Hi all,
Im new to MooTools and Javascript but I have accomplished a fair bit
in a short time. One thing I'm not really sure how to do, is loop a
function repeatedly. I have modified the code at the bottom to try and
get a looping version.
I am trying to create a news ticker like on the BBC website. Just now,
it just displays the last instance in the array, but I need to keep
cycling through all the instances in the array, and then start from
the start again.
I have thought about getting the length of the string, multiplying
that by the speed, and then doing a set-interval to call the function,
but the speed varies so that option will not work.
I then thought about doing a for loop and when x == the length of the
array, start the function again. But the ticker is just reading the
last instance.
I don't need some-one to do this for me, but just need pointed in the
right direction. Should I be using the .delay() method, or is
the .periodical() one the one I want? Do I need to create a chain? Its
a fair bit of code to post so will just post the important bits
(hopefully people can see what I'm trying to do here. After it has
went through the array, start again, but obviously the loop is
finishing quicker than the actual ticker, so that what makes me think
I need to chain the functions and set delays...):
[start code]
//initialization
initialize: function(options)
{
//set options
this.setOptions(options);
//remove 'Hidden' class
if(this.options.container.hasClass('Hidden'))
{
this.options.container.removeClass('Hidden');
};
//retrieve/split/set new html
this.options.initString = this.options.container.innerHTML
this.options.splitString = this.options.initString.split(',');
this.options.container.set('html','<span>Latest:</span>');
},
//start the blogTicker
start: function()
{
//set new news items from split string
this.options.message =
this.options.splitString[this.options.counter];
//for every letter
for(x = 0; x < this.options.message.length; x++)
{
//spits out characters at random pace
var pace = (this.options.delay * x) +
$random(0,this.options.variance);
var current = this.options.message.charAt(x);
//spit out the letter or delete one if backChar is encountered
if(current != this.options.backChar)
{
var go = this.setLetter.delay(pace,this);
}
else
{
var go = this.deleteLetter.delay(pace +
this.options.backDelay,this);
};
};
if(this.options.counter > this.options.splitString.length-1)
{
this.options.counter = 0;
this.initialize();
}
else
{
this.options.counter++;
};
},
//place the newest letter in the container
setLetter: function()
{
//push string into the links now character by character
this.options.container.set('html',this.options.container.get('html')
+ '' + this.options.message.charAt(this.options.cursor));
//increment cursor
this.options.cursor++;
},
[end code]
Like I said, I'm not here for a free ride, I just need pointed in the
right direction as I have seriously spent a lot of time trying
different things.
Many thanks,
Liam
