[thelist] Re: using setTimeout()/clearTimeout() in a loop

Thu Oct 10 12:07:08 CDT 2002

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hey all,

ive taken the <> of the tags.. so hopefully this is considered plain text..
if not sorry.
thought i might see if you could help me here on something trivial, and
not-so-useful.
basically...ive been coding javascript for about a month as i build my first
website... and i'm going through a book that gave me this exercise. simple
enough i thought. its based on the setTimeout() / clearTimeout() methods.
here's what the exercise says to do:

                               int the  <head> section create a function that
                               displays a message in the status bar three
times,
                               clearing it between each time it is displayed.
each time
                               the message is shown, it should be visible for
400
                               milliseconds and and remain invisible for 200.
when the
                               flashing is done, the message should be
visible
                               in the status bar. the function should be
called in
                              <body onLoad="myFunction()">

knowing that these are automatic methods that can't be manipulated... i tried
to use a counter that didnt work... it does nothing in the code now.. i tried
to use it in a if statement but i get errors and the giant for loop doesnt
work either. i don't really want anything to blink on a page but its the
principle of understanding how to manipulate set/clearTimeout(). they only
way i could control set and clear was to create a button, but as i said, this
exercise seems to want an automatic process. sorry to trouble you with this
and thanks for taking the time if you decide to try it out.

thanks,

wyatt

SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript"

// USE THIS CODE BLOCK FOR SCRIPTS PUT IN THE <HEAD> SECTION

//window.document.write("your current url: " + window.location);

var msg = "hello there, i'm here";
var i = 1;
counter = 0;
function flashStat()
{
for(i=0; i<3; i++)
{
  if(i)
  {
    status = msg;
    i = 0;
    counter = counter++;
  }
  else
  {
    status = " ";
    i = 1;
    clearTimeout("flashStat()", 200);
    return true;
  }

id = setTimeout("flashStat()", 4000);
return true;
}
}
status = msg;

/SCRIPT
/HEAD

BODY onLoad="myFunct"