, and did not require user interaction we'd be golden!
//alert('test'); //This would work if it did not require user interaction!
}
return iframe;
}
slow_page.php :
<?
usleep(100000);//sleep for 1/10th of a second, to allow iFrame time to load without DOSing our own server!
?>
I do want to note that I stated that there was nothing outside of that function that I could change, and adding the php page did violate that "rule" but in may case I was able to do that. If I were not able to do that, I could have called blank_frame.html instead of slow_page.php, and it should have only ever needed to call it once (so 2 times per frame load) assuming that it responded in an identical amount of time as the iFrame load. If for some reason the iFrame load was slower, it might call it 2ce (a total of 3 calls to the server)

Yeah, the fact that javascript is single threaded really bites you here. You can use a synchronous ajax call to a purposefully slow page to emulate a sleep, but you aren't going to get the results you want. Why don't you just make sure that your IFrame is loaded before unchangeable function is called?

NB This is extremely hacky, and I wouldn't use it in any real-world situation. Among other potential issues, given sufficient traffic you could end up DDOSing yourself.
You could create sleep functionality by making non-asynchronous (A)JAX calls. In some older browsers this may freeze everything, but at least it won't require any kind of user response.
while (!iFrameLoaded)
{
if (XMLHTTPRequest) {
var request = new XMLHttpRequest();
} else {
var request = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
}
request.open('GET', 'anyoldfile.htm', false);
request.send();
// check if the iframe is loaded and set iFrameLoaded
}

What you really need is an event to be fired when the iFrame content has loaded. This is actually really easy because the page inside the iFrame has its own events and it can access scripts on the parent page. You will need to be able to change the contents of the iFrame though.
In your iFrame, you'll need this piece of code
// Use whichever DOMReady function you like, or window.onload would work
window.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', function() {
if (parent.window.myFunction) {
parent.window.myFunction();
}
}, false);
Then in your parent page, make a function called "myFunction" and put all the scripts you need to fire in there. This should work every time.
Edit: To get this to work you really need two functions. I'm assuming that's really not an option so we'll hack the one function to contain two functions and call the right part when we need it to.
function onlyThingYouCanChange(stringOrObject) {
function createIFrame(objectToAppendIFrameTo) {
// This comment represents all the code that appends your iFrame
}
function onIFrameReady() {
// This comment represents all the stuff you want to happen when the iFrame is ready
}
// The bones of it
if (stringOrObject === "iFrameLoaded") {
onIFrameReady();
} else {
createIFrame(stringOrObject);
}
}
The script in the iFrame should now be changed to something like this:
// Use whichever DOMReady function you like, or window.onload would work
window.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', function() {
if (parent.window.onlyThingYouCanChange) {
parent.window.onlyThingYouCanChange('iFrameLoaded');
}
}, false);
I haven't tested it, but in theory that should do it

A stupefyingly simple ;-} answer using XPCOM:
// Get instance of the XPCOM thread manager.
var threadManager=Components.classes['#mozilla.org/thread-manager;1'].getService(
Components.interfaces.nsIThreadManager);
// Release current thread.
function doThread() {threadManager.currentThread.processNextEvent(false);};
// Event enabled delay, time in ms.
function delay(time) {
var end;
var start=Date.now();
do {
end=Date.now();
doThread();
} while ((end-start) <= time);
}
Works in recent version of Firefox. Sorry no hope for Explorer!

A recursive function might help out in this case. just call the function until a global variable indicates that the frame is loaded
var iFrameStarted = false; //you need two global vars
var iFrameLoaded = false;
function onlyThingYouCanChange(objectToAppendIFrameTo)
{
if (iFrameLoaded=false) // if the frame has loaded then you are done. skip everything and return iframe
{ if (iFrameStarted = false) //otherwise start the frame if it has not been
{
iFrameStarted = true;
iframe=document.createElement('iframe');
iframe.onload = new Function('iFrameLoaded = true');
iframe.src = 'blank_frame.html'; //Must use an HTML doc on the server because there is a very specific DOM structure
objectToAppendIFrameTo.appendChild(iframe);
var it = 0;
for (i=0;i<10000;i++) {} //slow down execution so you are not recursing yourself to death
onlyThingYouCanChange(objectToAppendIFrameTo); //start the recursion process
}
else //the frame has been started so continue recursion until the frame loaded
{
for (i=0;i<10000;i++) {} //slow down execution so you are not recursing yourself to death
onlyThingYouCanChange(objectToAppendIFrameTo); recursively call your function until the frame is loaded
}
}
return iframe; //you only get here when all the recursions are finished
}

Why can you not modify the base code? For example, it could be fairly simple to change the core function from
function unChangeableFunction()
{
new_iFrame = onlyThingYouCanChange(document.getElementById('iFrameHolder'));
new_iFrame_doc = (new_iFrame.contentWindow || new_iFrame.contentDocument);
if(new_iFrame_doc.document)new_iFrame_doc=new_iFrame_doc.document;
new_iFrame_body = new_iFrame_doc.body;
if(new_iFrame_body.innerHTML != 'Loaded?')
{
//The world explodes!!!
alert('you just blew up the world! Way to go!');
}
else
{
alert('wow, you did it! Way to go!');
}
}
To something like this:
function unChangeableFunction()
{
var new_iFrame = onlyThingYouCanChange(document.getElementById('iFrameHolder'));
new_iFrame.onload = function()
{
new_iFrame_doc = (new_iFrame.contentWindow || new_iFrame.contentDocument);
if(new_iFrame_doc.document)new_iFrame_doc=new_iFrame_doc.document;
new_iFrame_body = new_iFrame_doc.body;
if(new_iFrame_body.innerHTML != 'Loaded?')
{
//The world explodes!!!
alert('you just blew up the world! Way to go!');
}
else
{
alert('wow, you did it! Way to go!');
}
};
}
If that doesn't work for you, how about a transparent modification of the original code? Compile it with Javascript Strands and use the built-in futures support to handle this. Note that Javascript 1.7 also supports continuations, but would require changing the code manually to use them.

Another solution that may not be applicable, depending on how much you have simplified the original code. You could set an onload handler, then throw an error, then call unChangeableFunction in your onload handler:
function onlyThingYouCanChange(objectToAppendIFrameTo)
{
// using global variable func_called
if (!func_called) {
func_called = true;
var iframe=document.createElement('iframe');
iframe.src = 'blank_frame.html';
iframe.id = 'myIframe';
iframe.onload = function() {
unChangeableFunction();
};
objectToAppendIFrameTo.appendChild(iframe);
throw new Error('not an error');
} else {
return document.getElementById('myIframe');
}
}
This function (like unChangeableFunction) will be called twice: once in the first instance, then again when the onload handler is triggered. The two different pathways reflect this.
Again, this is hacky, and a definite abuse of JS's error functionality.

you can use cookie and setTimeout like that:
in blank_frame.html add a script:
<script type="text/javascript">
function deleteCookie(cookie_name)
{
var cookie_date=new Date();
cookie_date.setTime(cookie_date.getTime()-1);
document.cookie=cookie_name+="=;expires="+cookie_date.toGMTString();
}
function setCookie(name,value,expires,path,domain,secure){
document.cookie=name+"="+escape(value)+((expires)?"; expires="+expires.toGMTString():"")+((path)?"; path="+path:"")+((domain)?"; domain="+domain:"")+((secure)?"; secure":"");
}
window.onload=function(){
setCookie('iframe_loaded','yes',false,'/',false,false);
}
</script>
Basically you're adding a cookie iframe_loaded with value yes.
IMO it's better to remove the cookie as you need to do the same if you'll reload the page.
You can as well set the domain in setCookie function call.
Now in main file we'll use setTimeout with function that will check if the cookie exists, if it does then the function will return iframe like in your code:
function onlyThingYouCanChange(objectToAppendIFrameTo)
{
function get_cookie(cookie_name){
var results = document.cookie.match('(^|;) ?'+cookie_name+'=([^;]*)(;|$)');
return results?unescape(results[2]):null;
}
function deleteCookie(cookie_name){
var cookie_date=new Date();
cookie_date.setTime(cookie_date.getTime()-1);
document.cookie=cookie_name+="=;expires="+cookie_date.toGMTString();
}
iFrameLoaded = false;
iframe=document.createElement('iframe');
iframe.onload = new Function('iFrameLoaded = true');
iframe.src = 'blank_frame.html'; //Must use an HTML doc on the server because there is a very specific DOM structure that must be maintained.
objectToAppendIFrameTo.appendChild(iframe);
var it = 0;
function checkiframe(){
if(get_cookie('iframe_loaded')=="yes"){
alert('iframe loaded');
deleteCookie('iframe_loaded');
return iframe;
}else{
setTimeout(checkiframe,1000);
}
}
checkiframe();
}
As a failsafe cookie is being deleted in this file as well.
Hopefully that will give you something to work with :)
Cheers
G.

How to control Javascript threading and redrawing in IE7

I've got a sequence of Javascript function calls in a function I have defined to be executed when a web doc is ready. I expected them to be executed in sequence, as one ends the next begins, but the behaviour I see doesn't match up with that.
Additionally there is manipulation of the graphical components going on in between the calls (for example, I add in a checkpoint time to draw on a div on the page inbetween each of the mentioned calls) but those redraws aren't happening in sequence... they all happen at once.
I'm a bit of a n00b with the whole javascript-in-the-browser thing, is there an obvious mistake I'm making, or a good resource to go find out how to do this stuff?
Update - sample
// called onReady()
function init() {
doFirstThing();
updateDisplayForFirstThing();
doSecondThingWithAjaxCall();
updateDisplayForSecondThing();
...
reportAllLoaded();
}

IE won't update the display until the current script is finished running. If you want to redraw in the middle of a sequence of events, you'll have to break your script up using timeouts.
If you post some code we can help refactor it.
edit: here's a general pattern to follow.
function init() {
doFirstThing();
updateDisplayForFirstThing();
}
function updateDisplayForFirstThing() {
// existing code
...
// prepare next sequence
var nextFn = function() {
// does this method run async? if so you'll have to
// call updateDisplayForSecondThing as a callback method for the
// ajax call rather than calling it inline here.
doSecondThingWithAjaxCall();
updateDisplayForSecondThing();
}
setTimeout(nextFn, 0);
}
function updateDisplayForSecondThing() {
// existing code
...
// prepare next sequence
var nextFn = function() {
// continue the pattern
// or if you're done call the last method
reportAllLoaded();
}
setTimeout(nextFn, 0);
}

This can be fixed for many cases by using callbacks, especially with AJAX calls -- for example:
function doFirstThing(fn){
// doing stuff
if(typeof fn == 'function') fn();
}
function updateDisplayForFirstThing(){
// doing other stuff
}
function init(){
doFirstThing(updateDisplayForFirstThing);
}
Another option is to use return values:
function doFirstThing(fn){
// doing stuff
if(x) return true;
else return false;
}
function updateDisplayForFirstThing(){
// doing other stuff
return true;
}
function init(){
if(doFirstThing()){ updateDisplayForFirstThing(); }
}
setting timeouts to step through your code is not really a good way to fix this problem because you'd have to set your timeouts for the maximum length of time each piece of code could possibly take to execute.
However, you may still sometimes need to use a setTimeout to ensure the DOM has properly updated after certain actions.

If you end up deciding that you would like some JavaScript threading, check out the still being drafted Web Workers API. Browser support is hit and miss though the API is implemented in most modern web browsers.
Question: exactly how did you go about determining when the "doc is ready"? The DOMContentLoaded event isn't supported in IE I'm fairly certain... if you're in need of waiting for your document to load in its entirety you could use something like this:
var onReady = function(callback) {
if (document.addEventListener) {
document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", callback, false);
return true;
} else if (document.attachEvent) {
var DOMContentLoaded = function() {
if (document.readyState === "complete") {
document.detachEvent("onreadystatechange", DOMContentLoaded);
onReady();
}
};
return true;
}
};
Then of course you'll need to develop a setTimeout testing for some flags state indicating the page is loaded upon completion before continuing the execution of the rest of your code... that or any number of other methods...
Or you could just include the script at the bottom of your body...
I'm just rambling though until you have some code to show us?