How can I create a “Please Wait, Loading…” animati

Question

I would like to place a "please wait, loading" spinning circle animation on my site. How should I accomplish this using jQuery?

Answer 1

Most of the solutions I have seen either expects us to design a loading overlay, keep it hidden and then unhide it when required, or, show a gif or image etc.

I wanted to develop a robust plugin, where with a simply jQuery call I can display the loading screen and tear it down when the task is completed.

Below is the code. It depends on Font awesome and jQuery:

/**
 * Raj: Used basic sources from here: http://jsfiddle.net/eys3d/741/
 **/


(function($){
    // Retain count concept: http://stackoverflow.com/a/2420247/260665
    // Callers should make sure that for every invocation of loadingSpinner method there has to be an equivalent invocation of removeLoadingSpinner
    var retainCount = 0;

    // http://stackoverflow.com/a/13992290/260665 difference between $.fn.extend and $.extend
    $.extend({
        loadingSpinner: function() {
            // add the overlay with loading image to the page
            var over = '<div id="custom-loading-overlay">' +
                '<i id="custom-loading" class="fa fa-spinner fa-spin fa-3x fa-fw" style="font-size:48px; color: #470A68;"></i>'+
                '</div>';
            if (0===retainCount) {
                $(over).appendTo('body');
            }
            retainCount++;
        },
        removeLoadingSpinner: function() {
            retainCount--;
            if (retainCount<=0) {
                $('#custom-loading-overlay').remove();
                retainCount = 0;
            }
        }
    });
}(jQuery)); 

Just put the above in a js file and include it throughout the project.

Invocation:

$.loadingSpinner();
$.removeLoadingSpinner();

Answer 2

You could do this various different ways. It could be a subtle as a small status on the page saying "Loading...", or as loud as an entire element graying out the page while the new data is loading. The approach I'm taking below will show you how to accomplish both methods.

The Setup

Let's start by getting us a nice "loading" animation from http://ajaxload.info I'll be using

Let's create an element that we can show/hide anytime we're making an ajax request:

<div class="modal"><!-- Place at bottom of page --></div>

The CSS

Next let's give it some flair:

/* Start by setting display:none to make this hidden.
   Then we position it in relation to the viewport window
   with position:fixed. Width, height, top and left speak
   for themselves. Background we set to 80% white with
   our animation centered, and no-repeating */
.modal {
    display:    none;
    position:   fixed;
    z-index:    1000;
    top:        0;
    left:       0;
    height:     100%;
    width:      100%;
    background: rgba( 255, 255, 255, .8 ) 
                url('http://i.stack.imgur.com/FhHRx.gif') 
                50% 50% 
                no-repeat;
}

/* When the body has the loading class, we turn
   the scrollbar off with overflow:hidden */
body.loading .modal {
    overflow: hidden;   
}

/* Anytime the body has the loading class, our
   modal element will be visible */
body.loading .modal {
    display: block;
}

And finally, the jQuery

Alright, on to the jQuery. This next part is actually really simple:

$body = $("body");

$(document).on({
    ajaxStart: function() { $body.addClass("loading");    },
     ajaxStop: function() { $body.removeClass("loading"); }    
});

That's it! We're attaching some events to the body element anytime the ajaxStart or ajaxStop events are fired. When an ajax event starts, we add the "loading" class to the body. and when events are done, we remove the "loading" class from the body.

See it in action: http://jsfiddle.net/VpDUG/4952/

Answer 3

Like Mark H said the blockUI is the way.

Ex.:

<script type="text/javascript" src="javascript/jquery/jquery.blockUI.js"></script>
<script>
// unblock when ajax activity stops
$(document).ajaxStop($.unblockUI); 

$("#downloadButton").click(function() {

    $("#dialog").dialog({
        width:"390px",
        modal:true,
        buttons: {
            "OK, AGUARDO O E-MAIL!":  function() {
                $.blockUI({ message: '<img src="img/ajax-loader.gif" />' });
                send();
            }
        }
    });
});

function send() {
    $.ajax({
        url: "download-enviar.do",          
        type: "POST",
        blablabla
    });
}
</script>

Obs.: I got the ajax-loader.gif on http://www.ajaxload.info/

Answer 4

Note that when using ASP.Net MVC, with using (Ajax.BeginForm(..., setting the ajaxStart will not work.

Use the AjaxOptions to overcome this issue:

(Ajax.BeginForm("ActionName", new AjaxOptions { OnBegin = "uiOfProccessingAjaxAction", OnComplete = "uiOfProccessingAjaxActionComplete" }))

Answer 5

I use CSS3 for animation

/************ CSS3 *************/
.icon-spin {
  font-size: 1.5em;
  display: inline-block;
  animation: spin1 2s infinite linear;
}

@keyframes spin1{
    0%{transform:rotate(0deg)}
    100%{transform:rotate(359deg)}
}

/************** CSS3 cross-platform ******************/

.icon-spin-cross-platform {
  font-size: 1.5em;
  display: inline-block;
  -moz-animation: spin 2s infinite linear;
  -o-animation: spin 2s infinite linear;
  -webkit-animation: spin 2s infinite linear;
  animation: spin2 2s infinite linear;
}

@keyframes spin2{
    0%{transform:rotate(0deg)}
    100%{transform:rotate(359deg)}
}
@-moz-keyframes spin2{
    0%{-moz-transform:rotate(0deg)}
    100%{-moz-transform:rotate(359deg)}
}
@-webkit-keyframes spin2{
    0%{-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg)}
    100%{-webkit-transform:rotate(359deg)}
}
@-o-keyframes spin2{
    0%{-o-transform:rotate(0deg)}
    100%{-o-transform:rotate(359deg)}
}
@-ms-keyframes spin2{
    0%{-ms-transform:rotate(0deg)}
    100%{-ms-transform:rotate(359deg)}
}

<link href="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.3.7/css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet"/>


<div class="row">
  <div class="col-md-6">
    Default CSS3
    <span class="glyphicon glyphicon-repeat icon-spin"></span>
  </div>
  <div class="col-md-6">
    Cross-Platform CSS3
    <span class="glyphicon glyphicon-repeat icon-spin-cross-platform"></span>
  </div>
</div>

Answer 6

Jonathon's excellent solution breaks in IE8 (the animation does not show at all). To fix this, change the CSS to:

.modal {
display:    none;
position:   fixed;
z-index:    1000;
top:        0;
left:       0;
height:     100%;
width:      100%;
background: rgba( 255, 255, 255, .8 ) 
            url('http://i.stack.imgur.com/FhHRx.gif') 
            50% 50% 
            no-repeat;
opacity: 0.80;
-ms-filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.Alpha(Opacity = 80);
filter: alpha(opacity = 80)};