How to delay the .keyup() handler until the user stops typing?

Question

I’ve got a search field. Right now it searches for every keyup. So if someone types “Windows”, it will make a search with AJAX for every keyup: “W”, “Wi”, “Win”, “Wind”, “Wi

Answer 1

Another slight enhancement on CMS's answer. To easily allow for separate delays, you can use the following:

function makeDelay(ms) {
    var timer = 0;
    return function(callback){
        clearTimeout (timer);
        timer = setTimeout(callback, ms);
    };
};

If you want to reuse the same delay, just do

var delay = makeDelay(250);
$(selector1).on('keyup', function() {delay(someCallback);});
$(selector2).on('keyup', function() {delay(someCallback);});

If you want separate delays, you can do

$(selector1).on('keyup', function() {makeDelay(250)(someCallback);});
$(selector2).on('keyup', function() {makeDelay(250)(someCallback);});