Redirect page after 2 minutes, even if window is not active

Question

I am trying to redirect a page after [2] minute, even if the page is not active. This is mainly for mobile users, who will likely leave the page, resulting in the countdown timer stopping.

When a mobile user lands on the page a message is displayed that the content will be ready in 2 min. Most won't wait around and close the window, only to return 2 min. later and still having to wait for the entire 2 min...

I am currently using the below code, but it doesn't seem to work

<script>
    var timer = setTimeout(function() {
        window.location='http://example.com'
    }, 120000);
</script>

Thanks much! Chris

Answer 1

You cannot redirect after two Minutes. But you can redirect if the user gets it back into foreground after at least two minutes:

var before=(new Date()).getMinutes();
setInterval(function() {
  if((new Date()).getMinutes()-before >= 2){
    window.location='http://example.com';
  }
}, 1000);//compare each second

If you want it to work when the page was closed too, you ight store it in localStorage:

 localStorage.setItem("before",localStorage.getItem("before") || (new Date()).getMinutes());
setInterval(function() {
  if((new Date()).getMinutes()-localStorage.getItem("before") >= 2){
    window.location='http://example.com';
  }
}, 1000);//compare each second

Note that this wont work at full hour change so you might recode it so that its based on getTime() , but well thats up to you...