Using Timeout

Using timeouts in Javascript enables a preset delay to be set before a piece of code actions. for example we could have a layer revealed when the page loads, which after a predefined time disappears. Whilst a timeout is active the browser will continue to do other things. However, once the timeout comes to an end the browser will act on the code specified.

A timeout is started with the setTimeout() method.  This method takes two parameters, the first is a statement which may be a group of statements. This is enclosed in quotes.  The second parameter is the duration of the wait, as this is an integer (multiples or thousands of a second) it is not enclosed in quotes.

For example:

doIt = window.setTimeout(hideLayer('helpLayer',10000)

The variable doIt is used as an identifier for our timeout, this enables us to have more than one timeout active at a time.