The simplest possible JavaScript countdown timer?
Just wanted to ask how to create the simplest possible countdown timer.
There'll be a sentence on the site saying:
"Registration closes in 05:00 minutes!"
So, what I want to do is to create a simple js countdown timer that goes from "05:00" to "00:00" and then resets to "05:00" once it ends.
I was going through some answers before, but they all seem too intense (Date objects, etc.) for what I want to do.
Answer
I have two demos, one with jQuery and one without. Neither use date functions and are about as simple as it gets.
function startTimer(duration, display) {
var timer = duration, minutes, seconds;
setInterval(function () {
minutes = parseInt(timer / 60, 10);
seconds = parseInt(timer % 60, 10);
minutes = minutes < 10 ? "0" + minutes : minutes;
seconds = seconds < 10 ? "0" + seconds : seconds;
display.textContent = minutes + ":" + seconds;
if (--timer < 0) {
timer = duration;
}
}, 1000);
}
window.onload = function () {
var fiveMinutes = 60 * 5,
display = document.querySelector('#time');
startTimer(fiveMinutes, display);
};<body>
<div>Registration closes in <span id="time">05:00</span> minutes!</div>
</body>function startTimer(duration, display) {
var timer = duration, minutes, seconds;
setInterval(function () {
minutes = parseInt(timer / 60, 10);
seconds = parseInt(timer % 60, 10);
minutes = minutes < 10 ? "0" + minutes : minutes;
seconds = seconds < 10 ? "0" + seconds : seconds;
display.text(minutes + ":" + seconds);
if (--timer < 0) {
timer = duration;
}
}, 1000);
}
jQuery(function ($) {
var fiveMinutes = 60 * 5,
display = $('#time');
startTimer(fiveMinutes, display);
});
However if you want a more accurate timer that is only slightly more complicated:
function startTimer(duration, display) {
var start = Date.now(),
diff,
minutes,
seconds;
function timer() {
// get the number of seconds that have elapsed since
// startTimer() was called
diff = duration - (((Date.now() - start) / 1000) | 0);
// does the same job as parseInt truncates the float
minutes = (diff / 60) | 0;
seconds = (diff % 60) | 0;
minutes = minutes < 10 ? "0" + minutes : minutes;
seconds = seconds < 10 ? "0" + seconds : seconds;
display.textContent = minutes + ":" + seconds;
if (diff <= 0) {
// add one second so that the count down starts at the full duration
// example 05:00 not 04:59
start = Date.now() + 1000;
}
};
// we don't want to wait a full second before the timer starts
timer();
setInterval(timer, 1000);
}
window.onload = function () {
var fiveMinutes = 60 * 5,
display = document.querySelector('#time');
startTimer(fiveMinutes, display);
};<body>
<div>Registration closes in <span id="time"></span> minutes!</div>
</body>Now that we have made a few pretty simple timers we can start to think about re-usability and separating concerns. We can do this by asking "what should a count down timer do?"
- Should a count down timer count down? Yes
- Should a count down timer know how to display itself on the DOM? No
- Should a count down timer know to restart itself when it reaches 0? No
- Should a count down timer provide a way for a client to access how much time is left? Yes
So with these things in mind lets write a better (but still very simple) CountDownTimer
function CountDownTimer(duration, granularity) {
this.duration = duration;
this.granularity = granularity || 1000;
this.tickFtns = [];
this.running = false;
}
CountDownTimer.prototype.start = function() {
if (this.running) {
return;
}
this.running = true;
var start = Date.now(),
that = this,
diff, obj;
(function timer() {
diff = that.duration - (((Date.now() - start) / 1000) | 0);
if (diff > 0) {
setTimeout(timer, that.granularity);
} else {
diff = 0;
that.running = false;
}
obj = CountDownTimer.parse(diff);
that.tickFtns.forEach(function(ftn) {
ftn.call(this, obj.minutes, obj.seconds);
}, that);
}());
};
CountDownTimer.prototype.onTick = function(ftn) {
if (typeof ftn === 'function') {
this.tickFtns.push(ftn);
}
return this;
};
CountDownTimer.prototype.expired = function() {
return !this.running;
};
CountDownTimer.parse = function(seconds) {
return {
'minutes': (seconds / 60) | 0,
'seconds': (seconds % 60) | 0
};
};
So why is this implementation better than the others? Here are some examples of what you can do with it. Note that all but the first example can't be achieved by the startTimer functions.
An example that displays the time in XX:XX format and restarts after reaching 00:00
An example that displays the time in two different formats
An example that has two different timers and only one restarts
An example that starts the count down timer when a button is pressed