jQuery - detect if the mouse is still?

Question

I was wondering if there was a way to detect if the mouse is idle for like 3 seconds in jQuery. Is there a plugin that I am unaware of? Because I don't believe there to be a native jQuery method. Any help would be much appreciated!

Solution 1

You can listen to the mousemove event, start a timeout whenever it occurs and cancel any existing timeout.

var timeout = null;

$(document).on('mousemove', function() {
    clearTimeout(timeout);

    timeout = setTimeout(function() {
        console.log('Mouse idle for 3 sec');
    }, 3000);
});

DEMO

This can be very easily done without jQuery as well (only binding the event handler here is jQuery-specific).

Solution 2

No need for a plugin, or even for jQuery at all:

(function() {
    var idlefunction = function() {
          // what to do when mouse is idle
        }, idletimer,
        idlestart = function() {idletimer = setTimeout(idlefunction,3000);},
        idlebreak = function() {clearTimeout(idletimer); idlestart();};
    if( window.addEventListener)
        document.documentElement.addEventListener("mousemove",idlebreak,true);
    else
        document.documentElement.attachEvent("onmousemove",idlebreak,true);
})();

Comments

[ModernDesigner]

Thank you! This is just what I was looking for. :-D

[jfriend00]

Probably want to set timeout back to null after the timer fires to avoid doing an invalid clearTimeout().

[Ry-]

@jfriend00: Doesn't matter, really. whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/multipage/… Even the null check.

[ModernDesigner]

@FelixKling OK, so what I did was used this in conjunction with the jScrollPane plugin so that if the user is idle for 3 seconds, the scrollbar fades out of visibility. How can I make it to where it re-appears when the user is not idle? (e.g. when he/she moves the mouse?) I tried making an entirely separate function but it is not working.

[Felix Kling]

@ModernDesigner: Just put in inside the event handler. The mousemove event is triggered (as the same says) whenever the mouse moves, i.e. it is not idle anymore. Just have a look how I remove the text in the demo.

[ModernDesigner]

@FelixKling ahh, thanks! That's it. And I did take a look at your Possible Duplicate Proposition, and the plugin linked there seems very helpful as well. I'll take both of those into consideration. Thanks again!

[jfriend00]

@minitech - if you want to send invalid handles to clearTimeout() go ahead. I don't program that way nor would I counsel others to do so. In my book, it's sloppy programming and it takes one extra line of code to follow a better general practice.

[Ry-]

@jfriend00: I never said I did, but you were pointing it out like it mattered and it turns out that it doesn't, is all. I've always avoided doing that too.