Question

I want a function to run when specific images are loaded, but I don’t know how to wait for both to load before running. I only know how to chain them, like below:

Image1 = new Image();
Image1.src = 'image1-link.jpg';

Image2 = new Image();
Image2.src = 'image2-link.jpg';

Image1.onload = function() {
    Image2.onload = function() { ... }
}

The downside to this is it has to wait till Image1 completely loads before getting the second. I want to try something like this:

Image1 = new Image();
Image1.src = 'image1-link.jpg';

Image2 = new Image();
Image2.src = 'image2-link.jpg';

(Image1 && Image2).onload = function() { ... }

EDIT: Thank you both for the help Paul Grime and ziesemer. Both your answers are very good. I think I have to give the best answer to Paul Grime, although his uses more code, I only need to know the src of the images and the onload function is built in while in ziesemer’s answer I need to know both the src, the count of the images, and have to write multiple onload lines.

Depending on the situation, both have their purpose. Thank you both for the help.

Answer 1

This fiddle might help. It’s a simple generic ‘loader’.

http://jsfiddle.net/8baGb/1/

And the code:

// loader will 'load' items by calling thingToDo for each item,
// before calling allDone when all the things to do have been done.
function loader(items, thingToDo, allDone) {
    if (!items) {
        // nothing to do.
        return;
    }

    if ("undefined" === items.length) {
        // convert single item to array.
        items = [items];
    }

    var count = items.length;

    // this callback counts down the things to do.
    var thingToDoCompleted = function (items, i) {
        count--;
        if (0 == count) {
            allDone(items);
        }
    };

    for (var i = 0; i < items.length; i++) {
        // 'do' each thing, and await callback.
        thingToDo(items, i, thingToDoCompleted);
    }
}

function loadImage(items, i, onComplete) {
    var onLoad = function (e) {
        e.target.removeEventListener("load", onLoad);

        // this next line can be removed.
        // only here to prove the image was loaded.
        document.body.appendChild(e.target);

        // notify that we're done.
        onComplete(items, i);
    }
    var img = new Image();
    img.addEventListener("load", onLoad, false);
    img.src = items[i];
}

var items = ['http://bits.wikimedia.org/images/wikimedia-button.png',
             'http://bits.wikimedia.org/skins-1.18/common/images/poweredby_mediawiki_88x31.png',
             'http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png',
             'http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/Icons_example.png'];

loader(items, loadImage, function () {
    alert("done");
});