Set a delay in a repeating jQuery / Ajax function

Question

I am trying to add a delay to a repeatable query.

I found out that .delay is not the one to use here. Instead, I should go with setInterval or setTimeout. I tried bo

Answer 1

Note: Chris Kempen's answer (above) is better. Please use that one. He uses this technique inside the AJAX routine. See this answer for why using setTimeout is preferable over setInterval.

---

//Global var
is_expired = 0;

$(function (){

    var timer = setInterval(doAjax, 800);

    //At some point in future, you may wish to stop this repeating command, thus:
    if (is_expired > 0) {
        clearInterval(timer);
    }

}); //END document.ready

function doAjax() {
    $.ajax({                                      
        cache: false,
        url: 'ajax2.php',        
        data: "workerID=",
        dataType: 'json',    
        success: function(data) {
            var id = data[0];              //get id
            var vname = data[1];           //get name
            //--------------------------------------------------------------------
            // 3) Update html content
            //--------------------------------------------------------------------
            $('#output').html("id: "+id+" name: "+vname);
        }
    }); //END ajax code block
} //END fn doAjax()