Pause JS function from another function

Question

Is there any way I can pause the below set of delayed functions from another function? I want to pause everything for 10 seconds by executing another function.

What I need is something like:

function pause(){
pause sleepLoop() for 10 seconds
}

If it is not possible to pause the below execution, can I kill it?

function game() {
sleepLoop();
}
function sleepLoop() {
loop...
setTimeout('gameActions()',5000);
}
function gameActions() {
actions...
sleepLoop();
}

• Snuffleupagus: Blocking running JS is not a good idea. Perhaps if you elaborate why you want to we can give you a better solution?

Answer 1

Store the timer in a variable. Then you can stop it with clearTimeout, and restart it after 10 seconds:

function game() {
 sleepLoop();
}
var sleepLoopTimeout;
function sleepLoop() {
 gameActions();
 sleepLoopTimeout = setTimeout(sleepLoop,5000);
}
function pause(){
 clearTimeout(sleepLoopTimeout);
 setTimeout(sleepLoop, 10000);
}
function gameActions() {
 // Actions
}

Answer 2

var gameTimeout, sleepTimeout;
function game() {
 gameTimeout = setTimeout(sleepLoop, 10000); //start in 10 seconds
}
function sleepLoop() {
 sleepTimeout = setTimeout(gameActions, 5000); //start in 5 secs
}
function gameActions() {
 sleepLoop();
}
//start it off:
game();

Other than the above, I am not sure what you are asking.

---

To kill (clear) the timeouts:

clearTimeout(gameTimeout);
clearTimeout(sleepTimeout);

Answer 3

var blocked = false;
function loopToBePaused()
{
 if (blocked !== false)
 {
 // will check for blocker every 0.1s
 setTimeout(loopToBePaused, 100);
 return;
 }
 // payload
 // normal loop now, e.g. every 1s:
 setTimeout(loopToBePaused, 1000);
}
// somewhere in code run:
blocked = setTimeout(function() {
 // blocking our loop'ed function for 10s
 blocked = false;
}, 10000);
// this will block our main loop for 10s

• Botanick: Rly? Never noticed. You cannot implement game ticks in other way however. Also, timeouts are to be adjusted for every specified task: somewhere longer, somewhere shorter.
• Snuffleupagus: @Neal I don't think this it the most elegant solution but I don't think it'll run slow. Care to elaborate?