# Using function.apply and a dynamic parameter array with setTimeout

**URL:** <https://forum.kirupa.com/t/using-function-apply-and-a-dynamic-parameter-array-with-settimeout/191442>\
**Category:** flash\
**Created:** [June 20, 2006, 4:20pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/using-function-apply-and-a-dynamic-parameter-array-with-settimeout/191442 "2006-06-20T16:20:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Tim\_John](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b38774/32.png) [@Tim\_John](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/Tim_John)\
**Post date:** [June 20, 2006, 4:20pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/using-function-apply-and-a-dynamic-parameter-array-with-settimeout/191442/1 "2006-06-20T16:20:42Z")

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Hi everyone,

I’m racking my brains to find a solution to this problem. I’ve got so far, but have no idea how (or if) this can be solved.

I’m trying to make a function scheduler in flash using the setTimeout object. It works by sending an array of objects containing properties like ‘waitBefore’, ‘waitAfter’ and the function to call, like this:[INDENT]**{waitBefore:1.5, action:fSayHello, waitAfter:2}  
{waitBefore:0.5, action:fSayGoodbye, waitAfter:0}**[/INDENT]Then when this array is passed to the scheduler it will call fSayHello after 1.5 seconds, then fSayGoodbye after 2.5. This works fine.

Then I tried to add a parameter property to the function like:[INDENT] **{waitBefore:1.5, action:fSay, param:“Hello”, waitAfter:2}** [/INDENT]The parameter is passed no problems - but some of the functions I’m calling need more than one parameter. So I tried sending an array to the scheduler function, and this only passed the array on to the scheduled function rather than splitting it up - of course.

After some research I found the **function.apply** method. So I tried using that with the setTimeout object, with no luck.  
If I say **setTimeout(fSay.apply(aParameters), nDelay);** then it ignores the delay and just runs the function with the passed parameters instantaneously. I can understand why, as you can only pass a function reference to the setTimeout object. Can anybody think how to get around this?

I hope someone can point me in the right direction, and I hope this explanation makes sense!

Thank you all,

Tim