timeout loses variable 2

[eggman]

when I have the following:<br><br>functionX(xyz)<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;codecodecode[xyz];<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;setTimeout(&quot;functionX()&quot;,2000);<br><br>Netscape always says document[xyz] has no properties even though it found it the first time through. Why doesn't it remember it the second time round?

 

[jpl]

When the timeout run the function, call functionX() without parameters, if you want this params the code is:<br>setTimeout(&quot;funcionX(&quot; + x + &quot;,&quot; + y ... &quot&quot;,2000)<br><br>It is that you want

 

[eggman]

thanks. can I ask what is probably a basic programmer question? when i've looked up the plus signs in books, it says it's for concatenation but this doesn't seem like that. also, why have I seen it sometimes surrounded by single and double quotes?

 

[philcha]

setTimeout's function / expression argument is treated as a string which is evaluated when the timeout expires.&nbsp;&nbsp;This has 2 consequences:<br>*&nbsp;&nbsp;you can't directly pass an object as an argument to a function which is called by setTimeout.<br>*&nbsp;&nbsp;getting the punctuation right is a pain, especially if part(s) of the argument(s) to the called function are quoted string(s).&nbsp;&nbsp;This is why you can wind up with mixtures of single quotes and double quotes (usually double quotes for the strings which define the function / expression argument and single quotes for the strings you actually want to pass to the called function).<br><br>I often do the following to check that I've got the punctuation right:<br>*&nbsp;&nbsp;build the function / expression argument in a local variable.<br>*&nbsp;&nbsp;use alert to display the local variable.&nbsp;&nbsp;This allows me to see whether the call I'm generating is the call I want.<br>*&nbsp;&nbsp;pass setTimeout the variable as its function / expression argument.<br>*&nbsp;&nbsp;comment out the alert when it's working.<br><br>For example:<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;var X = &quot;function_name(...........)&quot;;<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;alert(X);<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;setTimeout(X, interval);<br>

 

[eggman]

thanks, philcha. that will be very helpful