setTimout with Javascript for automation

Question

I have tried to use a window.setTimeout but I get an error at runtime:

Error on line 182: TypeError: window.setTimeout is not a function. (In

window.setTimeout(function(){

}, 3000);

,window.setTimeout is undefined) (-2700)

Can someone help me ?

Answer 1

First, JXA does not have window as the global object because it is not a browser. You can access the global object via the top level this or, more simply, omit the global object to access the global variables and functions directly.

this.Math.sin(1)
// or
Math.sin(1)

Second, JXA has no support for setTimeout currently. This is the essential reason why you got the error that setTimeout is undefined.

However, you can emulate setTimeout with its Objective-C bridge. This is an example implementation of setTimeout with NSTimer. Note that working with NSTimer in JXA requires to start NSRunLoop manually.

function timer (repeats, func, delay) {
  var args = Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments, 2, -1)
  args.unshift(this)
  var boundFunc = func.bind.apply(func, args)
  var operation = $.NSBlockOperation.blockOperationWithBlock(boundFunc)
  var timer = $.NSTimer.timerWithTimeIntervalTargetSelectorUserInfoRepeats(
    delay / 1000, operation, 'main', null, repeats
  )
  $.NSRunLoop.currentRunLoop.addTimerForMode(timer, "timer")
  return timer
}

function invalidate(timeoutID) {
  timeoutID.invalidate
}

var setTimeout = timer.bind(undefined, false)
var setInterval = timer.bind(undefined, true)
var clearTimeout = invalidate
var clearInterval = invalidate


setTimeout(function() {
  console.log(123)
}, 1000)

$.NSRunLoop.currentRunLoop.runModeBeforeDate("timer", $.NSDate.distantFuture)

Answer 2

There is a global delay(seconds) function you can call.

...
delay(0.2);
...

See: https://github.com/dtinth/JXA-Cookbook/wiki/System-Events#example-of-sending-copy-command

Answer 3

There is nothing asynchronous in JXA. You can use delay(3), but nothing else executes.

You can fire off another task with $.system("yourCommand &"), it runs asynchronously. Here is a little demo that speaks asynchronously. It could be another script that does whatever you need

ObjC.import("stdlib")
var app = Application.currentApplication()
app.includeStandardAdditions = true
$.system("(sleep 2;say hurry up!)&") // see the difference when you remove the &
prompt("are you ready?", "yes")
function prompt(text, defaultAnswer) {
  var options = { defaultAnswer: defaultAnswer || "" }
  try {
    return app.displayDialog(text, options).textReturned
  } catch (e) {
    return null
  }
}