javascript - stop settimeout in recursive function

Question

my problem is that I can not stop a timer.

I had this method to set a timeout from this forum. It supposed to store the identifyer in the global variable. By accident, I found out that it is still running after I hide "mydiv".

I also need to know now, if the recursive function creates multiple instances or just one for the timeouts. Because first I thought that it overwrites "var mytimer" everytime. Now I am not so sure.

What would be a solid way to stop the timer??

var updatetimer= function () {
//do stuff
        setTimeout(function (){updatetimer();}, 10000);

}//end function


//this should start and stop the timer
$("#mybutton").click(function(e) { 
         e.preventDefault();
         if($('#mydiv').is(':visible')){
                   $('#mydiv').fadeOut('normal');
             clearTimeout(updatetimer);

        }else{
                   $('#mydiv').fadeIn('normal');
                   updatetimer();
               }
});

thanks, Richard

Answer 1

I think that most people are getting at the reason why this isn't working, but I thought I would provide you with updated code. It is pretty much the same as yours, except that it assigns the timeout to a variable so that it can be cleared.

Also, the anonymous function in a setTimeout is great, if you want to run logic inline, change the value of 'this' inside the function, or pass parameters into a function. If you just want to call a function, it is sufficient to pass the name of the function as the first parameter.

var timer = null; 

var updatetimer = function () {
    //do stuff

    // By the way, can just pass in the function name instead of an anonymous
    // function unless if you want to pass parameters or change the value of 'this'
    timer = setTimeout(updatetimer, 10000);
};

//this should start and stop the timer
$("#mybutton").click(function(e) { 
     e.preventDefault();
     if($('#mydiv').is(':visible')){
        $('#mydiv').fadeOut('normal');
        clearTimeout(timer);  // Since the timeout is assigned to a variable, we can successfully clear it now

    } else{
        $('#mydiv').fadeIn('normal');
        updatetimer();
   }
});