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

Delay function to call up on every keyup. jQuery 1.7.1 or up required

jQuery.fn.keyupDelay = function( cb, delay ){
  if(delay == null){
    delay = 400;
  }
  var timer = 0;
  return $(this).on('keyup',function(){
    clearTimeout(timer);
    timer = setTimeout( cb , delay );
  });
}

Usage: $('#searchBox').keyupDelay( cb );