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JavaScript

Ryley Ameden
Ryley Ameden
220 Points
Posted by Ryley Ameden
Ryley Ameden
220 Points

Javascript + Ajax: loading "gif" or wait message till everything is returned.

Hello,

I have an Javascript + Ajax app that goes out to an API and get some information and then displays it on the same page. There is some lag time for this to happen and right now the user is just forced to wait without knowing if it is actually doing anything. I would love to find a way to add a spinner or something to let them know that it is working. I was hoping someone would be able to help me out here.

Thanks, Ryley

1 Answer

Thomas Nilsen
Thomas Nilsen
14,957 Points
Thomas Nilsen
Thomas Nilsen
14,957 Points

For example; let's say you have this in the html: I used this spinner

<span ng-show="isSpinning"><i class="fa fa-spinner fa-spin fa-3x fa-fw"></i></span>

In your javascript code (I'm assuming angular here, but the pattern will be the same anyway):

vm.isSpinning = false;

function getData() {
    //Set spinner visible
    vm.isSpinning = true;

    //Async call starts here 
    $http.get(url).then(function(response) {
        //hide spinner - because when we get here, we have out data.
        vm.isSpinning = false;

        //do something with data here...
    })
    .catch(function(err){
        console.log(err);
    });
}

The whole point is -

Use a boolean variable to show/hide an loading animation. When the callback is complete (i.e.e you have data) set the boolean to false which hides the animation.