I am having a problem where I want to stop a particular function from executing. This function is located on another plugin which I can't change the core files so I am wondering if I can stop a specific function from that file from executing?

So for example that function is testFunction(); and I want to stop that later in the code maybe in on document ready...etc.

Thanks!

I am having a problem where I want to stop a particular function from executing. This function is located on another plugin which I can't change the core files so I am wondering if I can stop a specific function from that file from executing?

So for example that function is testFunction(); and I want to stop that later in the code maybe in on document ready...etc.

Thanks!

• javascript

• I've wrestled with this before... and lost. I'm sure there is some sort of hack but I think it would generally be bad form to do this. – user686605 Commented Jun 6, 2011 at 16:59
• You should provide a bit more information. Some parts may be overridden. Other may prove to be more difficult. Of course causing an parse error will probably stop it from executing ;) – Arend Commented Jun 6, 2011 at 17:09

6 Answers 6

Is the function public (as opposed to private via a closure)? And, does it need to be operational at all for things to work, or can you chop it out in total and be fine? If the latter, you can replace the function with a new one:

otherLibrary.testFunction = function(){};

If you want to disable it for a temporary amount of time, you can store the function in a temporary variable, and restore it later:

var removedFunc = otherLibrary.testFunction;
otherLibrary.testFunction = function(){};

// do something, time passes, whatever...

otherLibrary.testFunction = removedFunc;

Or, if you want to be able to toggle it, a slight variation:

var removedFunc = otherLibrary.testFunction;
var testFunctionEnabled = true;
otherLibrary.textFunction = function(){
    if(testFunctionEnabled){
        removedFunc.call(this, arguments);
    }
};

And then just set testFunctionEnabled as you need to.

you should try to extend the function before you call it e.g.

$.extend(plugin.function, myNewFunction);

also, check the plugin API to see if you can pass a paramter to override the function or actually access the api of the plugin e.g.

$('#mytip').api('hover', myHoverFunction);

If you have access to the object which refers to the "testFunction" function then you could replace it with an empty function, e.g.:

SomePlugin.testFunction = function() { };

Ultimately, if you don't have a way to overwrite that symbol then there's not much you can do to stop the method from running (unless you can provide more details).

If that function schedules itself with setInterval, you can use clearInterval(thefunction) to prevent it from being called again. But if it's a loop, I don't know if that's possible.

Simply set the function to null.

JavaScript example:

function write() {
    el.innerHTML += 'Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.<br />';
    if (execute != null) execute();
}
function execute() {
    setTimeout(function() { write() }, 500);
}
function abort() {
    execute = null;
}
window.onload = function() {
    el = document.getElementById('blah');
    execute();
}

HTML:

<button type="button" onclick="abort()">Abort</button>
<p id="blah"></p>

Also you can change the following to implement stop/start. For this, assign the execute function to a variable so that you can later assign that variable back to execute.

var oldfunc = execute;
function abort() {
    if (execute == null) {
        execute = oldfunc;
        execute();
    } else {
        execute = null;
    }
    alert(execute);//shows the function code
}

You can overwite any method you have access to- but if the code in your module calls it internally you better give it an appropriate return.

document.write=function(){return true};
alert(document.write('tell me more!'))