Unfortunately, setTimeout() is the only reliable way (not the only way, but the only reliable way) to pause the execution of the script without blocking the UI.
It's not that hard to use actually, instead of writing this:
var x = 1;
// Place mysterious code that blocks the thread for 100 ms.
x = x * 3 + 2;
var y = x / 2;
you use setTimeout() to rewrite it this way:
var x = 1;
var y = null; // To keep under proper scope
setTimeout(function() {
x = x * 3 + 2;
y = x / 2;
}, 100);
I understand that using setTimeout() involves more thought than a desirable sleep() function, but unfortunately the later doesn't exist. Many workarounds are there to try to implement such functions. Some using busy loops:
function sleep(milliseconds) {
var start = new Date().getTime();
for (var i = 0; i < 1e7; i++) {
if ((new Date().getTime() - start) > milliseconds){
break;
}
}
}
Unfortunately, those are workarounds and are likely to cause other problems (such as freezing browsers). It is recommended to simply stick with the recommended way, which is setTimeout()).
This thread has a good discussion and a useful solution:
function pause( iMilliseconds )
{
var sDialogScript = 'window.setTimeout( function () { window.close(); }, ' + iMilliseconds + ');';
window.showModalDialog('javascript:document.writeln ("<script>' + sDialogScript + '<' + '/script>")');
}
Unfortunately it appears that this doesn't work in some versions of IE, but the thread has many other worthy proposals if that proves to be a problem for you.
Use a AJAX function which will call a php page synchronously and then in that page you can put the php usleep() function which will act as a delay.
function delay(t){
var xmlhttp;
if (window.XMLHttpRequest)
{// code for IE7+, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Safari
xmlhttp=new XMLHttpRequest();
}
else
{// code for IE6, IE5
xmlhttp=new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
}
xmlhttp.open("POST","http://www.hklabs.org/files/delay.php?time="+t,false);
//This will call the page named delay.php and the response will be sent to a division with ID as "response"
xmlhttp.send();
document.getElementById("response").innerHTML=xmlhttp.responseText;
}