Delay AJAX from loading? - php

Question

I am programming an online PHP-based fantasy pet simulation game. I am not very familiar with AJAX, so please keep this in mind when answering.
On pet pages, I would like users to be able to feed/water/play with their pets without needing to reload the entire page - that's why I'm using AJAX. Here's what I have so far:
Working Script
$(function() {
$(".petcareFood").click(function(event) {
event.preventDefault();
$("#petcareFood").load($(this).attr("href"));
});
});
$(function() {
$(".petcareWater").click(function(event) {
event.preventDefault();
$("#petcareWater").load($(this).attr("href"));
});
});
$(function() {
$(".petcarePlay").click(function(event) {
event.preventDefault();
$("#petcarePlay").load($(this).attr("href"));
});
});
</script>
Working HTML
<a class=\"petcareFood\" href=\"petcare.php?pet=#&action=#\">Feed Your Pet</a>
<a class=\"petcareWater\" href=\"petcare.php?pet=#&action=#\">Water Your Pet</a>
<a class=\"petcarePlay\" href=\"petcare.php?pet=#&action=#\">Play With Your Pet</a>
NOW, everything that I listed above works like a charm! This is my problem: I want those links to also update another DIV - the one which contains updated status bars showing how hungry/thirsty/unhappy their pet is. Currently, I am doing that like this:
The Almost Working Script
$(function() {
$(".petcareFood").click(function(event) {
event.preventDefault();
$('#petcareHunger').load('ajax/hunger.php?pet=#');
});
});
$(function() {
$(".petcareWater").click(function(event) {
event.preventDefault();
$('#petcareThirst').load('ajax/thirst.php?pet=#');
});
});
$(function() {
$(".petcarePlay").click(function(event) {
event.preventDefault();
$('#petcareMood').load('ajax/mood.php?pet=#');
});
});
The script above makes it so that when a user clicks one of the HTML links, it updates two DIVS (one DIV containing the message displayed when a user feeds/waters/plays with their pet, and the other containing the status bar). Now... that seems all fine well and good, BUT... if both scripts update at exactly same time, then the PHP that handles the status bar is not updated - it's still retrieving old information.
My question to all of you is: Is there any way that I can delay running the second set of script (so that it will update after the PHP makes changes to MySQL)?
I tried inserting this before "the almost working script":
setTimeout(function() {
$('#petcareMood').load('ajax/mood.php?pet=#');
}, 2000);
However, it doesn't work. Well - it does, but just once. Users need to play with their pets at least 3 times a day to achieve 100% happiness, and so delaying the second DIV only once doesn't cut it for me. When I tried adding the same script multiple times, it just stopped working all together. What can I do?!
If you'd like to see screen shots of how things are working, please just ask. I will be happy to provide them upon request.
Thank you in advance!

Answer 1

Instead of a hardcoded delay time, you maybe could use the callback function of the first ajax action:
//trigger first ajax
$("#petcarePlay").load($(this).attr("href"), function(){
//trigger second ajax call, when first is completed
$('#petcareHunger').load('ajax/hunger.php?pet=#');
});
see http://api.jquery.com/load/

Answer 2

You could use the complete parameter to specify a callback function that gets executed when the request completes. Then from within the callback, execute another request which actually updates the divs.
Example:
$(".petcareWater").click(function(event) {
event.preventDefault();
$("#petcareWater").load($(this).attr("href"), function(response, status, xhr) {
// code here to make another request for stats
}
});
Alternatively, you could have the initial URLs return some JSON data that contain the updated stats so when a person does something to/with their pet, it returns all the stats so you can immediately update the div's all with one call rather than having to make a secondary call for the data.

Answer 3

I'm not sure, but i think the ajax constructor is better for your purpose http://api.jquery.com/jQuery.ajax/.
There you can set that the AJAX will be synchronous(It will wait to finish the AJAX callback )
Here is a few theory about it :)
http://javascript.about.com/od/ajax/a/ajaxasyn.htm

Answer 4

Instead of setTimeout, use setInterval. When it's no longer needed, you can kill it using clearInterval.
setInterval will execute a given function every n milliseconds.