wiki.techinc.nl/resources/jquery/jquery.delayedBind.js

(function( $ ) {
/**
 * Function that escapes spaces in event names. This is needed because
 * "_delayedBind-foo bar-1000" refers to two events
 */
function encodeEvent( event ) {
	return event.replace( /-/g, '--' ).replace( / /g, '-' );
}

$.fn.extend( {
	/**
	 * Bind a callback to an event in a delayed fashion.
	 * In detail, this means that the callback will be called a certain
	 * time after the event fires, but the timer is reset every time
	 * the event fires.
	 * @param timeout Number of milliseconds to wait
	 * @param event Name of the event (string)
	 * @param data Data to pass to the event handler (optional)
	 * @param callback Function to call
	 */
	delayedBind: function( timeout, event, data, callback ) {
		if ( arguments.length == 3 ) {
			// Shift optional parameter down
			callback = data;
			data = undefined;
		}
		var encEvent = encodeEvent( event );
		return this.each( function() {
			var that = this;
			// Bind the top half
			// Do this only once for every (event, timeout) pair
			if (  !( $(this).data( '_delayedBindBound-' + encEvent + '-' + timeout ) ) ) {
				$(this).data( '_delayedBindBound-' + encEvent + '-' + timeout, true );
				$(this).bind( event, function() {
					var timerID = $(this).data( '_delayedBindTimerID-' + encEvent + '-' + timeout );
					// Cancel the running timer
					if ( typeof timerID != 'undefined' )
						clearTimeout( timerID );
					timerID = setTimeout( function() {
						$(that).trigger( '_delayedBind-' + encEvent + '-' + timeout );
					}, timeout );
					$(this).data( '_delayedBindTimerID-' + encEvent + '-' + timeout, timerID );
				} );
			}
			
			// Bottom half
			$(this).bind( '_delayedBind-' + encEvent + '-' + timeout, data, callback );
		} );
	},
	
	/**
	 * Cancel the timers for delayed events on the selected elements.
	 */
	delayedBindCancel: function( timeout, event ) {
		var encEvent = encodeEvent( event );
		return this.each( function() {
			var timerID = $(this).data( '_delayedBindTimerID-' + encEvent + '-' + timeout );
			if ( typeof timerID != 'undefined' )
				clearTimeout( timerID );
		} );
	},
	
	/**
	 * Unbind an event bound with delayedBind()
	 */
	delayedBindUnbind: function( timeout, event, callback ) {
		var encEvent = encodeEvent( event );
		return this.each( function() {
			$(this).unbind( '_delayedBind-' + encEvent + '-' + timeout, callback );
		} );
	}
} );
} )( jQuery );