Question

I am trying to create a solar sistem in jQuery. I have 5 image planets that move on an ellipse path. When a planet reach the start point it should start again. I can’t make a while because there are 5 planets that must be moved and the browser will be blocked. I must call the function once again after a time (like 8 sec to make a cicle). The planets move slow after a period of time (a few minutes). There is a better way to do this ?

$(window).load(function() {
    solar(10, 1, "#i1", getDim($("#i1")));
    solar(200, 1, "#i2", getDim($("#i2")));
    solar(400, 1, "#i3", getDim($("#i3")));
    solar(400, 0, "#i4", getDim($("#i4")));
    solar(200, 0, "#i5", getDim($("#i5")));
});

function solar(start, dir, id, dim) {
    var nr = 0;
    var i = start;
    while (nr != 2) {
        if (dir == 1) {
            i += step;
            if (Math.abs(i - 2*aa) < step) 
                dir = 1- dir;
        } else {
            i -= step;
            if (Math.abs(i) < step) 
                dir = 1- dir;
        }
        if (Math.abs(i - start) < step) {
            nr++;
        }
        p = getElipsePoint(p, dim);
        $(id).animate(
            {"left": p.x, "top": p.y}, 
            { duration:1 }
        );
    }   
    window.setTimeout(function() { solar(start, dir, id, dim) }, 8000);
 }

Answer 1

You can determine when the animation has finished using a callback. Something like this:

$(id).animate(
            {"left": p.x, "top": p.y}, 
            { duration:1 }, function () { console.log("Begin animation again"); }
        );