i have a locate function defined in javascript

var locID;

function locateMe()
{
    if(locID > 0)
    {
        // i do a jquery post here
    }

    setTimeout(locateMe, 2000);
} 

// my document ready function is here, and inside it, at the end of it
// i do this
locID = 0;
locateMe();

when i test this code in firefox, the locateMe function is called every two seconds and works as expected. when i test the code in IE8 the function is never called (at least it appears to never be called from what i can see using IE's developer tools)

note: there is code defined in a click event handler for the 'zone_row' class that modifies locID. again, in firefox everything works as expected. the strange thing is, in IE when a zone_row is clicked the function WILL be called ONCE. i can see that both on the developer tools and through the result of the action of that jquery post.

i figured there is just some anomly with IE that i am not familiar with yet. what am i doing wrong?

EDIT: changed "locateMe();" to locateMe inside the setTimeout call.

UPDATE: adding more of my code (per request in ments) to show placement (albeit not much more code than my first post).

<script type="text/javascript">
    var z_items;
    var locID;

    function locateMe()
    {
            if(locID > 0)
            {
                    // my jquery post is here                   
            }   

            setTimeout(locateMe, 2000);
    }

    $(document).ready(function()
    {
            // ... some click events and get requests here ...

            locID = 0;
            locateMe();
    });
</script>

i also tried wrapping the call in a setTimeout (no effect) and changing the DOCTYPE (this actually caused IE to never call the function as opposed to now where it calls it ONCE and never again).

i have a locate function defined in javascript

var locID;

function locateMe()
{
    if(locID > 0)
    {
        // i do a jquery post here
    }

    setTimeout(locateMe, 2000);
} 

// my document ready function is here, and inside it, at the end of it
// i do this
locID = 0;
locateMe();

when i test this code in firefox, the locateMe function is called every two seconds and works as expected. when i test the code in IE8 the function is never called (at least it appears to never be called from what i can see using IE's developer tools)

note: there is code defined in a click event handler for the 'zone_row' class that modifies locID. again, in firefox everything works as expected. the strange thing is, in IE when a zone_row is clicked the function WILL be called ONCE. i can see that both on the developer tools and through the result of the action of that jquery post.

i figured there is just some anomly with IE that i am not familiar with yet. what am i doing wrong?

EDIT: changed "locateMe();" to locateMe inside the setTimeout call.

UPDATE: adding more of my code (per request in ments) to show placement (albeit not much more code than my first post).

<script type="text/javascript">
    var z_items;
    var locID;

    function locateMe()
    {
            if(locID > 0)
            {
                    // my jquery post is here                   
            }   

            setTimeout(locateMe, 2000);
    }

    $(document).ready(function()
    {
            // ... some click events and get requests here ...

            locID = 0;
            locateMe();
    });
</script>

i also tried wrapping the call in a setTimeout (no effect) and changing the DOCTYPE (this actually caused IE to never call the function as opposed to now where it calls it ONCE and never again).

• javascript
• internet-explorer
• settimeout

Share Improve this question Follow edited Feb 4, 2011 at 21:02 trh178 asked Feb 4, 2011 at 19:52 trh178trh178 11.7k55 gold badges2929 silver badges3838 bronze badges 5

• 2 change setTimeout("locateMe()", 2000); to setTimeout(locateMe, 2000); first. – Sean Commented Feb 4, 2011 at 20:08
• 1 Actually, setTimeout("locateMe()",2000); works just fine for me (Win7 in FF3.6 and IE8). What DOCTYPE are you using? Also, where is your code placed? Have you tried wrapping the first locateMe() call in a timeout (maybe something is clobbering you during page load)? Last, replace your if(locId>0){...} with testID++;test=document.getElementById("TEST");test.innerHTML=testID;. – Brett Pontarelli Commented Feb 4, 2011 at 20:31
• hmmm... i did not consider DOCTYPE. it is set now as strict. bad idea? (<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "w3/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">) – trh178 Commented Feb 4, 2011 at 20:33
• @Brett - bingo! the testID suggestion was a great one. thats the kind of thing i never think of when 'debugging' internet stuff (bc im not used to this kind of programming). i did that and got a warning from IE8 about not running activeX controls. as soon as i hit 'allow blocked content' the testID started incrementing. – trh178 Commented Feb 4, 2011 at 21:11
• still not working. i assumed since Brett's ment worked that the POST would now work. it does not. i have both the counter and the POST in there. i can see the counter increase, indicating the function is actually being called. i dl fiddler to monitor traffic. i only ever see ONE post go out. just a note, i also displayed the locID below the counter. it is indeed the correct ID every time (i.e. NOT zero) so i should be getting into the if to send the post. im lost again now. im not sure how i can be calling the function with the correct locID and NOT send out the post?? – trh178 Commented Feb 7, 2011 at 13:19

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3 Answers 3

Sorted by: Reset to default 2

problem solved. i found an answer to another problem i was having from this post:

Prevent browser caching of jQuery AJAX call result

upon adding $.ajaxSetup({ cache: false }); to my document ready function, it solved THIS problem too. it looks like all this time it was a caching issue.

I've found that for IE (even IE9) that if you nest the self-called function in an anonymous function it works. But it does look like Toddeman's problem was related to the ajax part.

So the code would be:

function locateMe()
{
    /* ... */   

    //IE way (still works in Chrome and FF):
    setTimeout(function () { locateMe(); }, 2000);

    //original: setTimeout(locateMe, 2000);
}

Use

setTimeout( locateMe, 2000 );