Javascript, trying to condense timing functions

Question

So I have a timer function that checks for an item (if it's not found for an extra 5 seconds once every 200ms for 5000 ms) and I am looking to try and condense this function. It gets the job done currently, it just seems like I'm using an excess of code to do it. Here's what I've got:

var timeToCheck = true;
    setTimeout(function() {
        timeToCheck = false;
    }, 5000);

    var check = {
        init: function() {
            check.checkAgain();
        },
        checkAgain: function() {
            if (timeToCheck) {
                if (currentModules[name]) {
                    //by some act of god, this module exists now
                } else {
                    //still doesn't exists
                    setTimeout(check.checkAgain, 200);
                }
             } else {
                  //doesn't exist after 5 seconds
                  $log.error("Requested module (" + name + ") could not be found at this time.");
             }
          }
      };
      check.init();

I'm wondering if I could get any pointers (or help) in making this a little more elegant and less code if possible.

Answer 1

I think it would be cleaner to call check recursively. You should avoid having two separate setTimeouts (it could end up netting you unexpected results, especially in a scenario where the timeouts are interdependent) - read up on the event loop if you are not familiar with how it works.

var TIMEOUT_DUR = 200;
var MAX         = 5000;
var accum       = 0;

function check () {
    if ( accum >= MAX ) {
        $log.error( '...' );
        return;
    }

    setTimeout( function () {
        if ( currentModules[ name ] ) {
            // do things
            return;
        }
        accum += TIMEOUT_DUR;
        check();
    }, TIMEOUT_DUR );
}