Question

I am trying to call a setTimeout from within a setInterval callback:

function callback() {    //assign myVar    var myVar = document.getElementById('givenID');    //...    //now wait 2 secs then call some code that uses myVAr    setTimeout('myVar.innerHTML = 'TEST'', 2000); }  setInterval('callback();', 10000); 

setInterval works as expected but setTimeout call is failing. I guess the problem is related to the fact that I am referencing a variable (myVar) that’s not in scope.

What’s the best way to solve this?

Answer 1

This is a perfect candidate for closures:

setInterval(     function ()     {        var myVar = document.getElementById('givenID');        setTimeout(           function()           {               // myVar is available because the inner closure                // gets the outer closures scope               myVar.innerHTML = 'Junk';           },2000);     }, 10000); 

Your problem is scope related, and this would work around that.