In JavaScript, how can I have a function run at a specific time?

Question

I have a website that hosts a dashboard: I can edit the JavaScript on the page and I currently have it refreshing every five seconds.

I am trying to now get a

Answer 1

I have written function which

• allows expressing delay in seconds, new Date() format and string's new Date format
• allows cancelling timer

Here is code:

"use strict"
/**
  This function postpones execution until given time.
  @delay might be number or string or `Date` object. If number, then it delay expressed in seconds; if string, then it is parsed with new Date() syntax. Example:
      scheduleAt(60, function() {console.log("executed"); }
      scheduleAt("Aug 27 2014 16:00:00", function() {console.log("executed"); }
      scheduleAt("Aug 27 2014 16:00:00 UTC", function() {console.log("executed"); }
  @code function to be executed
  @context @optional `this` in function `code` will evaluate to this object; by default it is `window` object; example:
      scheduleAt(1, function(console.log(this.a);}, {a: 42})
  @return function which can cancel timer. Example:
      var cancel=scheduleAt(60, function(console.log("executed.");});
      cancel();
      will never print to the console.
*/

function scheduleAt(delay, code, context) {

    //create this object only once for this function
    scheduleAt.conv = scheduleAt.conv || {
        'number': function numberInSecsToUnixTs(delay) {
            return (new Date().getTime() / 1000) + delay;
        },
        'string': function dateTimeStrToUnixTs(datetime) {
            return new Date(datetime).getTime() / 1000;
        },
        'object': function dateToUnixTs(date) {
            return date.getTime() / 1000;
        }
    };

    var delayInSec = scheduleAt.conv[typeof delay](delay) - (new Date().getTime() / 1000);

    if (delayInSec < 0) throw "Cannot execute in past";

    if (debug) console.log('executing in', delayInSec, new Date(new Date().getTime() + delayInSec * 1000))

    var id = setTimeout(
        code,
        delayInSec * 1000
    );

    //preserve as a private function variable setTimeout's id
    return (function(id) {
        return function() {
            clearTimeout(id);
        }
    })(id);
}

Use this as follows:

scheduleAt(2, function() {
    console.log("Hello, this function was delayed 2s.");
});

scheduleAt(
    new Date().toString().replace(/:\d{2} /, ':59 '),
    function() {
        console.log("Hello, this function was executed (almost) at the end of the minute.")
    }
);

scheduleAt(new Date(Date.UTC(2014, 9, 31)), function() {
    console.log('Saying in UTC time zone, we are just celebrating Helloween!');
})