Check If Function Can Be Called: Javascript

I'm trying to write a Javascript function that calls doSomething() continuously, as long as some_condition is true. If some_condition becomes false, it should check after five seco

Solution 1:

No, you should not use a while loop. JavaScript is single threaded, and if you have a while loop that never returns, the browser (or your JavaScript environment of choice) will become unresponsive.

You need to use setTimeout to schedule the function.

function enqueueSomething() {
  if (some_condition)
    doSomething();
    // Enqueue ourselves to run again without blocking the thread of execution
    setTimeout(enqueueSomething);
  else
    // Wait 5 seconds, then try again
    setTimeout(enqueueSomething, 5000);
}

You'll need to maintain some state that indicates whether you've previously waiting 5 seconds, and add your error-alerting code.