Can there only be one timeout in JavaScript?

This code seems not to work... It shows the twCharCount element only once after a long time. Could it be that there can only be one timeout set? Any suggestions making this code better? Thanks for any advice...

var timer = new Array();
var t=0;
var step=1000;
counter.hide();
var t =+ step;
timer[0] = setTimeout("$('#twCharCount').show()",t);
var t =+ step;
timer[1] = setTimeout("$('#twCharCount').hide()",t);
var t =+ step;
timer[2] = setTimeout("$('#twCharCount').show()",t);
var t =+ step;
timer[3] = setTimeout("$('#tw开发者_运维知识库CharCount').hide()",t);
var t =+ step;
timer[4] = setTimeout("$('#twCharCount').show()",t);

ok .. i'm sorry ... i kind of was not verry awake while writing this ... of course im redecalring all the time ... this is why the all execute snychronously ...

var intervalId = window.setInterval(function() {
    $('#twCharCount').toggle();
}, 1000);

and to stop blinking window.clearInterval(intervalId);.

Could it just be some syntax problems:

var timer = [];
var t=0;
var step=1000;
counter.hide();
t += step;
timer[0] = setTimeout("$('#twCharCount').show()", t);
t += step;
timer[1] = setTimeout("$('#twCharCount').hide()", t);
t += step;
timer[2] = setTimeout("$('#twCharCount').show()", t);
t += step;
timer[3] = setTimeout("$('#twCharCount').hide()", t);
t += step;
timer[4] = setTimeout("$('#twCharCount').show()", t);

t =+step; should be t += step;

and you shouldn't redeclare t over and over again.

The code is wrong in many ways :(.
Your functions are all being called in the same time because their time (t) is the same.

if you want to increment t, you should probably not declare it on every acces (use var t = ... only once; after that you can access it by it's name : t = ...) and you should probably use += instead of =+:
a += b is a shortcut to a = a + b, while a =+ b is a shortcut to a = parseInt(b).
You probably wanted to write:

var timer = [];
var t=0;
var step=1000;
counter.hide();
t += step;
timer[0] = setTimeout("$('#twCharCount').show()", t);
t += step;
timer[1] = setTimeout("$('#twCharCount').hide()", t);
t += step;
timer[2] = setTimeout("$('#twCharCount').show()", t);
t += step;
timer[3] = setTimeout("$('#twCharCount').hide()", t);
t += step;
timer[4] = setTimeout("$('#twCharCount').show()", t);

One more thing, it is better to pass a function than a string as the first parameter for the setTimeout function:

setTimeout(function(){$('#twCharCount').show();},t);

Sry, but i can't help my self, this is the optimized code for you :

var timer = [],
step = 1000,
n = 4,
el = $('#twChartCount');
for(var i=0;i<n;i++)
    if(i%2)
        timer[i] = setTimeout(function(){el.hide();},i*step);
    else
        timer[i] = setTimeout(function(){el.show()},i*step);

There is virtually no limit on the number of active timeouts.

I don't see any real problems with your code. Probably the problem is not the timeout but the command you're executing.

Additional notes (not related to your question, but worth to say):

• You need the 'var' statement for a variable only once per function.
• instead of timer[...] I'd use timer.push() in this case
• you can use a single setInterval() instead

var show = false;
window.setInterval(function() {
   if(show)
   {
      show = false;
      $('#twCharCount').show();
   }
   else
   {
      show = true;
      $('#twCharCount').hide();
   }
}, 1000);