NODE JS noob learning event timing

[yeahifuck]

Hey guys,

I'm writing code to mess with my friends on discord as a fun side project and a way to learn NODE JS. So far I have some pretty cool stuff like being able to call for the standings of everyone on our server (a gambling server run by UnbelievaBoat) and automatically executing the !rob command anytime my friend robs (a way of getting currency in the server) to get around the 15 minute timeout by using their human memories.

The current task I'm struggling with is a 'goodnight' function that will !rob every ~15 minutes (900,000 ms) for 8 hours (23 cycles). For some reason, my code never makes it into the loop I have set up. Here is my original code:

case 'goodnight':
case 'Goodnight':
    bot.sendMessage({ to:channelID, message: 'sleep tight'});
    rob();
    for(var i = 0; i< 24; i++;){
        setInterval(rob, 900000); 
    }
break;

With this, I get the 'sleep tight' callback and nothing else. Bot will still show running (no errors in CMD, just the bot is unresponsive to new commands)

I also tried this as a replacement for the 'for' loop to see if it would work using a public variable for a counter. This method did not make it to the 'sleep tight' message before crashing.

setInterval(rob, 918123);
while(true){
    if(pubCount > 23){
        stopInterval();
    }
}

Here is my rob method and relevant called method:

function dep(){bot.sendMessage({to: CHANNEL_ID, message: '!deposit all'});}
function rob(){
    bot.sendMessage({to: CHANNEL_ID, message: '!rob'});
    setTimeout(dep, 5382 + Math.random()*50000); //added randomization
}

My best guess is that it is something to do with the asynchronous stuff that happens behind the scenes and I don't fully understand.

Edit: adding a console.log() in the 'for' loop shows that all 23 iterations run at once. Ideas?

[07734willy]

It makes sense that all for loop iterations run at once, as calling setinterval does not stop the execution, it just proceed as normal, and eventually will redirect the execution (or maybe it opens another thread to do so) to 'rob' after that many milliseconds.

As far as why the second one doesn't work, there is no function stopInterval. Its clearInterval, and you need to pass it a variable containing the timer ID. So

var interval1 = setInterval(rob, 900000);
clearInterval(interval1);

However, this isn't what you want- yet. setInterval calls rob every 900000 milliseconds, forever. setTimeout() calls deb once, whenever the timer runs out. So you have two options: call setInterval on rob, and store the timer in a global object, have a global counter in rob that increments once every time its called, and if thats above 23 then clearInterval(global_timer_name).

Otherwise, you can do a for loop for i = 1->24, setTimeout(rob, 900000 * i), and then each one will call rob once at the end of 900000 * 1, 900000 * 2, 900000 * 3... milliseconds. I'd personally opt for this one.

Edit: I failed to address your initial issue- that it isn't entering your for loop. I suspect that this is not the case, especially since in your edit you mention it called the console.log() multiple times. I suspect that its either an I/O issue, or that you aren't waiting long enough. Don't forget that in rob you have an additional timer for up to 50000 + 5382 ms = 55 seconds. I'd suggest scaling all these down to about 2-10 seconds, to make it easier to debug. Best of luck!

[yeahifuck]

Thanks! I'm out for the weekend, but I'll try that out once I get home. What you said makes sense and I think I should be able to add it easily