I have a javascript requirement which has me stumped, has anybody come across something like this before? i basically need a pause button pending further instruction.

return showPeople();

function showPeople(){
	//display an input box asking user to write a name and click submit...
	//generate a box full of matches to the user input...
//let the user click on one of the options, and return the relevant userid back to show people...
}

the problem with the above code is that it always returns undefined as the showPeople() function thinks its finished as soon as the input field has been generated, i need to pause the function until such a time as the user has chosen an option from the matches generated after they click the search button, then return from show people according to the id of the box they click.

Im intending this showPeople() function to be used from several different functions, so running a separate function from onclick of the selected id box is not practicle as I wouldn’t know which function to return the user to.


Thanks for looking

Mark m

Unfortunately, javascript doesn't come with pause, sleep, or wait.
Your best best is to create a state machine, and add an event on the checkbox.

you could use setInterval and then use a flag to break out of the loop when everything is ready.

The other thing is that a function should only ever do one thing (sometimes more.. but rule of thumb is one), you are making it the whole program.

Originally Posted by stbuchok

The other thing is that a function should only ever do one thing (sometimes more.. but rule of thumb is one), you are making it the whole program.

Bonus points for mentioning SRP.

thanks for the feedback guys, i agree with th srp thing, but i also agree with keeping code to a minimum where possible, and i cant think through what im trying to do without making some very messy scripts.

the srp mentioned above refers to one particular function, what im trying to achieve would require atleast 3 functions to complete, which is fine, but the initial call function needs to return the result of the sub functions, and its becoing apparent that this isnt possible to do when user input is required inside one of the sub functions.

i think im going to make a function which will display items for the user to select, and each time i call it, il send a variable to it with the name of the function which will be called onclick when the user makes their selection like so

function showPeople(returnTo,firstId)
{
var str="<a href=\"#\" onclick=\""+returnTo+"("+id1+")\">".id1."</a>
   str+="<a href=\"#\" onclick=\""+returnTo+"("+id2+")\">".id2."</a>
}

I think we're going to need a little more detail of what you're trying to accomplish.

Do you have a test page somewhere?