javascript settimeout div not showing

Question

I have googled & I tried several answers but my problem is still occurring. I have a .net web page on IIS 7 and the code works fine in IE9 but not in Firefox. I need it to work in both. Not sure what I am doing wrong, please help.

It is a simple page with one multiline textbox that when i click submit a hidden DIV should pop up and say, Please wait while this processes...Don't click on anything.(they may submit 1000 items so it takes time.)

what's weird is i notice if i uncomment the Alert buttons, the alerts pop up and I actually do see the DIV, but if I take away the alert buttons, I am not seeing it.

here is my javascript.

function do_totals1()
    {
        // alert("Here-1");
        document.getElementById('pleasewaitScreen').style.display = 'block';

        // alert("Here-2!");
        do_totals2();

         window.setTimeout(function () {
         "do_totals2()";
         }, 4000);
        //            
        // alert("Here-3!");
        // window.setTimeout("do_totals2()", 1);
     }

function do_totals2()
    {
         alert("Here-4!");
         wait(4000);
         document.getElementById('pleasewaitScreen').style.display = 'none';
    }



<div id="pleasewaitScreen" style="display:none;position:absolute;z-index:5;top:50%;left:5%;">
 <table bgcolor="#000000" border="1" style="border-color:blue; height:300;width:400" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
    <tr>
        <td style="width:100%;height:100%" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" align="center" valign="middle">
        <br /><br />  
        <font face="Helvetica,Verdana,Arial" size="5" color="#000066"><b>Processing... Don't click on anything until ESN(s) populate the grid below.</b></font>
            <br /><br />
        </td>
    </tr>
 </table>
</div>

Answer 1

This is probably what you're asking for:

function do_totals1() {
    document.getElementById('pleasewaitScreen').style.display = 'block';
    // we don't want to call do_totals2 directly, because it is what hides the element.
    window.setTimeout(do_totals2, 4000);  // setTimeout accepts a function reference
}

function do_totals2() {
    // if wait is effectively a thread sleep function, you don't want to use it.
    // if javascript doesn't release control of the thread (there's only one for your browser tab), 
    //the UI will never be updated, and you won't see that the element was shown.
    document.getElementById('pleasewaitScreen').style.display = 'none';
}

If all you are doing is showing an element then hiding it 4 seconds later, you can do this instead:

function do_totalsN(){
    var ele = document.getElementById('pleasewaitScreen');
    ele.style.display = 'block';
    setTimeout(function(){
        ele.style.display = 'none';
    }, 4000);
}

Answer 2

If you just want to show the "Please wait while this processes..." and then clear it after 4 seeconds, this'll do

function do_totals1()
{
    document.getElementById('pleasewaitScreen').style.display = 'block';
    setTimeout(function() {
        document.getElementById('pleasewaitScreen').style.display = 'none';
    }, 4000);
}

Answer 3

Well, basically you don't call it that way you either do this:

window.setTimeout("do_totals2();",4000);

or

window.setTimeout(function(){
    do_totals2();
},4000);

So basically, remove the quotes and you will be fine

Here is more info

http://www.w3schools.com/jsref/met_win_settimeout.asp