Run javascript function when user finishes typing instead of on key up?

Question

I want to trigger an ajax request when the user has finished typing in a text box. I don\'t want it to run the function on every time the user types a letter because that wo

Answer 1

Multiple timers per page

All the other answers only work for one control (my other answer included). If you have multiple controls per page (e.g. in a shopping cart) only the last control where the user typed something will get called. In my case this is certainly not the wished behaviour - each control should have its own timer.

To solve this, you simply have to pass an ID to the function and maintain a timeoutHandles dictionary as in the following code:

Function Declaration:

var delayUserInput = (function () {
    var timeoutHandles = {};    
    return function (id, callback, ms) {        
        if (timeoutHandles[id]) {
            clearTimeout(timeoutHandles[id]);
        }

        timeoutHandles[id] = setTimeout(callback, ms);             
    };
})();

Function Usage:

  delayUserInput('yourID', function () {
     //do some stuff
  }, 1000);