My current approach involves making recursive calls to a URL until it returns either a success or reaches the maximum limit of tries. Below is a compact version of the relevant code:
function doSomething(numRetries) {
$.post('someURL', {retry: numRetries},
function (data) {
if (data.value == 1) {
displayResults(data.message, data.value);
} else if (data.value == "retry") {
setTimeout( function() { doSomething(data.retries) }, 1000);
} else {
displayResults(data.message, data.value);
}
},
"json"
);
}
If the initial call to 'someURL' results in data.value being equal to 1, then the displaySuccess function is executed. On the other hand, for any other result (e.g., 0), the displayFailure() method will be called successfully.
The issue lies in the recursive aspect. Despite initiating retries and incrementing the value for retries while calling doSomething(), any returned data afterwards remains unused.
For instance, when the retry timeout within 'someURL' is set to 3, I can observe through Firebug:
post('someURL', 0) returns JSONified (value = "retry", retries = 1)
post('someURL', 1) returns JSONified (value = "retry", retries = 2)
post('someURL', 2) returns JSONified (value = 0, error = "Display this error!")
However, despite the value being 0 (not "retry"), an alert() from displayFailure indicates that error = [undefined]. The JSON parsing seems to be functioning correctly according to Firebug.
EDIT: In order to reflect reality more accurately, modifications have been made to the doSomething function. These changes should not introduce any uncertainties. Additionally, the actual return values from the post calls are as follows:
{"success":"retry","retryCount":"1"}
{"success":"retry","retryCount":"2"}
{"success":0,"errormsg":"The request is taking longer than expected, but should be completed soon. Please try again in 15 minutes."}
Finally, here is a concise version of the displayResults() function:
function displayResults(text, status) {
$('#dispElem').queue(function(next) {
$('#dispElem').html(text);
if (status == 1) {
$('#dispElem').addClass("success");
} else {
// Hide and show random elements
}
next();
}).fadeIn().queue(function(next) {});
}