The MathJax.Callback.Queue Class

The MathJax.Callback.Queue object is one of the key mechanisms used by MathJax to synchronize its actions with those that occur asynchronously, like loading files and stylesheets. A Queue object is used to coordinate a sequence of actions so that they are performed one after another, even when one action has to wait for an asynchronous process to complete. This guarantees that operations are performed in the right order even when the code must wait for some other action to occur. See Synchronizing with MathJax for more details, and Using Queues in particular for examples of how to specify and use MathJax Queue objects.

Properties

pending: This is non-zero when the queue is waiting for a command to complete, i.e. a command being processed returns a Callback object, indicating that the queue should wait for that action to complete before processing additional commands.

running: This is non-zero when the queue is executing one of the commands in the queue.

queue: An array containing the queued commands that are yet to be performed.

Methods

Push(callback, ...)

Adds commands to the queue and runs them (if the queue is not pending or running another command). If one of the callbacks is an actual Callback object rather than a callback specification, then the command queued is an internal command to wait for the given callback to complete. That is, that callback is not itself queued to be executed, but a wait for that callback is queued. The Push() method returns the last callback that was added to the queue (so that it can be used for further synchronization, say as an entry in some other queue).

Parameters:

callback — the callback specifications to be added to the queue

Returns:

the last callback object added to the queue

Process(): Process the commands in the queue, provided the queue is not waiting for another command to complete. This method is used internally; you should not need to call it yourself.

Suspend(): Increments the running property, indicating that any commands that are added to the queue should not be executed immediately, but should be queued for later execution (when its Resume() is called). This method is used internally; you should not need to call it yourself.

Resume(): Decrements the running property, if it is positive. When it is zero, commands can be processed, but that is not done automatically — you would need to call Process() to make that happen. This method is used internally; you should not need to call it yourself.

wait(callback)

Used internally when an entry in the queue is a Callback object rather than a callback specification. A callback to this function (passing it the original callback) is queued instead, and it simply returns the callback it was passed. Since the queue will wait for a callback if it is the return value of one of the commands it executes, this effectively makes the queue wait for the original callback at that point in the command queue.

Parameters:

callback — the function to complete before returning to the queue

Returns:

the passed callback function

call(): An internal function used to restart processing of the queue after it has been waiting for a command to complete.