callable

Higher order functions for working with functions in JavaScript.

Download and installation

To use in a node.js app, install through npm command:

npm install fn-callable

To use in a browser, just download the src/callable.js script and you're good to go. Callable is also compatible with AMD style loaders that use define for declaring modules.

Usage

Simplify calls to setting timeouts:

/**
 * Call someFunction with someScope as the scope in timerDelay milliseconds
 */
Callable.defer(someFunction, someScope, timerDelay);

Cancelling the timeout uses the returned function from Callable.defer:

// defer doing something for one second
this._cancelDoingSomething = Callable.defer(this.doSomething, this, 1000);

// if at some point between now and that one second you decide not to do it
this._cancelDoingSomthing();

Simplify calls to setting intervals:

/**
 * Call someFunction with someScope as the scope ever intervalDelay milliseconds
 * for iterationCount iterations - zero or smaller as iteration count is infinitely
 */
Callable.repeat(someFunction, someScope, intervalDelay, iterationCount);

Intervals are cancelled in the same way as timeouts, by calling the function that they return.

Grouping execution of functions - a nifty trick to run a function only once it has stopped being called, an example use case would be where functions are attached as event handlers that might fire a few hundred times, but only have to do work once they stop being called (such as window resizing etc).

/**
 * Calls someFunction in the scope of someScope after maxDelay seconds. If the same function/scope
 * combination are used within that time, the original request is discarded and a new delay is set
 * up, so the function only gets called once.
 */
Callable.delay(someFunction, someScope, maxDelay);

An example of Callable.delay in action:

function resizeHandler() {
   alert('resized');
}

jQuery(window).on('resize', function() {
   Callable.delay(resizeHandler, this, 10);
});

Using Callable.delay in the callback for the window resize event means the resizeHandler function will only be called once rather than for each pixel change (particularly a problem in old Internet Explorer).