How can I measure the time between click and release in javascript?

Question

I want to start a timer when the user clicks on a object, and stop it when the user releases the click. All using javascript/jquery.

Answer 1

The following should get you started

var start_time;
function start() {
    start_time = new Date();
}
function end() {
    var now = new Date();
    alert(now-start_time);
}

$('#element_id').mousedown(start);
$('#element_id').mouseup(end);

the mousedown event will run the start function which sets the start time. the mouseup event will substract the start time from the current time. The result is in milliseconds

Answer 2

function myTimer() {
    doSomething();
}

$('#thing').mousedown(function() {
    $(this).data('timerHandle', setTimeout(myTimer));
});
$('#thing').mouseup(function() {
    clearTimeout($(this).data('timerHandle'));
}

Answer 3

$("#element").mousedown(); will let you record when the user clicks, and similarly $("#element").mouseup();will let you record when the button is released.

var start = 0;
$("#element").mousedown(function() { start = new Date(); });
$("#element").mouseup(function() {
    var cur = new Date();
    alert(cur-start);
}

Answer 4

link to jquery plugin of timer http://plugins.jquery.com/project/timers